Les Basses-Brumes

[Gadiouka]

Hi everyone

After a little break, I'm back with another project related to my fantasy world. I'm getting at a point of my novel where I need to know who is where and who owns what, so I guess it gives me an excuse to draw yet another map, yeepee I want to keep this one simple and functional, so I hope it won't be as time-consuming as the last ones. The basic shapes and lines where drawn on paper, then processed/colored with Gimp. I'm know vectorising it and tackling the road network with Inkscape (eeew)

As for the style, I draw my inspiration from various 17/18th century maps.

To-do:

Names and labels
Roads
City icons

Basses Brumes rose.png

[Gadiouka]

Some city doodles I've been playing with; I'll create a few more tomorrow to add a bit of diversity. I'm quite happy with the font, Terra Ignota!
EWJK3gJXkAYqbF5.png

[Gadiouka]

I've named all my city and villages, and spent waaay more time on those doodles than expected. I definitely hate Inkscape (I mean, what software would - by default - prevent a gradient from moving WITH it's own object?!! aaaaah)

I'm now trying to lay out my forests in the discrete 17th century manner, wish me luck!

EWOPKa9WkAECTB0.jpg

unnamed.jpg

[Hermit]

I really like the city doodles and good luck on the forests! It seems time-consuming, but the effect looks great.

[Gadiouka]

Thanks Hermit! I'm not satisfied yet with my main city doodle, too "clean" and sharp in my opinion. I'll have to work on that!
Here are my first forests, with another font that matches pretty well the general 17th century mood: Antiquarian

738c47a5-30c3-46dd-b9e6-9b0bc4fc3f39.png

[Gadiouka]

So this is where I am. At this point, the thing I like the least are my rivers... I failed to give them that 17th century look I've been trying to replicate with Inkscape.

I'm looking for something like those rivers:
1628-Mercator-and-Hondius-Map-of-Cork-and-Kerry.jpg

I haven't figured out how to replicate that with Inkscape (= having borders AND a tapering effect). There must be a way, but for now I'm tired of fighting with this software so I'll probably let it rest a bit.

image.png

Comments and critics welcome!

[Falconius]

That looks wonderful so far. Your rivers do seem a little bit too thin in comparison to the example you posted but I think they look good in this style you made as well. Inkscape is a somewhat limited program unfortunately, and the development cycle seems to be rather anemic, so I'm not sure you may be able to replicate what you want with Inkscape. Another option could be to use a tryout version of a professional vector program or subscribe to one for a month or two. The other option after that is to manage the basic vector work with Inkscape but actually process the results in GIMP.

With the rivers you could get them looking like you want in Inkscape then move them to gimp then do a wand select of the rivers in the river layer then do a border select of about 3 to 4 pixels then bucket fill that selection on a new layer with the black river outline colour. (I'm assuming GIMP has an option to select or outline the border of a selection)
In this map I was using Studio Paint Pro to do the rivers (the program has both vector layers and raster layers) and it has the option to specify the beginning and the end width of a vector line so you can get a constant distal tapering of the rivers and avoid that widening of the middles of the lines. I would think Inkscape can also do that, but I cant remember ever doing it myself so am not sure.

[Coggleton]

I like the design and color scheme- it's simple and straightforward. And I do like it when maps have a story and history behind them. Are these subregions of a sovereign state, or independent regions on their own?

Also, it looks like Boraldi in the lower left is bisected by a mountain chain. Does that present logistical problems for the regional government, or is there some highway that allows for passage between the two that's not represented on the map?

[Gadiouka]

Another option could be to use a tryout version of a professional vector program or subscribe to one for a month or two. The other option after that is to manage the basic vector work with Inkscape but actually process the results in GIMP.

Thanks for your advices and examples! I like the way your rivers look I'll try again with Inkscape today, and if it doesn't work I'll do it with Gimp and then re-vectorise it back if I can.

I like the design and color scheme- it's simple and straightforward. And I do like it when maps have a story and history behind them. Are these subregions of a sovereign state, or independent regions on their own?

Also, it looks like Boraldi in the lower left is bisected by a mountain chain. Does that present logistical problems for the regional government, or is there some highway that allows for passage between the two that's not represented on the map?

Thanks for your feedback Coggleton. To answer both of your questions:
- The mountains that appear south-west of the province are actually piedmont of a larger range. The elevation is quite low and they are rather hills, getting steeper as we progress west, so the county is not cut in half, and there are roads and passages. But your question raises another issue that I have: my road network! For now, I've just drawn the main roads in light dotted lines for fear of a saturated map, but I have to decide what to do with them... I've noticed that most of the 17th-18th century regional maps simply don't display roads!
- The counties (Boraldi, Caraltan, Haydl etc) are subregions of the Basses-Brumes Province, which is itself part of a larger federal state. The Province has been ruled by the Secrestan house for... well, almost eternity, since its members appear to have an otherworldly longevity. They usually live for 300 to 400 years, and thus rule over the province by divine right. The earls swear allegiance to them.

Now enough chatter, let's get back to that map!

[Gadiouka]

So... after many trials and deep meditations about hydrography and aesthetics, I came up with this:

EWX4UMDWAAAxNpc.jpg

I finally managed to add the borders I wanted, even though a part of the tapering effect is lost in the process. I found the result too sharp, so I added a semi-transparent stroke underneath it. I like it better, and might keep it this way. Let me know what you think!