Harabar - Kingdoms of the North

[Ilwan]

A small scale overland map showing a little part of the northern continent of my campaign. My group and I have played about 9 years in the same region of another continent and we needed a break. They will enjoy travelling north and visit the Kingdoms of Harabar.

The map is drawn completely with CC3 and Symbols Set 1.

Comments welcomed.

[pyrandon]

Ilwan, this is a very nice map, thanks so much for posting it. I especially like your coastlines, which have a high degree of verisimilitude. I also had fun reading your names & the sidebar history. I personally am not fond of the high color saturation and the cookie-cutter symbol repetitions, both of which take away from the life of an otherwise great map. But, all in all, this has to be one of the best CC-generated maps I've seen in a long while! Nice work!!

[Midgardsormr]

Very pretty! I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind sharing your secrets.

First, the Celtic knotwork looks shiny and not 2d at all. How did you accomplish the shading so that the lines actually look cylindrical?

And the gradient behind the knotwork--I haven't yet figured out how to achieve a gradient fill in CC3.

Finally, where does the white in your water come from? It isn't a simple coastline glow, because it does not follow the coasts uniformly. I think I could come up with a way to emulate it, but I'd like to hear what your approach was.

Thanks for sharing!

[NeonKnight]

Very pretty! I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind sharing your secrets.

First, the Celtic knotwork looks shiny and not 2d at all. How did you accomplish the shading so that the lines actually look cylindrical?

And the gradient behind the knotwork--I haven't yet figured out how to achieve a gradient fill in CC3.

Finally, where does the white in your water come from? It isn't a simple coastline glow, because it does not follow the coasts uniformly. I think I could come up with a way to emulate it, but I'd like to hear what your approach was.

Thanks for sharing!

I did not do the map, but I do know:

The map was done in CC3, the other stuff is post production work he does in Likely Photoshop, but the map is 100% nothing but CC3.

[Midgardsormr]

Ah. Grrr... I was hoping I'd missed some functionality. Ah well, it's not like there isn't still plenty for me to learn in the software.

[Ilwan]

Ilwan, this is a very nice map, thanks so much for posting it. I especially like your coastlines, which have a high degree of verisimilitude. I also had fun reading your names & the sidebar history. I personally am not fond of the high color saturation and the cookie-cutter symbol repetitions, both of which take away from the life of an otherwise great map. But, all in all, this has to be one of the best CC-generated maps I've seen in a long while! Nice work!!

Thanx alot. The saturation issue is something I´ve discussed alot with fellow mappers and it is not the first time I hear it. Personally I love the bright, strong colors in a map, but I heard many who think it is too "comic-like". About the cookie-cutter symbol repitition, it is actually one of the few times I used it. I was even thinking of having red dots instead of the symbols as I want the structure symbols to be easy to see. Instead I decided to repeat many of the same symbols in various sizes, to highlight them. Might not have succeeded that well.

[Ilwan]

I did not do the map, but I do know:

The map was done in CC3, the other stuff is post production work he does in Likely Photoshop, but the map is 100% nothing but CC3.

Actually U are almost correct. I used to post edit all my maps in Photoshop, but since CC3 supports easy import of PNG graphics, I have got used to do the editing in CC3 as well. You are correct about, that the (inside) map is entirely CC3 work and content. The other stuff is done in CC3 (at least placed in CC3). The knotwork is a graphic available as free content on a website, and I simply placed it and resized it in CC3 (as I could do in PS). The same goes for the parchment (although I created that myself in PS) and the Mapventures logo.

Very pretty! I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind sharing your secrets.

First, the Celtic knotwork looks shiny and not 2d at all. How did you accomplish the shading so that the lines actually look cylindrical?

And the gradient behind the knotwork--I haven't yet figured out how to achieve a gradient fill in CC3.

Finally, where does the white in your water come from? It isn't a simple coastline glow, because it does not follow the coasts uniformly. I think I could come up with a way to emulate it, but I'd like to hear what your approach was.

Thanks for sharing!

There is no pre-defined "gradient" sheet effect in CC3, but I guess it would be possible to create a similar effect with the outer glow on a semi-transparent sheet.

I am not at my CC3 machine at the moment, so I can´t recall the settings for the coastlines, but Ill post them later.

[RobA]

First off, welcome to the Guild, and thanks for sharing some of your work.

I personally like this map, with only a few quibbles.

Pro's:
- Overall colour balance
- Consistent but differing use of colour for labels
- Easy to read font
- Very nice coastline shapes
- Nice mountains (are they standard CC3 clip-art?)

Con's:
- Meaningless scale bar
- City icons (I would prefer dots as you had considered)
- No borders (I see names of regions, but no defined borders. It makes the region naming confusing to me)
- My number one pet peeve, rivers that split as they flow downstream.

Though like I said, overall, this is a very nice map. It is no surprise you are able to sell these if it is representative of your work. Also, it is a style that you could easily reuse to main consistency with a whole set of maps.

-Rob A>

[ravells]

Hi Ilwan,

Welcome to the guild. It's interesting, but your map is an example of what CC does best. It's simple but very effective. Your map has wonderful clarity and it's got just the right level of detail in it for the style you've used. I kind of like the idea of not having definitive borders (gives the impression that this is a slightly wild place where there are no definitive borders).

I have to say though I think you have a naturally good design eye rather than doing anything fantastically unusual with the software. I suspect that you could produce wonderful things with just a pencil and a piece of paper! I would suggest that you really stretch the software the next time round and see what loveliness you produce!

Ravs

[Ilwan]

First off, welcome to the Guild, and thanks for sharing some of your work.

Thx. I´ve been lurking a little once in a while earlier, but plan on participating some more in the future.

Con's:
- Meaningless scale bar
- City icons (I would prefer dots as you had considered)
- No borders (I see names of regions, but no defined borders. It makes the region naming confusing to me)
- My number one pet peeve, rivers that split as they flow downstream.

-Rob A>

Yes, the scale is still only decorative (and that happens often to me). I might try to edit the map to "dotted" cities. I usually never draw borders on my medieval fantasy maps. There are no clear borders in my world anyway, especially not on this map which shows a rather savage part of the campaign world. There are seperations of the small kingdoms, by marches, but they are rather areas, than lines.

And yes, I understand your number one pet peeve. Ii happens all the time, although I know it.......it´s like a little devil inside my mind convincing me to split them.

Hi Ilwan,

Welcome to the guild. It's interesting, but your map is an example of what CC does best. It's simple but very effective. Your map has wonderful clarity and it's got just the right level of detail in it for the style you've used. I kind of like the idea of not having definitive borders (gives the impression that this is a slightly wild place where there are no definitive borders).

I have to say though I think you have a naturally good design eye rather than doing anything fantastically unusual with the software. I suspect that you could produce wonderful things with just a pencil and a piece of paper! I would suggest that you really stretch the software the next time round and see what loveliness you produce!

Ravs

Thx for the kind words. I am very happy about that you mention the "design eye". I have always had more fun creating a good looking image, rather than an accurate map. That´s also why I sometime struggle, when doing contract work. I also try to change styles as often as possible. I am not good with pen and paper at all, but I hope I have a flair for what looks good and I try to use that in my maps.