Makkathran

[Sapiento]

Given your rep (and professional artist status) I am going to be harsher than I normally would, so let me preface my criticisms with an acknowledgment that it is a really good map that I think has the potential to be a great work of art.

The hatching (diagonal across the buildings and horizontal on the main roads) just doesn't do it for me - the background parchment and base line work seem better than that. Unless you have a specific map that you are copying in mind, the Renaissance is more about art than technical drafting. Yes, there should be the technical line work like the building outlines and compass, but that should be only the starting point. Specifically, I suggest something closer to a watercolor embellishment of the buildings than a simple hatch. Perhaps a transparent Grey (or color tinted layer) as a solid hatch over the buildings - with some sort of cloud texture to create the lighter and darker patches common in watercolor.

Since the side streets are defined by their light color, the main streets should lose the horizontal hatch completely and just let their slightly darker background define them.

The city wall should be solid black or a near-black dark Grey.

The woods dot texture doesn't work - it looks more early 20th century zip-tone than Renaissance. I suggest some small hand drawn texture or some small gaps in the canopy and a light watercolor-like shading.

Another small nit, but the woods should stop at the inner line of the border, that's what it is there for. Same with the roads and buildings to the top and bottom, and the top and bottom edge of the water/coast hatch.

As far as the water's edge goes, it is absolutely perfect, don't change it one bit (except to stop it at the border).

So that's my 2 cents worth ... you did say that C & C was welcome.

Thank you, any C&C is appreciated.

I guess from your comments that you don't know the novels, which may have influenced your comments.

The 'main roads' are canals and the texture is the same as for the coast. The city wall is not of stone ('crystal wall'!) - if I would change the colour it would be very bright.

Even if the tech of this culture is similar to Renaissance it's not the same. People can 'connect' to animals like eagles and see through their eyes, so they know very well how their city looks like from above. I think this would make an artistic approach to a map unlikely.

As for the border: I will try if it looks better to make the space between the black border lines solid.

You're right about the woods, I was not satisfied with it from the beginning, but at the moment I still haven't found a better way.

[Jaxilon]

That is cool Sap, I don't recall ever seeing the books but I think I will be looking for them now.

[atpollard]

People can 'connect' to animals like eagles and see through their eyes, so they know very well how their city looks like from above. I think this would make an artistic approach to a map unlikely.

Just for clarification, by 'artistic', I did not mean a caricature rather than a precision map.
I meant something like this:
62934461.jpg
which is clearly a line drawing, but one which has been artistically enhanced with watercolor

... as distinct from a purely technical drawing like this:
PatternReinforced278.jpg
where the hatching is intended to clearly depict different materials with little attention paid to its 'artistic rendering'.

PS. You were dead on about my unfamiliarity with the books ... I still think that the shore hatch distracts from the canals, but the wall should probably be rendered whiter than the rest of the map ... the walls just need to look more distinct from the buildings and the canals.

YMMV, but I wanted to make sure that I was communicating my intent correctly.

[Sapiento]

Ok, I understand what you mean.

But that's simply not my intention for this map.

[Sapiento]

I tried it with vertical lines for the forest (still not satisfying) and added a light dropshadow to the buildings. I also deleted the tower at the city gates - IIRC the gates are simply openings.

[Steel General]

*** Thread title updated per OP request ***

[atpollard]

ANSI38.jpg
What about ANSI38 for the forest?

[Sapiento]

This time a simple brown colour for the woods.

[Sapiento]

ANSI38.jpg
What about ANSI38 for the forest?

Thanks for the pattern. I think it's a little bit too complicated.

[Sapiento]

Thanks to a comment in a Peter F. Hamilton fan forum I've got at least an estimate for the diameter of the city, which would be around 28 km. I added a scale bar to the map.