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It's looking nice, clean and efficient. I'm not entirely convinced by the granular texture you got on the topography, though. It's original yet a bit off imho.
Trade Routes of the Qarmien Gulf during the Bronze Age
Hello everyone!
I recently joined this forum and wanted to share the first map I made with y'all! I want to say that the map style is influenced by FT Cartography's "Mapping the Gnomish Incursion" map. I am still learning to create maps, and my style isn't fully developed. His maps were among the first to catch my eye, and I liked their style.
Trade Routes of the Qarmien Gulf During the Bronze Age.png
I used Wonderdraft to create an archipelago of islands until I found an island shape I liked. I created a detailed map of the shape to create a "continent," adjusted the coastline, and made it black-and-white. I then put it into Inkscape and traced the coastlines to create the map again in Inkscape.
This is a completed map of a small region in my world. It was heavily inspired by various maps of trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean during the bronze age, and it is meant to highlight the different "states" and their influences during this era, as well as the trade routes and the trade goods. These trade goods are not set in stone, as I have not created a biome, climate, or vegetation map, which I realize is me working backward, but I just wanted to start creating these maps.
As this is the first map that I created and the fact I am still learning, I wanted to start off by creating maps of the earlier history of my world, as it will allow me to change the names of things and have it be a little less accurate, and I also know that I haven't put a date on the map because I haven't figured out what I wanted the years to look like. The thing that I struggled with was creating names for things, as it is something that I am not very good at, so I wanted to ask for advice on the ways I could create realistic names for my world.
I know I have a few things missing, such as the unit of measurement in my scale and other notes in my key/legend, but please let me know if you see anything missing/something that is worth adding and what I should improve on, as any advice is welcome. I want to learn from the best!
It's looking nice, clean and efficient. I'm not entirely convinced by the granular texture you got on the topography, though. It's original yet a bit off imho.
Yeah, the texture comes from me trying to make a Wilbur heightmap, and I might've messed up somewhere along the way.Originally Posted by Ilanthar
What about it seems off? Is it just the texture or something else? because I think I get what you mean, but I am just not sure how to fix it.
I've played with wilbur but I'm no expert. I would naturally smudge a tad here and there to get a more ridge/slope view, but that would be with my drawing software (I'm using krita). Did you tried different textures or views? I vaguely recall that wilbur propose different views/textures to display a same map with different interesting results.
I did tests a few years ago combining different of them (here).
I see; I don't think I knew that you could change views and textures on Wilbur; I will definitely have to check it out.
I don't remember the exact name for it (hence my hesitation between view & texture). Might be surface? Anyway, I encourage you to browse the different menus & options of the software. You might find interesting this thread by my esteemed colleague.
Looks great so far! I love maps like these that actually provide info on the worldbuilding without breaking the fourth wall. Will look forward to seeing more maps like this from your world!
Yes, Since it was still my first time doing it, I was just following a guide and was trying to get it done, but now that I am more comfortable with the software I use, I will definitely spend more time looking up how things work.
I definitely needed to learn that it's okay to take a lot of time on a map and not rush it, so I am working on that as well, lol.
Thank you! I was definitely trying to view it as if the person looking at this map has no prior knowledge of the history of the region; think like you are learning history in school, and the teacher is showing you a map to help you better understand a concept!
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