Empire of Great Maern & Environs

[Kingbreaker]

This map represents a more-or-less generic fantasy world incorporating historical and Tolkienesque ideas. I don't have a huge backstory developed for the world other than some scrawl in an old notebook somewhere. There is a WIP thread in the regional forum.

The style is just kind of. . . different I guess. My goal was to take the idea of a "hand drawn" map and say - why drawing? Why not carved/inlayed wood? I tried to make each element of the map out of some sort of wood texture. I also tried to use effects like shadows and bevels as subtly as possible and still convey the idea that the digital file illustrates an actual piece of wood that is the map itself, if that makes sense.

The most challenging aspect was the mountains. For the first version, I had fairly standard "symbol" versions of individual mountains, as one would find in CC. Those did not really look like an integrated part of the map, so I ended up taking several weeks experimenting with alternatives. What shows up on the map are mountain symbols connected with ridgelines and defined with a hint of inner glow. This involved a lot more work than copying and pasting only.

Software:
- Firefox CS 3 for darned near everything.
- The continent and ocean texture image was taken from a free online source.
- I used Pshop to generate a very cursory initial bmp of the shape of the lanndmass. That was heavily edited later. I also finishedd in Pshop just to throw a quick spotlight filter on the whole thing. This was done to make the map feel a bit less digital. I don't know if it succeeded.
- Most of the vectors were done with a mouse. A lot of the mountains were drawn with my handy-dandy new Intuos tablet.

- Map has been rotated to correct orientation.


KB

[Kingbreaker]

I forgot to mention that people in this world see everything 90 degrees off axis. Here's a human-intended version. Sorry about that.

[guyanonymous]

Your wood-like presentation is great! I especially like the appearance and feel of the mountains.

[Chaosorcerer]

Indeed a fantastic map!

[Saule]

It looks amazing. I really love the idea of the wood, great job .

[cancerlad]

I believe my exact reaction in "words" was "Ooooo!" Love the wood texture and the heraldry - very Westeros. Have some rep.

[Eathanu]

Very pretty map, and the font appeals to me, though I think some of the rivers could be widened, so that there's less brown and more blue, y'know? Talking about those ones up north.. or I suppose to the ninety-degree-invertites, east.

Well done =D

[AltairUniverse]

I like how stylized the map is! The colors, lines, and textures create a better sense of "culture" in the setting than the more modern photorealistic maps. Thanks for sharing!

[Kingbreaker]

I like how stylized the map is! The colors, lines, and textures create a better sense of "culture" in the setting than the more modern photorealistic maps. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the wonderful compliment

[Jexl]

I really really like this style of map.

I would like my hand at this for my fantasy world map. When you get a chance, can you make a tutorial and share your how-to's?

thanks,