Map of Urstamalga!

[elemental_elf]

Hi, this is my map of the continent Urstamalga. The Continent is inhabited by many races, notably Elves, Humans, Dwarves and Goblins. Yeah I know, a little cliché, right? Well, yeah, more or less. I have an excuse though (I really do!), see Urstamalga is a world that composes many different Kingdoms, Empires and people from a slew of campaigns I ran when I started to play D&D a few years ago. I crafted a coherent campaign setting derived from those little bits, simply for the heck of it, lol.

At any rate, I decided to go with a more antique-ish looking map, rather than what I usually create (more modern/Victorian-esque). I know the map isn't great and it needs a lot of work but, really, I need some advice on where to go and what to do.

Here's my map... well 2 of them. The first (the attached one) is a bare bones map, with little information. The second has a few capital cities with names, to show where I was headed with the map.

The Second Map

Any and all help/advice you can provide is most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[Airith]

That looks awesome so far, I think the Second one is better (the font and city symbol mix well) although not that much different. Are you going to add other features? Like forests and maybe a desert area? Also just noticed that the desert name is missing on the Second map. Maybe a shoreline if you'd like. I don't have many suggestions on making it look more antique though

Also what program is that made in? I'd also like to see your Victorian maps, sounds intriguing

[elemental_elf]

That looks awesome so far, I think the Second one is better (the font and city symbol mix well) although not that much different. Are you going to add other features? Like forests and maybe a desert area? Also just noticed that the desert name is missing on the Second map. Maybe a shoreline if you'd like. I don't have many suggestions on making it look more antique though

Also what program is that made in? I'd also like to see your Victorian maps, sounds intriguing

Thanks for the compliment

The program I use is CS2 (I can't believe I forgot to mention that!).

I do intend to add other features, mostly all the capitals and maybe 1 or 2 other major cities/forts per country. I also intend to add rivers (once I figure out how to make them look good) as well as forests, though there aren't any large enough that would be seen from a continent map

[pyrandon]

Nice map! Clear and interesting, and I like the color pallette a lot! Good work.

Are you able to blur the line edges at all? They are a little too crisp for the antique effect, IMO.

Overall, a nice map!

[RobA]

Nice map! (And a nice choice in using pbwiki, by the way )

I would figure out how to curve some of the text. They would look better in some areas IMOO - specifically for the anything angled currently, and to fit the terrain in other cases.

-Rob A>

[Midgardsormr]

I think you should try to do something to create some variety in your mountain symbols. The hand-drawn style is terrific, but it's weakened quite a bit by the obvious stamps. The same could be said of the cities, but there aren't as many of them, so it's not quite as obvious.

I agree concerning curved text. You might also want to think about using an additional font for the smaller labels. Blackadder is very nice for titling and large labels, but I don't like it so well for detail work. I don't have another suggestion off the top of my head, though. Bard, maybe; it has the same rough look to it but no flourishes.

I really like this map quite a bit. I'd love to see it pushed just a little further. It might also benefit from a good, stylized border.

[elemental_elf]

First off, let me say ' !' Thank you all for your compliments. I wasn't expecting them but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth I must apologize for my absence, I've had a busy week (2 Midterms and 1 Essay). Now that those are behind me, I intend to be more active in updating and responding!

Nice map! Clear and interesting, and I like the color pallette a lot! Good work.

Are you able to blur the line edges at all? They are a little too crisp for the antique effect, IMO.

Overall, a nice map!

Now that is the kind of advice I was looking for. It's always the little things that mess me over, lol! Thanks.

I would figure out how to curve some of the text. They would look better in some areas IMOO - specifically for the anything angled currently, and to fit the terrain in other cases.

-Rob A>

I don't know how to curve text in CS2... is there a tutorial you could direct me to?

I think you should try to do something to create some variety in your mountain symbols. The hand-drawn style is terrific, but it's weakened quite a bit by the obvious stamps. The same could be said of the cities, but there aren't as many of them, so it's not quite as obvious.

That's easy enough to accomplish.; I was planning on doing this, some time but I never got around to it

I agree concerning curved text. You might also want to think about using an additional font for the smaller labels. Blackadder is very nice for titling and large labels, but I don't like it so well for detail work. I don't have another suggestion off the top of my head, though. Bard, maybe; it has the same rough look to it but no flourishes.

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines (in terms of changing the smaller font), glad to see I wasn't alone. I don't have Bard on my CS2, but looking through the available fonts, Monotype Corsiva seems to be very similar. Do you think that's a good font choice?


Again, thank you all for you advice and help, I really appreciate it!

[RobA]

I don't know how to curve text in CS2... is there a tutorial you could direct me to?

Sorry - I'm a gimp user - don't know how to use that fancy adobe software

-Rob A>

[Midgardsormr]

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines (in terms of changing the smaller font), glad to see I wasn't alone. I don't have Bard on my CS2, but looking through the available fonts, Monotype Corsiva seems to be very similar. Do you think that's a good font choice?

I do like Monotype Corsiva, and it may work well since it has fewer details. If you want to pick up Bard, it's a freebie: http://www.fontfiles.com/Fonts/Detailed/70.html

[pyrandon]

I don't know how to curve text in CS2... is there a tutorial you could direct me to?

I don't think you'll need a tutorial. For fancy-schmancy text curves all you need to do is create a path (with the freeform pen tool, for example), then using your text tool, click the path and type: the text will sit on top of your path.

You could also, for less complicated curves, use the tool within the type tool (it's in the menu at the top-right when you are writing with text): with that you can do banner-type waves, arches, etc.

I hope that helps!