The Tentivu Tetrarchy [WIP]

[Caenwyr]

Great work, Caenwyr. I'm always impressed by your shading of the lands... I suppose you're gonna put the key/title in the bottom right? Otherwise, it will look a bit non-centered.

Hey Ilanthar, thanks!

The idea is to put a whole bunch of stuff around the landmass, as is illustrated below:

Attachment 89482

But it's still gonna take me a while before I get all that finished

[Caenwyr]

Something else as well: do any of you guys use a copyright license agreement or similar? I usually charge different prices for different types of use, but I imagine it'd be really easy for a client to say his order belongs to the cheapest category (strictly private use) and still use the image for other purposes afterwards. I don't feel like using ugly watermarks and I don't even want to start this dangerous game of mistrusting my clients, but I also don't like to be cheated/robbed.

So I guess my question is: how do you guys make sure your maps aren't used for things the customer didn't pay for?

[ThomasR]

Caenwyr, this is even more glorious than your previous works that were already fantastic ! I'm afraid I gonna be obliged to try and emulate your land shading and coastal details. You really progressed in that last department.

[Josiah VE]

Zeer mooi!
I love the southern pine forest and the mountains and rivers through it! Great job!

[Ilanthar]

I'm looking forward to see it finished! I like the layout with the shields .

[Caenwyr]

Hi people! I'm currently working on the labelling of my map. I originally planned to use abstract icons, but while I waited for input from the client, I toyed around a bit with isometric city icons as well.

city icons.png
(abstract icons)

iso_city_icons.jpg
(and isometric ones).

So I created two versions of the map, and I was wondering which you guys would prefer:

1. the one with the abstract icons
   Tentivu_21b.jpg
2. or the one with the isometric little thingies
   Tentivu_21d.jpg

As you'll probably have noticed, this is only a partial update, but since I'm waiting anyway, I might as well ask for your opinion . So speak up!

[snodsy]

The icons give a more immediate reference to what type of city it is so I like the idea of a city icon instead of a symbol, but they seem pretty small on the map, so you kind of lose that reference somewhat. Can they be a little bigger? I know max uses these alot, maybe check out a few of his also. Kind of a toss up with me?

[Caenwyr]

The icons give a more immediate reference to what type of city it is so I like the idea of a city icon instead of a symbol, but they seem pretty small on the map, so you kind of lose that reference somewhat. Can they be a little bigger? I know max uses these alot, maybe check out a few of his also. Kind of a toss up with me?

Thanks Snodsy! In the meantime the customer decided he likes the symbols best, so that's what I'm going for. I adapted them a little to display city size as well (and not just the hierarchical level of the city) and gave them a slight inner glow to make them pop a little more.

Last change in this update is the beginnings of a frame, with four cardinal direction "orbs" that would allow me to drop the compass. it pays to be frugal when it comes to image real estate!

Tentivu_22.jpg

What do you think - on the right track?

[Voolf]

Honestly, right now the "orbs" does not fit the map imo. Maybe because of the dark red colour? Its a wip though, a lot may change, i would like to know how you proceed with this. Will you embed those in frame?

[ChickPea]

It looks amazing, Caenwyr! Love what you're doing here. I'm glad your client opted for the icons. That would have been my choice too.