[World11] Atlas of the Central Regions

[MistyBeee]

Simple, elegant, with amazing colors... That's another great map, Laz ! Sad I can't rep you yet !

[The Lazy One]

Woops, thanks for the typo spotting! I made ways too many changes (and more will follow, apparently) in the naming conventions... it's gonna be tough.

This map is really great. I love to colors!

Thanks Karl! I literally picked the colors randomly on the PS palette, but with a bit of shading they did blend togegher eventually.

Simple, elegant, with amazing colors... That's another great map, Laz ! Sad I can't rep you yet !

Thank you! Considering how little time that took, i'll consider that a success!

Thanks everyone, hopefully more will follow soon!

[- JO -]

I like how nice and simple can be beautiful ! (though I know it takes a lot more time and effort to make "simple") ! A really good job, here !

[The Lazy One]

I like how nice and simple can be beautiful ! (though I know it takes a lot more time and effort to make "simple") ! A really good job, here !

Thank you!
Although, being lazy, i can assure you this map did take VERY little time indeed!

- I started with an outline i already had (as part of our W11 project).
- I printed it on an a3 sheet in light blue. I use #AFFFD3, which on my printer corresponds to pure cyan ink.
- I retraced it by hand. It took about 20 minutes?
- I did the same with the regions, adding a few more in the areas i didn't map before on our old maps.
- Scanning it again, i had all the linework done. Then i did the color-blocking for the states and the sea, on two different layers. I did add color for each state with one of the four colors depicted. Mathematically you should be fine with 3 colors (on a plane, at least) but it looks a bit dull.
- Playing with layers opacity, adding an old paper overlay and a few other tricks, i gave it the old-parched feel.
- Naming took a while, but it's because i had to research each name based on the previous populations and languages of the area. I wouldn't count that in the overall process time.
- For the "book" version, i just did some more photoshop malarkey. Nothing weird.

In total, i'd say about 3-4 hours. Relatively quick, and definitely much room for improvement, given time. My goal was to have a quick map and to refine my "quick" process, so i'd say that's a success.

Cheers
Jack

[Kellerica]

Thank you!
Although, being lazy, i can assure you this map did take VERY little time indeed!

- I started with an outline i already had (as part of our W11 project).
- I printed it on an a3 sheet in light blue. I use #AFFFD3, which on my printer corresponds to pure cyan ink.
- I retraced it by hand. It took about 20 minutes?
- I did the same with the regions, adding a few more in the areas i didn't map before on our old maps.
- Scanning it again, i had all the linework done. Then i did the color-blocking for the states and the sea, on two different layers. I did add color for each state with one of the four colors depicted. Mathematically you should be fine with 3 colors (on a plane, at least) but it looks a bit dull.
- Playing with layers opacity, adding an old paper overlay and a few other tricks, i gave it the old-parched feel.
- Naming took a while, but it's because i had to research each name based on the previous populations and languages of the area. I wouldn't count that in the overall process time.
- For the "book" version, i just did some more photoshop malarkey. Nothing weird.

In total, i'd say about 3-4 hours. Relatively quick, and definitely much room for improvement, given time. My goal was to have a quick map and to refine my "quick" process, so i'd say that's a success.

Cheers
Jack

Impressive, I must say. I consider myself fairly quick at getting a map done these days, and I think my record for making a complete map is still about 2,5 days I seem to have quite a ways to go still!

[The Lazy One]

Impressive, I must say. I consider myself fairly quick at getting a map done these days, and I think my record for making a complete map is still about 2,5 days I seem to have quite a ways to go still!

To be fair, this map quality is not at the level of your work. It is also below my standards too. But that was my goal for this specific work: testing how to do a "cheaper" map that still look convincing.
I can do both, but the "cheap and reasonably good" solution is something good to have in your portfolio. Honestly, if that had to become a job, i'm sure it would help a LOT.

And -well- I AM lazy.

Jack

[Kellerica]

To be fair, this map quality is not at the level of your work. It is also below my standards too. But that was my goal for this specific work: testing how to do a "cheaper" map that still look convincing.
I can do both, but the "cheap and reasonably good" solution is something good to have in your portfolio. Honestly, if that had to become a job, i'm sure it would help a LOT.

And -well- I AM lazy.

Jack

You are not wrong, it is a good skill to have to be able to produce something reasonably good-looking in a reasonable amount of time. i think the latter map in particular is a testament to how much good textures can make a map look pretty amazing, even if not that much time was spent on the map itself underneath it all. Had you not told it, I never would have guessed this was a low-effort project just from the result, and that is key. You can always produce something quick and cheap, but if you can still make it look like it is neither of those things, you're golden

[The Lazy One]

you're golden

Nah, just Lazy, in a good way.

But yeah, I agree. All my sculpting techniques are studied for the same effect. Some take some serious time, but never more than the minimum to achieve the desired level of quality. (http://thelazyforger.com/)

[Kellerica]

Hot damn! I didn't know you did stuff like this. Super cool!

Edit: I also really dig the design of your website. Simple, yet very effective. Looks great both in terms of content and the layout.