Unmarked Rural Town Map

[Altrunchen]

Hey everyone, here's my first map that I made entirely in photoshop (i.e not in maptools, by hand and then by photoshop, or anything else). Indeed this map took me a while and I had to improvise with the trees and hills but if you've been around a while then you can probably tell that I borrowed a technique for shoreline mapping as well as the building shapes (brushes but I can't remember where they are from sadly). Anyways, I hope you guys like this. It's supposed to just be monochromatic so please don't bother bringing up that there is no color, because that's sort of the whole point lol. I also left it unmarked so that people could adapt it to their needs in maptools, meaning the DM can decide for his/her self what they want to be in the town. At any rate, I hope you guys enjoy this!

The filename is "Gale Map" because that's what I wanted to call the town, but feel free to use it and name it whatever you want.
FtCEBM8.jpg

Oh and if you decide to use this, please post what you used it for here in this thread and whether or not it was satisfactory or not . Any and all feedback is appreciated.

[Vellum]

Altrunchen, thanks for posting this up. It needs color LOL!!! J'kin i read your comment. nice job, do you plan on finishing this out for your own setting?

Vellum

[lostatsea]

Overall I like this. The textures are too "regular" for my taste though. They need to be broken up abit and perhaps turn the opacity down as well.

[Altrunchen]

Altrunchen, thanks for posting this up. It needs color LOL!!! J'kin i read your comment. nice job, do you plan on finishing this out for your own setting?

Vellum

Oh well, I might do that. My campaign setting "Oa" (D&D Wiki Link) has such big cities and places though that it's kind of hard to map them correctly. I've personally been struggling with that for ages now. I made the map blank though so that anyone can adapt it as they please to their setting, so I might adapt it to my own someday. Thanks for the feedback by the way! It's nice to feel acknowledged, especially since most of my posts tend to go without any responses at all lol

Overall I like this. The textures are too "regular" for my taste though. They need to be broken up abit and perhaps turn the opacity down as well.

Hmm okay, how do you suggest I break up the patterns? Also, you said to turn down the opacity. The opacity of what?

[Vellum]

Altrunchen, the lack of acknowledgement is one of the reasons I post to those threads with no replies. I for one appreciate the work one has to go through to produce something, scan or photo it and then post it up. Some do this for attention, promote their business and others are just looking to get help improving their skill set. I post up piece meal stuff a lot of times and folks viewing probably think, eh he's not even finished this, I'm not bothering to post a comment or crit. In any case search the site for what it has to offer

Vellum

[Altrunchen]

Altrunchen, the lack of acknowledgement is one of the reasons I post to those threads with no replies. I for one appreciate the work one has to go through to produce something, scan or photo it and then post it up. Some do this for attention, promote their business and others are just looking to get help improving their skill set. I post up piece meal stuff a lot of times and folks viewing probably think, eh he's not even finished this, I'm not bothering to post a comment or crit. In any case search the site for what it has to offer

Vellum

Oh I've picked from this forum a lot. There are all kinds of neat things here indeed ! And as far why I make maps, I love doing it for it's own sake but the reason I joined the forum was to make friends who are also into making maps >w<, and to share the crud that I make too lol.

[lostatsea]

Be back with an example a little later ! I am assuming you are using a seamless pattern overlay.instead of "filling" the entire water area with the same repeating texture .Stamp it in select areas or mask out areas to break up the pattern .Else wise distorting pieces to provide some variety also helps.
2014-08-23_090330.png

In spite of the river changing direction and shape the Pattern looks too regular; it is a fill . The regularity of which detracts from the more un-regular (Organic ) Hand drawn style of the rest of the map . The mountains look 3 dimensional which conflicts with the two dimensional style of the rest of the map. It is well done on its own but out of place here. This is just a quick example but it illustrate what I am saying. In the end it is all a matter of opinion and taste.

alt text.png

[Altrunchen]

Be back with an example a little later ! I am assuming you are using a seamless pattern overlay.instead of "filling" the entire water area with the same repeating texture .Stamp it in select areas or mask out areas to break up the pattern .Else wise distorting pieces to provide some variety also helps.
2014-08-23_090330.png

In spite of the river changing direction and shape the Pattern looks too regular; it is a fill . The regularity of which detracts from the more un-regular (Organic ) Hand drawn style of the rest of the map . The mountains look 3 dimensional which conflicts with the two dimensional style of the rest of the map. It is well done on its own but out of place here. This is just a quick example but it illustrate what I am saying. In the end it is all a matter of opinion and taste.

alt text.png

Oh I agree, the water leaves a lot to be desired. I don't suppose you know any good techniques for making a convincing water texture that emulates flow do you? :S