The Western Peninsula of The Brellic Empire (WIP)

[EnglishFish]

Hello cartographers. This is my first post on the forum, though i have been an avid viewer for a short while now. Anyways on with the map:
good-boi2.gif

I'm not in love with the paper texture or some of the land painting. I'll try to include a version without either here:
good-boi3.png

any advice or threads on betting my land painting or paper/canvas textures would be appreciated.

thanks :)

[KMAlexander]

This is a great starting point. I'm kinda into the land painting, myself. Though the texture does muddy it up a bit. Perhaps adjust it's opacity/blend mode?

[Kellerica]

I agree with Alexander, you're off to a nice start!

What software are you using? If there is any chance you're operating with Photoshop or something that operates in a similar manner, my personal go-to technique for texture is laying several different parchment texture layers on top of all the other layers you have so far, and then use some color adjustment layers to tweak the colors to my liking.

I first use different Blending styles that make the textures transparent and mix and match them up until I get something I like.
My typical map has maybe 6-12 layers of texture in place (some of these can be the same texture multiple times, but most of them different), not all of them at a 100% opacity.
Every combo is different in terms of what Blending modes will work, but often Multiply, Soft Light, Overlay and Color/Linear Burn (these usually at very low opacity, they just help give the work a little contrast to the thing) make their way into my mixes. But there is no right answer to knowing what will work! I usually first place a few textures, switch them all to Multiply, and then start working my way up by trying out different modes of some of them until I find a combo I think works.

As this heavy texture work tends to muddy and darken the colors of the map a lot, I always combat it by employing a number of Photoshop Adjustment layers.
Levels, Curves or something similar to bring the brightness up (many would say not enough, my maps are kind of know for being dark ) and Hue/Saturation and Color Balance to adjust the colors into what I actually want them to be. I often have as many (or more) of these layers than I do the actual textures, and have them masked for land and sea separately, etc.

I have no idea if this helps any, so sorry if it's too weird! Texture work is kinda my passion, and I've spent many years trying to learn ways to do it effectively. I guess it's up for debate whether or not I have actually been successful in that, but... well, I try

One thing I do like to do: when I have all my textures in place, I always have the highlights of my shading on top of those textures. 90% of the time I'll do my highlights in white, set the layer style to Overlay and drop the opacity down to something like 20-30% and it's good to go.

If there is anything I can explain further, don't hesitate to ask!

[DrWho42]

looks great so far! can't wait to see the rest as it has quite the potential~