Hothachar

[DanielHasenbos]

I have put my multiple-city map on hold because I wanted to get started on this map. This map is going to be a birthday present for my girlfriend. Her birthday is only in april, but I had no idea how long a map like this would take me so I figured I'd best start sooner than later. The image is 13000 x 7000 pixels and is going to be printed on a 90 x 180cm poster.

The map shows the world of Hothachar, in which the regions I previously mapped can be found. It shows the different continents and on those continents it shows cultural borders. The cultural borders are defined by religious, cultural and ethnic differences between the people of Hothachar. Within those cultural regions the map shows political borders and capital cities.

At this point it is getting tedious to work on this map since the file size is bigger than my compter wants to handle. I generally work on all the elements in a basic map showing only coastline, elevations and political borders, and then import those elements into the real map.

The map is not done yet. I'm planning on adding rivers, important cities that are not capitals and finishing the key.

I'm very proud of the result so far, it has turned out way better than I expected it to when I started. Still I would like your input on the map to hopefully make it an even better gift for my girlfriend.

Here is a low quality image of the map, but I think it will suffice ;p
Hothachar.jpg

(interesting fact: except for the easternmost continent all the continent shapes are inspired by the damage left on my old bedroom wall at my parents house after they tore the wallpaper of the wall.

[MetzgerWilli]

I get where you are coming from concerning performance issues. My current map is pretty much the same size and the working file is about 900MB - it takes several minutes to save it, and 20 seconds to just move a layer around. When I had hardware issues that reduced my RAM to 4GB, I couldn't even work at the map at all. I certainly learned my lesson.

I am still too unexperienced to give you any artistic suggestions, it looks great! But the nation borders seem so uniform with the shape of the continents if you know what I mean. Are there any territories on foreign continents that are held by another nation (like the Str. of Gibraltar). Some remnant of a past war... Oh nevermind, I just realized that the colors are continental borders, not national ones.

What is the difference between the thick borders between nations like Tenhares and Mysaroh, and those thin borders between other nations?

Oh, my favourite suggestion: It is "known to mAn" (unless your women know much more about your world)

[Greg]

It looks really nice already Daniel. I love the colour schemes you have going on particularly across continents. With the border and title, you definitely have the theme nailed across the board!

I look forward to seeing the rest of it added, if your computer doesn't say no. I'm sure with you colours as they are, rivers won't be a problem to identify, but still watch out for them clashing with the borders and making aspects harder to identify.

Also, random shapes you see around are always the best way to get continents!

[ChickPea]

Very attractive map! Just a couple of thoughts....

I feel there are a couple of places where the elements feel quite 'digital', which contrasts with the old texture of the background. For example, your thick coastline border is very black. It might look better as a dark brown. Your page border has shades that are much less dark, and one of those tones might work for the coastline too. Speaking of your border, I notice the individual shapes don't connect. That may not be a problem when it's printed but I wasn't sure if you planned on fixing it?

I really love what you've done so far (I think I like all of your maps!) I think if you could try to 'age' some of the elements and make them bleed into the background a little, it would look really good.

[DanielHasenbos]

I get where you are coming from concerning performance issues. My current map is pretty much the same size and the working file is about 900MB - it takes several minutes to save it, and 20 seconds to just move a layer around. When I had hardware issues that reduced my RAM to 4GB, I couldn't even work at the map at all. I certainly learned my lesson.

I am still too unexperienced to give you any artistic suggestions, it looks great! But the nation borders seem so uniform with the shape of the continents if you know what I mean. Are there any territories on foreign continents that are held by another nation (like the Str. of Gibraltar). Some remnant of a past war... Oh nevermind, I just realized that the colors are continental borders, not national ones.

What is the difference between the thick borders between nations like Tenhares and Mysaroh, and those thin borders between other nations?

