WIP: The Western Realms
Hi everyone!
The last time I posted was back in September, I think. Until 2009, I was preoccupied with other things, and about two months ago, I started to make a map.
Thing is, I feel bleh about the mountains. Haven't made any progress in a couple months; the map's been stale and I've been looking at it every day without knowing what to do.
Could anyone give his or her insight on my mountain problem, point me to some good brushes or textures, or maybe just give me some tips?
Thanks!
Last edited by Pank.HQ; 06-27-2009 at 05:46 PM. Reason: image error
Love the palette!
Venus Public Transit, Map Of Ceres, Jack Vance's Ports Of Call & Lurulu ... why do I only have 3 maps here?
Agreed, and I rather like the mountains, actually. If you're really not liking them, there's a great tutorial on hand-drawing your own that might help you. If you've got a bit of dexterity and the right instruments, I bet you could hand draw the ranges in their entirety, without resorting to brushes. If you go that route, I'd print out a simplified full-scale copy of the map (use Posterazor, given that your map's bigger than a single sheet), just with information on where your mountains are supposed to go and the borders of the land and what not. You can use that as a guide for where to draw your mountain ranges. Then just scan them in, scale them to the appropriate size (or not, I do much of my work at 100 dpi because my computer is weak like a child, and my printer scans at 300 dpi, but if your scan resolution and the map resolution are the same, cool deal) and you're good to go.Originally Posted by töff
Last edited by Alecthar; 06-27-2009 at 07:44 PM.
"Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."
Well, I've decided to start from scratch, for two reasons:
- I think the previous design had a lack of focus. Getting rid of the western continent seemed to help create a focus. (Plus, all that land was intimidating...)
- I had gotten to a point in Photoshop where it was difficult to add rivers. Starting from scratch allowed me to fix my layers in PS.
Any comments on the changes or the rivers? Are they ugly? Are they OK?
I like that thread thing, looks good. You might want to taper the rivers a bit by using a 1-pixel pencil at the ends but otherwise its good stuff. Oh and make sure that those rivers get filled in with gray all the way and some spots look blank.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Quick update before sleep.
I threw together that horizontal line pattern in like 5 minutes, so I'll improve upon it later.
Please leave comments or ideas!
It's looking pretty nice so far.
The only thing I don't like is the background - it tends to take over and draw the eye away from the actual map.
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
What's your opinion on colour-coding regional boundaries like this? Would it work better done as an outline (like this http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...5&d=1247536980)?
I'm just brainstorming for the meantime... pardon my slowness.
I like what you have there, but with the background pulling the eye so much you might want to add the outlined style on top of the filled style.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Just thought I'd post two different paper textures so you can see why I chose the one that I did.
Yes, it's busy, but I think its colour goes better with the water texture.
I've heard it said that a map shouldn't be turned into a picture, but I think I'd pick the darker, busier paper.
What do you think?
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