Reply With QuoteI really like this map! The terrain is not only recognizable, but very well done. I love the illustrations all over the place! It is evident that you put a lot of effort into this map
Good job
WIP - The Phaeris Empire
This is a WIP I began a few months before joining the Guild. I've been meaning to post the progress, but I just haven't really put the time aside until now.
The Phaeris Empire spans most of the continent of Endaria with the majority of landing being harsh desert or arid badlands. Given the desert theme, I was inspired by old Persian and Arabic designs when conceptualizing this map. I'm no historian, so this is purely art that is focused on the fictional Phaerian culture with Persian and Arabic art influencing certain themes.
This map is based on a different map I did of the continent, so my first draft allowed me to place more emphasis on the Empire's land while also testing a different style.
Phaeris Empire.jpg
After I tweaked the style a bit, I was happy enough to start adding geographical features. This style is new to me, so here I wanted to experiment with the lines and shapes to get something I like.
Phaeris Empire 1.jpg
I took a break from the geography to introduce politics to the map. Personally, I would rather leave the borders and territories off of the map, but my DM requested that they be present. The upcoming campaign I'll be playing in will apparently focus on regional politics and clan strife.
Phaeris Empire 2.jpg
There was actually another iteration of the map before this one, but the file size was too large to upload and the differences between that iteration and this one were relatively minimal. For the time being, I have removed the coat of arms until I can finalize their design. I have begun adding text, boundries, and prominent landmarks. From here, I'll add shading and highlights to the geography in addition to adding some color to the design on the edge of the map. At the moment, I'm unsure as to whether or not I'll try adding some more color to the map itself. Part of me would love additional color, but part of me also knows that this map could become too distracting if everythings is colored in.
### Latest WIP ###
Phaeris Empire 4.jpg
What's left to do?
- Add color where necessary
- Finish the pattern along the edges
- Finish naming the locations
- Revise the text and text layouts
- Add some history or regional lore to the upper right box
- Design the inset map in the bottom right corner
- Compass Rose
- Shading and Highlights
- General revisions and tweaks
I really like this map! The terrain is not only recognizable, but very well done. I love the illustrations all over the place! It is evident that you put a lot of effort into this map
Good job
I appreciate it. I always thought the terrain was a bit cluttered and maybe hard to read, so I'm glad to hear the contrary. It's very far from completion, but it's nice to hear that you like it so far!Originally Posted by PeriphReal
I really like this map! The terrain is not only recognizable, but very well done. I love the illustrations all over the place! It is evident that you put a lot of effort into this map
Good job
The stripped out style is refreshing, very cool. I really like where you're going with it Alfanso!
Here's my latest WIP. It's near completion now, and I'm starting to finalize the major components. At this point, I still need to add text to the map, draw the compass rose, do some detail color, and some post-production.
### Latest WIP ###
Phaeris Empire 6.jpg
There's quite a bit of miscellaneous clean up work that remains, but the map is in its final stages for sure.
I absolutely love your colors, Alfanso, and the borders gives a real identity to the map : well done !
This is pretty cool! I like the critters, especially that giant turtle in the northern sea with the ripples in his wake. Little things like that, that just catch your eye and make you study the whole thing over again make a map a winner.
After some discussion with my friend (the dungeon master for the campaign), I was able to finalize the text on the map. The paragraphs in the upper right corner tell the legend of people who founded this empire, and I assume my the campaign will feature this mythology heavily since he asked me to put it on the map haha.
The border art got some touching up, both in terms of color and blend modes. In some of my previous WIP posts, I mentioned that I wanted to display coats of arms for each of the provinces. After going through the design process for each of those, I ultimately decided that it just didn't look right. Thus, I scrapped that idea. Instead, I'm leaving much of the center of map empty with the exception of the roads and provincial borders. This is partially due to the cleaner look, but I also wanted negative space so that my D&D group can write on the map as we adventure around the continent. Other changes include the removal of color from the "points of interest" around the map, touching up of city icons and roads, and smaller post-processing tweaks.
Finally, I'm ready to call this map complete. As with most pieces of art, you can keep working on it forever. There comes a point where you just have to decide that it's good enough, and this is that point for me.
### Latest WIP ###
Phaeris Empire_RGB.jpg
If you catch any glaring mistakes or things that need to be fixed, let me know!
"Excodus", unless a special coinage for this world, should be "Exodus", while "deceiptful" should be "deceitful".
I like all the little drawings.
Given the use of color, I think it could have been extended a bit more to brighten the cities/towns and give them a bit more "pop". As it is, the frame and seas are what draw the eye from a distance.
Ah, thank you for the grammatical corrections. I always have trouble finding those sorts of things. I think you're right about the cities/towns. The decision not to color them mostly came from knowing that we would be writing and taking notes directly on the map, so I hoped to keep the land mostly neutral. I'll check with my DM to see what he thinks. I wouldn't be opposed to adding color to the icons, but at the time I was feeling ready to finish and took the shortcut.
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