Oh, my favourite suggestion: It is "known to mAn" (unless your women know much more about your world)

Thanks MetzgerWilli! The thick borders mark cultural borders. For example take medieval Europe. All the nations in Europe are part of the same continent but there not the same. Scandinavia would be a different cultural region than western/central Europe, all in the cultural, religious and ethnic sense. Southern Europe would again be another cultural region than western/central Europe, not so much in the religious sense but more so in the culture and ethnics. Another example would be in Asia, where the middle east is part of the continent but not at all what is generally considered ''asian'' (not trying to be racist here ;p)

English is not my native language but does 'men' not refer to mankind?

It looks really nice already Daniel. I love the colour schemes you have going on particularly across continents. With the border and title, you definitely have the theme nailed across the board!

I look forward to seeing the rest of it added, if your computer doesn't say no. I'm sure with you colours as they are, rivers won't be a problem to identify, but still watch out for them clashing with the borders and making aspects harder to identify.

Also, random shapes you see around are always the best way to get continents!

Thanks GLS!

Very attractive map! Just a couple of thoughts....

I feel there are a couple of places where the elements feel quite 'digital', which contrasts with the old texture of the background. For example, your thick coastline border is very black. It might look better as a dark brown. Your page border has shades that are much less dark, and one of those tones might work for the coastline too. Speaking of your border, I notice the individual shapes don't connect. That may not be a problem when it's printed but I wasn't sure if you planned on fixing it?

I really love what you've done so far (I think I like all of your maps!) I think if you could try to 'age' some of the elements and make them bleed into the background a little, it would look really good.

Thanks ChickPea! I might have overlooked those things but I'll try and make it all blend together (:

I was wondering one more thing. I doing this map is Photoshop and eventually want to print it. I'll send the image to a company that's going to print it for me. What sort of file should I best same it as if I plan on printing it?

-Dan

[Ilanthar]

Good start! I like the color choices. I agree with ChickPea about the coastlines. You could reduce the thickness, I think. And the coastal lines are a good idea but it would be better without the white between them (with a multiply effect perhaps?).
The background texture is a bit too strong (at full size only, though). I like the frame and the global style.

[DanielHasenbos]

Good start! I like the color choices. I agree with ChickPea about the coastlines. You could reduce the thickness, I think. And the coastal lines are a good idea but it would be better without the white between them (with a multiply effect perhaps?).
The background texture is a bit too strong (at full size only, though). I like the frame and the global style.

Thanks Ilanthar! I have done some work in the coastlines. I put a dark brown color overlay on them and put an overlay effect on the coastal lines as well as reduced the opacity. I didn't reduce de thickness because I think it won't be an issue after its printed.

I made some progress on the map. I changed the border slightly so the symbols now connect with each other. I also added some important cities to the map. I have started working on the ocean, adding rhumb lines and labels but I'm not sure I like the look of it yet. Maybe the labels need to be moved around a little or maybe I have just spend so much time working with empty oceans that I have to get used to them being filled in now ;p I'd like to hear what you guys think about it and go with that.

I think I'll lower the opacity on the ocean labels and rhumb lines a little to make them blend a little more with the background, as they seem a little to heavy as they are now.

Here's the map as I have it now:

Hothachar 3.jpg

As always let me know what you think!

-Dan

[DanielHasenbos]

I reduced the opacity of the rhumb lines and the ocean labels. I also curved the larger labels to make them flow with the ocean current haha ;p. Think this works better.

Hothachar 4.jpg

As always let me know what you think!

-Dan

[kacey]

I love this! I think it's beautiful, you're girlfriend should be really happy with this. The colour's are really great, and I like the simple text you've chosen on the land. The only one gripe I have about it is I find the lighter labels on the land mass are a little hard to read, and even still I'd hang this on my wall in a second, it's really nice.

[Ilanthar]

It's looking definitely better, imo. I think you could work on your labels. You have plenty of space, so why not make the kingdom labels bigger? Also I would probably added a darker glow or an effect on your white labels to make them pop more.