WIP: North Marches

[Green-Pilgrim]

Yep.. much better.... tip: the smudge tool is my favorite item in GIMP. I personally would still like all of the water shifted a bit more in shade, but that's just me.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by 'in shade'. darker?

BTW, the change to add the parchment texture instead of the flat green, I can't even being to express how much that one little change has made this map so much better.

Yeah - once I put the parchment as a layer and cleaned up the mountain range - it just looks so much more like a hand-drawn map. I think that I'm going to continue with using that parchment as the basis for my additional maps with the idea that someone has made the map in black ink (to show the basic features) and then gone back over it with watercolors to show features like forests, rivers and water.

Has anyone else tried that 'look' of watercolor over ink?

[furiousuk]

I'm also learning the many benefits of a well-placed smudge!

I like the river run-off into the sea, my first thought was to have the mouth of the river darker to match the sea colour but the way you've done it is far better.

The two rivers on the left that run parallel to each other, shouldn't there be some indication of small hills separating them? It looks like they should run together (just before the 2nd turn to the South maybe). Also, it runs through the small hill range, I think more indication of the valley that it must cut through might work.

I also like the look of the parchment, good choice

[Green-Pilgrim]

Yep.. much better.... tip: the smudge tool is my favorite item in GIMP. I personally would still like all of the water shifted a bit more in shade, but that's just me.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by 'in shade'. darker?

BTW, the change to add the parchment texture instead of the flat green, I can't even being to express how much that one little change has made this map so much better.

Yeah - once I put the parchment as a layer and cleaned up the mountain range - it just looks so much more like a hand-drawn map. I think that I'm going to continue with using that parchment as the basis for my additional maps with the idea that someone has made the map in black ink (to show the basic features) and then gone back over it with watercolors to show features like forests, rivers and water.

Has anyone else tried that 'look' of watercolor over ink?

Here's a new stab at the colors for the water. I took them to more of the 'blue' side than teal. Comments?
new-north-marches-1003-sm.png

[Green-Pilgrim]

I'm trying to fill in the grid square south of the previous map and the mountain range just isn't looking right. south-marches-2001-sm.png Between the mountains in the north and those here in the south, they should make, essentially a "reverse J" shape that stretches down to the small landmass in the south east section of the new map.

Since the northern mountains taper down to tiny 'hills', I guessed that the mountain range would then increase back up to a similar mountain 'peak' in the south. Again, it just doesn't look right for some reason.

Suggestions?

[jbgibson]

Might it work better if more of the peak symbols overlapped? Right now it looks more like a collection of separate spikes, than a coherent range. The little ones also look like different-scale full-size mountains, rather than foothills - maybe use more rounded symbols for them? Just a thought - ymmv.