One of the many projects planned this year is to a yearly update to my existing Flanaess map. I've done this the past three years since it was first published in its entirety. This years make over I'm planning for some more drastic alterations I've wanted to do for a long time. 

The terrain has been untouched since it was finished and the style was established back in the 90's when I started working on it. My skills, taste and sense of what works best have evolved a lot since those early days, and this is especially obvious in the Flanaess terrain. Work on an new terrain have already begun, but will take a long time before it can replace the existing map, so as a intermediate solution I'm going to improve it. 

My main caveat is the overly blue oceans and rivers and slightly general over-saturation, so this is where I will concentrate my efforts. The goal is to make new parts, when ready, to fit in more seamlessly with the old bits. Labeling is another of my main issues so if I have time I'll go over some of the worst looking labels and give them a better look. This is something that will continue over the coming years as a way to improve the presentation for version 2.

My list of issues to look into have currently 336 items, and is still growing, so this is a bit of an undertaking. I will work on this on and off when I have time and as a way to develop my Illustrator skills. It will be ready sometime later this year, and I'll keep you guys updated and I will come back for more advice of how you think it should look.

With that said what do you think about the new look of the waters of the Flanaess, and please keep in mind that this is a just a quick test and not a finished look!