Stern's Bridge

[Feralspirit]

Well, here it is, the map I displayed in my introductory post has reached the point where I am ready to post it in this forum. A bit overdue, perhaps, but better late than never.

When introduced, I was encouraged to move Stern's Bridge to the WIP forum here. Since then I have been toying and tweaking, playing and plodding with it. As my first foray into the world of digital cartography, it became an excercise to see what I was capable of doing with the medium. With lots of help from The Guild (and excessive patience from same) this is what I have managed. I will refrain from speaking about the shortcomings as I see them, and instead say simply that I am somewhat pleased with my final result. Endless gratitude is due to The Guild for it. Many thanks to all.

The settlement of Stern's Bridge was built on the northern-most navigatable point on the Rhushess River. As such, this point was used by an invading force who built the road north to larger, more populace cities in the region. During and since the occupation the settlement thrived as the road became a trade route north. It wasn't until after the occupation that the local lord, Gravin (a heroic resistance fighter during the occupation), commissioned the construction of the fortified bridge that the settlement is now most known for, and subsequently called.

Stern's Bridge, 5-25-09@70%2nd.jpgStern's Bridge, 5-25-09@70%.png

[palehorse]

This looks pretty great! You've got a good layout, some really nice textures in there, and that knotted border is a very nice touch!

My only suggestions would be to try and get a little more contrast in your colors next time. If you open the image up in GIMP and look at the Levels, you should (unless Levels in the GIMP just work completely differently than they do in Photoshop, and I don't imagine they do) see a graph that shows exactly where all the values within it lie. I think if you do you'll find that 90% plus of your values are clustered in a big lump between black and 50% gray. If you can get some lighter colors in there next time I think you'll find your map has a lot more pop!

On the same note, the text on your map key would really stand out better on a lighter background; black text on a dark gray background is hard on tired old eyes like mine!

[Ascension]

I love this one...looks like an evening in the village. It has a nice blend of 3d, cartoon, and satellite. I'm not sure as to the specifics of why I like it, everything coming together just makes me think it looks like a nice fun place to have a lil country dance on a pleasant summer evening. I'm not wild about the white stroke on the numbering as it gets hard to read in some spots but the key is readable for me and interesting. Good job. I need to spread some love around so hopefully I can hit this again in a few days while comments keep coming in (otherwise I tend to forget).

[Feralspirit]

Sorry, palehorse, I actually did lighten up that stone quite a bit from the last post in the WIP Thread. In comparison it seemed positively pale. I took that last image as a single layer and played with the levels dialogue. Is this better?

Stern's Bridge, 5-25-09@70%2nd.jpg

Edit; Boy, it's certainly lighter. I'm not sure if I like it quite as much, I guess I'm kind of fond of the dark tones. @Ascension, yeah, I wasn't ever sure about the white stroke, but without something places like 1J and 3B were nearly invisible.

[palehorse]

Sorry, palehorse, I actually did lighten up that stone quite a bit from the last post in the WIP Thread. In comparison it seemed positively pale. I took that last image as a single layer and played with the levels dialogue. Is this better?

That's looking more like it! You might try familiarizing yourself with the Curves tool. There's a great tutorial on using it in Photoshop, let me see if I can find it... It should be pretty much identical in GIMP.

Here it is! http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...hop-curves.htm

Levels is good for quick and dirty adjustments, and I use it a lot when I'm tweaking individual layers. But when you're adding the finishing touches to your finished image as a whole, Curves is really the way to go.

[Ascension]

Winner winner, chicken dinner; now my evening dance turned into siesta afternoon Totally kickin and snagged a copy for my Inspiration Folder.

[palehorse]

Edit; Boy, it's certainly lighter. I'm not sure if I like it quite as much, I guess I'm kind of fond of the dark tones.

That's where Curves really has an advantage over Levels, tools-wise. When you get your Curves mojo working, you have much finer control; you can bring in some lighter lights and darker darks and leave most of your middle tones untouched.

[Xyll]

This map is amazing very well done.

[JakeWoods]

Very nice work. I will have to look at getting a hold of gimp...

[torstan]

Really great. For those that are just seeing this version, Feral is being very modest. Have a read through the WIP thread, it's definitely worth it.

I like the lighter version. I agree that the curves are also a good tool to look into. Equally, light text on a dark background might work well. TheRedEpic does this to great effect with his maps.