Maps of the Levant

[cereth]

Here are a couple of maps I made for our Ars Magica group. This is the style I've been making maps in for the last few months or so. It's all done in CC3 without any post processing.

[ravells]

I love the colours, textures and font - and the individual style of depicting height. The only problems for me are you can (just about) see the repeating vertical texture tiling (particularly in the sea). The standard CC frame and scale bar seem to be out of keeping with the rest of the map though - the colours are too flat and saturated.

[RobA]

Not a criticism of your work, but more a question on CC...

Why do many items look sharp (coastlines, symbols, text) while other look blurry (rivers)? This is something I have seen on a large number of CC maps posted here.

-Rob A>

[pyrandon]

Great maps! Very, very nice! You are a credit to the CC program. I especially like the way the Jerusalem map shows contour (did you invent that, or is that a CC preset?)

I would agree that the sharpness of some features drops the artistic quality of this piece, making it less pleasing to the eye and a bit more "computerly." The scale bar is also far too vectorized for the same reasons.

But wow, these are great! Nicely done, sir!

[Midgardsormr]

I'll bet that a small blur on some of the sharper elements would soften them and help them to blend into the rest of the map. 3 pixels or so, I should think.

The scale bar does seem to clash with the style of the rest of the map. You can explode it and modify the pieces. Changing the fonts and colors would help a great deal. That's what I did with this map: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1143

I really like these maps, and I'm glad to see a style that doesn't look just like every other CC map. I'd also like to applaud your very subtle yet effective use of the glow on the text.

[cereth]

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments.

I should play around with some custom frames and scalebars. I always tell myself I am going to but I never get around to doing it for some reason. I tried to skirt the edge between functionality and aesthetics...they look really nice when printed on a color laser printer (got to love using work equipment for personal reasons).

The contours on the Jerusalem map were my idea and something I fiddled around with. It was the best way I could think of to reflect the terrain of the region. I blurred some of the items (river, etc.) on purpose just trying to be experimental.

That is an awesome map Midgardsormr and a great suggestion with the scalebar. I may have to steal that idea.

[Midgardsormr]

Thanks! Feel free to swipe any ideas you like.