September/October Entry: Valley of the Fey Prince.

[Aval Penworth]

Latest update, nothing major.

I am considering the following, thoughts welcome...

1) Little gardens for the houses.
2) A key/ legend on a scroll in the bottom right of the map.
3) Some decorative flourishes on the title page.
4) Trying to make it look more like an open book on a bedside table.
5) Writing a faux introduction under the title (although most books would have the intro on a subsequent page).

### LATEST WIP ###

[Katto]

That looks really good! The lower left stone rocks, giving the map a certain depth. Adding the palace there would create a bridge to the viewer or reader in this case. I don't know if a legend in the map will fit. Perhaps it will be too much and draw the attention away from the city. A few gardens next to some houses is a good idea, perhaps just adding some flowers is enough?

[mearrin69]

Cool idea. I think stuff like this makes an ordinary map extraordinary! The rock does indeed rock.
M

[Aval Penworth]

So I made a little palace compound and popped it on the rock. I am toying with the idea of it being part drawn and part real.

[Katto]

I like the F-version. The shadows are darker and the palace does not have such a strong yellowish glow than the E-palace. Those flowers are nice and fit very well

[Aval Penworth]

Had a go at making it look like pages of a book. Comments and nit-picking welcome.

Edit: Oooh, this is my 500th post. Cool.

### Latest WIP ###

[jtougas]

Had a go at making it look like pages of a book. Comments and nit-picking welcome.

Edit: Oooh, this is my 500th post. Cool.

### Latest WIP ###

Looking good This another one of those maps that my little one likes.. My only idea is that maybe the "pages" are a bit bright? other than that it's great!!

*Edit* congrats on the 500

[Steel General]

I think this turned out quite nicely.

But for what it's worth I think the 'grass' is to lite (almost yellow), I think a richer, deeper green would be more appropriate.

[Aval Penworth]

Mmm, richer grass greens and duller paper. That would probably work. Good suggestions. I'll keep that in mind for the next update.

[Djekspek]

Heya AP, a very pretty map you got here. I'm no expert on compositions and stuff, but, since you asked so nicely , here's some of my thoughts ... This is what I myself usually do when making maps: I try to "record" my eye movement on my map to see if i see what i want the map to show (usually close my eyes, clear my vision and then open them. I repeat that multiple times and check what my eyes record... )

So this is what my odd eyeballs recorded on yours:
1- the white border draws my attention immediately and then the left-bottom part now pulls my eyes to the castle.
2- I notice the high detailled texture on the rocks
3- the dark shade top-left with the light house now pulls my eye
4- going to the river I see the other detailed mountain texture and then my eyes follow the river down and pull me down/right off the map

So although the map itself is very pretty, the composition seems to be created to see all but the actual map. So... some techniques you could use to change this:
1. make the paper a little darker
2. remove the hard edge +shade of rock of the castle (it can be a great focus point, but could be a little more subtle)
3. use an overlay layer and paint with a big high-feathered brush Black and White on this to make the village center pop-out more and the less important things darker (maybe put some white on the castle to give it attention). This will force people to look at the things you want them to look at)

I created a quick picture of what would be the result of these steps to check if it would work. But I don't want to pollute your thread so I wont post it here. Of course I can send it if you like. Anyway, just my thoughts... hope it helps you (and maybe others as well cheers!