D&D Campaign map - raised from the dead

[Fabrice]

Well, it has been quite a few month since our campaign (and consequently, this map) has not moved as our DM has left the country, so I decided to consider it done and post it here.

The WIP thread is located here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4396

The map was done on CC3 by drawing over a scan of a hand-drawn sketch given by the DM. The old paper background was created with GIMP following RobA's tutorial, and the CC3 map was converted to png and added to the GIMP drawing.

The only difference between this final version and the last WIP is that I replaced the labels that were written with a gothic font with hand-calligraphed text.

[zhar2]

It looks real nice, but may i suggest u tone down a bit the orange and blue colors?

[Gandwarf]

I agree with Zhar2. The map looks spectacular, but the blue and orange colors are a bit too much for me. What's up with the blue mountains anyway?

[Fabrice]

I see what you mean.

The original colors in the CC3 drawing were softer, but they got "emphasized" by the GIMP effects that I used to give a tattered feel to the paper.

There is no actual background justification for the blue color on the montain.
I just saw the maps done by Sarah Wroot on the ProFantasy website and decided that I wanted to try the eponym style available for CC3.

But you are right to say that the blue and orange are now too distracting, so I lightened the colors in the CC3 drawing and imported it again to the GIMP (original post updated with modified drawing).

I think that the blue and orange are less dominant, with more of the paper texture showing through.

Thanks to both of you for pointing it for me!

[crazyred]

I like this quite a bit! It reminds me of some of Tolkien's own original illustrations.

http://www.norphil.co.uk/2004/2004im...trblokbull.jpg

[Karro]

Some of the calligraphy looks hand-lettered. Is that accurate, or if not how did you achieve that effect? (For instance, the lettering is imperfect and doesn't lie on a completely straight line; the two s's at the end of the word "pass" are different, etc.)

[Alecthar]

Some of the calligraphy looks hand-lettered. Is that accurate, or if not how did you achieve that effect? (For instance, the lettering is imperfect and doesn't lie on a completely straight line; the two s's at the end of the word "pass" are different, etc.)

I think he mentioned that it was hand-lettered.

Which is pretty amazing.

[CartoGeo]

I think you could tone down the saturation levels of the Wroot color styles you are using. I like the map, but more emphases needs to be given to the mountains in the form of a dark shading on the left side of each 'mountain chain' to make the mountains stand out more then just thin .3 point lines. Also... in my opinion I would lose the Font you are using as those hand-styled fonts never appeal to me much as a map is done usually to clarify some place or way to a place and that hand-scripted font just is too distracting. One other thing.. more forests or larger forested areas... thats just my opinion. Otherwise I like it.