Lands of Fagacea

[- Max -]

Just sayd "keys " as generic names for all informations around the map. For now those informations blocks just look randomly put in my opnion and doesn't give a nice esthetical feeling to my eyes

[aquarits]

More Progress!

I dunno Max, i searched some other maps like what i want ( like a picture in a frame to set in a wall) and not found something like a cartouch to use. Trying use a cartouche i got my Clan and Families symbols to small and almost making me set thos icons in the lands, what i dont want. And using a cartouche made me few in the obligation to detail more about my town icons and maybe use roads. (thing that i am still thinking in use or not).

Still not approved the wooden border, and still dunno if it is cool, need some opinions. Here i wrote the land description:

Always existed and always will exist, conflicts between the samurai clans and ninja families. For times, Shogun financed the military expeditions of the samurai and supported the agricultural maintenance of ninjas. However in certain era, samurai feel superior because imperial links and slowly began a conquest of the land ninjas.
Without the Shogun's interference, ninjas gone be cornered because it lacked the military power compared with samurais. In the form of counter attack, the families ninjas blocked the agricultural supplies for the rest of the empire, which was very difficult times. Hunger and misery ravaged the land of Izumo, then the Shogun had to interfere in this conflict. Coming to close the war and establishing boundaries. This did not prevent small conflicts that still occur.
In 250 BC, the imperial family had begun to lose its lineage, this time the Carp's Clan was best suited to succeed the throne. However the ninjas did not support this self dictatorship, because the Carp's Clan was one of the greatest ninjas inquisitors. This time that the things began to change. Kaede Hamada, leader of Eagle's Clan discovered one ore able to make their swords unbreakable. This changed the course of the war. With the support of the families ninjas quickly Hamada's popularity grew, but maybe not in the time required to exchange the Shogunate.
With countless conflicts scattered Izumo, Sakuradite was quickly inserted into the everyday population, whether in war, whether in secular life. Source of energy and money, this ore was to take over the shogunate's hands from Hitoch Kaoshi, supreme leader of the Carp's Clan.
A few months of the transfer of the Shogun's power, sellers silk from Nama Family found traces of Sakuradite in the Warlands. Hamada immediately reported to Hitama Kakochi , leader of Crane and arch enemy of the Carp. Hitama funded a millionaire expedition to the Warlands with the intention to discovering if the rummors about Kaoshi really distributing Sakuradite by other continents.
On the day of the procedure between the Shoguns, Hamada and Hitama invaded the imperial city, taking the throne and overthrowing the Carp's Clan forever. Hamada supported by the ninja families raised the Eagle's Clan for cutting, becoming the fourth Shogun promoted the clan of Izumo in 303 BC. In 322 BC, Kiria Kaoshi become Shogun, descendant of the ancient imperial family and the Eagle's clan, this time already admitted with royal blood.
During these 80 years on the throne changes, the conflict eased. Focused on the extraction of sakuradite, the 7 Ninja families and 5 Samurai clans were moved to set up their capital in large sources of this ore, and appointed by the emperor own extraction and in different areas of application for Sakuradite.
Already at the end of your domain, Kaoshi determined the Sakura Law, that prohibited the marketing of Sakuradite with other continents. In 342 BC trying to eliminate the high rates of smuggling of the ore the Scorpion's Clan was appointed guardian of the law. Peacetime always been a thread of destruction, current Mamoto Mohio, ruler of the imperial city is sick and still in 416 BC still does not have a firstborn successor. This creates tension in families and clans because the Ascension of a samurai clan can be one of the next decisions of the emperor, less than Mamoto Kuiky eldest daughter to take the throne and assume the position of empress.

[- Max -]

Hey Aquarits, I'm not saying that you necessarily have to use cartouches, just saying the whole placement of elements doesn't looks aesthetically good for me but that's just my two cents, maybe you need some other opinions :p

[aquarits]

right and about the rest?
specially the wooden borders

[- Max -]

Not myself very keen of realistic elements on hand-drawn style maps

[Chashio]

The corners are too dark on your frame (they should join seamlessly at the same height, not have an overlap with drop shadow, but you can put a shady line at the joint to make it appear as though they're not quite touching if you want it to look poorly made), and the repetition of the pattern bothers me a bit, you could also bump the lighting up on the inside edges some to appear more forward than the black matte. I would add a subtle texture to the black matte... a lighter texture (maybe set to overlay or linear dodge and low opacity) just so that the lighting matches the frame better (as if the same light is hitting it). My current commission map has a frame around it too.

For the map info stuff, I might be tempted to put a neat line border around each chunk (top right, bottom left, and bottom right not including the circle, and maybe the title too) and perhaps add a low opacity white fill inside them to give them a little more polish. But that's me.

[Chashio]

Not myself very keen of realistic elements on hand-drawn style maps

What about framing a hand-drawn map to hang on your wall? Same as a piece of art. That's what he's doing, except it's hanging on the computer screen.

[waldronate]

Your question hits one of my pet peeves. The map is nice. the hand-drawn elements are well done. The labels and text look a little too perfect to go with the rest of the map, but it's not too bad. The background goes with the hand-drawn elements to give a relatively harmonious result. But the wood border turns it from a map to a picture of a map, in my opinion.

If the goal is to use this map as a handout for what someone would see looking at physical object that is a framed map, then it's a good image. If the goal is to be a map (an abstract representation of a place done for a specific purpose), then the wood border is irrelevant to the problem.

Creating the physical manifestation of the map (the drawing and labels and even the background, to some extent) is an artistic expression. Adding the black matting and wood border is a separate artistic expression, and one that I feel doesn't flow well with the rest of the image. If the descriptive text evoked a museum setting and was shown on an adjacent plaque or in some way presenting the idea that this map was a relic of the earlier period, then the border might be appropriate to the art piece, but it still wouldn't be part of the map. In that latter case, I would recommend what I find to be another popular but ugly activity: tossing layers of grunge and apparent wear to make it clear that the image is a picture of a physical object that has a map on it. Maybe even some (shudder) fake folds.

Anyhow, I've had this rant before. It makes me sad when people take a nicely done map and try to "add ambiance" and just end up making it look weird to me.

[waldronate]

What about framing a hand-drawn map to hang on your wall? Same as a piece of art. That's what he's doing, except it's hanging on the computer screen.

The major elements of the map don't harmonize, though. The hand-drawn elements have a different character than the obviously mechanical labels, and the wood has completely different characteristics from the others. It looks a bit jumbled, which distracts me from the nice artwork in the main body of the map area.

[Chashio]

Ha. True enough. I think the grunging effects etc have become more popular as the digital medium becomes more common. People still like the look and feel of things that are created by hand and gain patinas of age and use. It deepens the story and intrigue as the item passes from hand to hand. I agree that most artists would blanch at the thought of 'grunging' a freshly finished piece of art; certainly it wasn't a traditional practice of cartographers and painters of old. But the Trompe l'oeil style has been around for a time too. If everything in the piece comes together at the end, creating a realistic frame can often bring the viewer more into the story, seeing the map as the character sees it displayed in the setting. Another perspective, anyhow... my brother likes to eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I don't.