Middle Earth for Mom

[Gidde]

Yay for the first map I've actually finished!

This map is a gift for a my mother, once I get it printed and framed. She and I have a long history with Middle Earth; we read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings together many many moons ago and it continues from there.

Most of the map was drawn in GIMP, using concepts from RobA's tutorials plus a lot of experimentation. The labels were created in Photoshop, then brought over to the GIMP for polishing. The compass rose, such as it is, was drawn in Fireworks then brought over.

Thanks bunches to all of the folks who helped out in the WIP thread. Your suggestions helped me make it better than I thought I could.

[Alfar]

A bit dark to my tastes, but very nice still - the thumbnail doesn't give it the credit it's due. Rated.

[Karro]

Pretty nice map, overall. Love me some Tolkein!

My only wish would be for some fire coming out of Mt. Doom.

[Gidde]

Thanks for the kind words and comments!

Alfar, it's going through a bit of brightening as I try to get it to print decently. I think maybe my monitor is set too bright, because it looks pretty light on my monitor, but then I print it and the forests and mordor lose some of their definition in black.

Karro, I completely agree. I ended up having to give up on the fire/lava, as all of my attempts at it were ... well, awful. So I set the year of the map to the year before it erupts fantastically, and called it good.

[Gregorus Prime]

You'll need to get it printed with the right printer and the right paper. Prepare to invest about ten bucks or so into getting a nice print down at Kinko's (or FedEx Office or whatever they call it now).

[Tiana]

The thumbnail really does it no justice--especially how wonderfully creepy Mordor is.

[Gidde]

@ GregorusPrime: Yeah, I'm actually pretty sure I'll go through GamerPrinter to get it printed for framing. What I was trying to do is print some disposable smaller versions that my mom could use for her classroom (she often reads LotR to the kids).

@Tiana: Thanks!!

[Gidde]

I couldn't help tweaking a bit. Nothing much, just a few pixels, but I put some lava onto Mt. Doom.

I think I'm gonna go local for the printing; I'm going to drop it off tomorrow for them to print me a review sample.

[Sicuropoli]

I enjoy it. Your post is actually why I decided to Cartographers Guild after only browsing for so long. Ran into it while reading the Third Age Total War Forum on Twcenter.

[Aenigma]

Awesome. I've always found the map of middle earth to be one of my favourites... and this one is one of the better middle earth maps I've seen.