Faltorn, capital of the Grand Duchy of the Dragon's Tail

[Caenwyr]

Hi all! I'd like to present my newest city map showing the city of Faltorn, capital of the Grand Duchy of the same name. Because of its geography, this Grand Duchy also goes by the nickname Dragon's Tail. You can find it in the bottom part of my novel map. If you're interested in how this project came to be, be sure to check out the WIP thread over here.

Sagitarii14.jpg

I hope you guys like it! If not, be harsh and completely unreasonable, because this is a practice piece and I intend to learn from it.

[Robulous]

Very nice. I have struggled to come up with some harsh and unreasonable criticisms, nothing springs to mind

[- JO -]

Hello !

As I told you, the map is really great !
I love the fact that you were really coherent in the construction of the city, specially in the evolution of it : from old town to the marsh, with the successive walls
I like very much the labels, the frame and the frame with the coat of arms, and all the names that you chose. I think you made a really good job with the land around the city : the grass, the woods and the relief are really nice. And the map makes a good "ensemble" with your map of the world ! If you go on, you will have a real treasure with an atlas of your world !!!

If you want me to be picky, I could only ask one or two questions : The walls of the new harbour are not near the sea. They are not protecting the new harbour. Is there a reason for that ? Wouldn't the architect build the new wall just in front of the sea to protect the buildings ?
And for the cliff north of old town : I like that very much. It helps to understand why the founders choose this place to start a settlement : very well protected. Would this cliff be more "present" if you would strenghten the shadow south of old city (actually, the shadow that is under the label of old city) to better explain that the ground is slowly descending to the river ?

Again, those questions are only because you pushed to be picky : I have absolutely no problem with your map as it is now ! I would gladly put a poster of it on my wall ! It's nearly good enough to push me to learn flemish to read you novel ... :-DDDD

[Ilgoth]

Brilliant work. I like the colors and the frames a lot! Rep.

[Ilanthar]

Well, I must say I'm not so fond of the forests (a bit too texture to my taste).
And stopping the critics...

The shadowing of the land is well done. The rest is gorgeous, with an excellent and fun urban planning and cool ideas . I would have loved to see some scum trails behind the boats (which are really good!).

[ChickPea]

Nice job with this! Agree with Ilanthar's comment about the forests. They look OK when you're zoomed out, but not quite as appealing once you zoom in. The actual city is fantastic, and I love the little details like the trees along the roads.

[ThomasR]

Exactly like the two above, I love it but I find the forest texture a bit brutal.

[Cambragol]

I think it looks great. My only suggestion would be to consider giving the borders of the map some kind of black 'outline' to connect thematically with the map itself.

[Caenwyr]

Thanks all! It's true that the forest may have been rushed a bit - I certainly didn't give it the attention it deserved. I guess I thought I could get away with it.

Regarding the golden frame: I tried the outline trick, but it just didn't work - not with the stroke tool anyway. Maybe next time I should try the same hand-drawn outline I did for the anchor