Kandura - [WIP]

[Dominic]

Hi,

As some of you may remember, I am currently writing a Novel, and as part of my book's design, I am adding a map to give readers an idea of where things are in the story. Lately I have been working hard on the map in PS and have a lot of you guys on this site to thank for how far I am on it, however I am still unfinished and have yet to add things such as trees/forests, was going to put a key in the blank box (for those wondering) and a few other little things I have to add and fix. I am posting what I have done so far so you can all see what I am doing and to let me know what you think of it.

BTW I have drawn pretty much everything in it by hand, myself.

Kandura copy.jpg

[Aenigma]

To be honest, I don't really like the choice of colours (But that's just me), but if it's supposed to look like this in a book, then maybe it isn't so bad... Yellow on brown-grey is kind of depressing.
The style of the borders makes me think that Kandura has been together with Veroznia in the past. (And later the borders were simply decided on a meeting, kind of like they did with Africa irl)

On the other hand, I do like the name of the place, and names, to me, are very important.

I hope to see more!

[Dominic]

Thank you for your honesty. To be honest myself, I'm not really keen on the colors either, and as it will be in a book, it will most likely be black and white anyway. Basically with the story behind the borders, I have broken Veroznia apart from Kandura to keep the story based around Kandura only. Kandura and Veroznia are separate countries with the first part of my Novel being set in Kandura, and later on down the track, a separate story will be added that joins onto it where the border will be crossed and Veroznia will become the new main location for the story. Almost like a part 2.

[tilt]

That looks good dominic, great start on your mapping. Love the names too, although Junk island made me instantly think of is that is where all the junk food restaurants recide
As Aenigma says the borders to the neighbouring country are very smooth, but if they have been decided by the countries by drawing on a map - they are allright, if not, the would probably follow natural borders more - mountains, rivers and such, and therefor be more ragged.
Concerning the color, if you plan for it to be in the books, black and white might be a good way to go - then again, unless you've allready sold the book, you'll have plenty of time to change it to black and white - and perhaps by then your mapping skills have increases so much you'll want to do a whole different style - who knows... but good work and have some rep for your first upload

[Dominic]

Junk Island is basically an island made up of things that have been thrown away as junk by cities, hence the name. I'm not 100% sure what you mean about the borders, but I'm assuming Aenigma is talking about how the border between Kandura and Veroznia looks like a giant stitch. In which case, the stitched border is one that controlled, meaning that it is basically considered an illegal offense to cross it. But once again its not quite finished so I'll have a key to explain the borders' meanings. Thanks for all the feedback given so far. Perhaps when I am published, I shall send a FREE copy to everyone who has helped me on here

[tilt]

Thanks for all the feedback given so far. Perhaps when I am published, I shall send a FREE copy to everyone who has helped me on here

Yeah!
What I meant about the borders are that they are very clean and straight - whereas most borders follow the geography and as such makes many twists and turns

[Steel General]

I like the simplicity of the map, and the colors don't especially bother me (and easily changed).

The only little nit-pick I have is that there is a branch of a river running east of Lorax City that looks like it doesn't
belong. It appears to be connecting 2 other rivers in a strange way.

[Dominic]

The only little nit-pick I have is that there is a branch of a river running east of Lorax City that looks like it doesn't
belong. It appears to be connecting 2 other rivers in a strange way.

Ah, I see what you mean. Yea I didn't really notice that bit till you mentioned it, thank you. I think at the time I felt like I needed more rivers, as before I only had the main ones that meet at the "X" and from there it curved around Lorax City and went back into the ocean. I suppose I could remove the branch you're talking about since it doesn't really do anything.

[Davros01]

I really like the map and actually rather like the colors. remind of older faded books from the 1800s. Your map is crisp, clean, easily read. just what a map should be. keep up the great work.

Marc

[Rhotherian]

Great map! The colours you used add a kinda old look to it. Perhaps you could round off the effect by adding a scroll/papyrus-like frame. I think that would be pretty awesome, but that's just me.


Say, will you be posting this novel on the forum as you go allong with it? I'd very much like reading it (would like to gather some tips for my own novel).