Reply With QuoteVery good map!
Tropan, yet again.
One of the very first settings I created years and years ago is Tropan, a land whose primary nation (and main baddies) is a theocracy run by necromancers. Over the years, the setting has changed vastly as I began to write stories set in it; every time I think I've got the look nailed down, something else occurs to me, or I have a story idea that necessitates geography changes. A couple earlier versions of this world can be found here and here.
This newest version incorporates everything I've done to date on this setting so far, which is... a lot. (I'm thinking of starting a Wiki or Obsidian Portal site for it at some point.)
Anyway, onto the map. I started with a hand-drawn rough outline, which I scanned and imported into CS2. Creating a new layer, I traced out the land-mass outlines and turned it into a black and white base map. The land is actually three separate layers - two B&W cloud layers with lighting effects and beveled, angled slightly to each other and merged, with another layer on top set to soft light, which contains not only the base terrain colors but another merged layer with a film grain overlay gaussian blurred to break things up a bit.
The mountains were drawn using Pasis' excellent method, and the forests are a simple grass pattern set to overlay. Overall I'm really pleased with the variation and richness of the colors. The rivers, roads, and borders were designed to be as 'non-intrusive' as possible, and I think they do the job. I made the city icons, and the skull and crossbones and compass are CC-licensed images from Wikipedia. The font is Benegraphic on the title name, and Fertigo Pro for everything else.
Eventually I want to do some regional maps in a more antique style, but I think that'll have to wait a bit; I'm burnt out after this one.
Last edited by Diamond; 07-26-2010 at 02:35 PM.
Very good map!
This is an excellent map, indeed. I like the way the land textures fits with naturality. Good job.
Really lovely! I particularly love the symbols for the towns and cities and the '3d counter' look.
This is very nice, the bronze gradient is a lil dark at the top n bottom of the text but everything else is super cool. Great job.
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
Very pretty - love the compass. Repped and rated.
Most excellent!
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.
Thanks, guys!
Yeah, it may be a tad too dark, but I wanted something that would stand out - but not too much. Meh, I'm happy with it.Originally Posted by Ascension
Really, a very good map Diamond!
Great map. Thanks for sharing the creation process. A necromansocracy! So is anyone allowed to stay dead in these lands? Do the undead wander around the cities? Are they untiring servants of the living? I can see that a lot of stories could 'arise'.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go..
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