WIP - A fantasy world for a story

[Syt]

I think I may be just about done. I post one version before adding filters, one after. I considered adding burn marks, stains or so, but for the moment I like it as it is.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome!

[philipstephen]

looks great!

i might blur up the edges of that naval battle a bit... the boats look a bit crisp in contrast to the area around them...

phil

[Davros01]

I just got finished with a mercatur map with CC3, and here are some lessons I learned. Hopefully they help.

- Mercatur generally speaking look busy. So you want a fair bit of writing.
- Only put in terrain that is special (very large or important) generally speaking mercatur assumed trees, grass, and the like.
- Generally speaking with that style, they kept the labeling straight as much as possible for ease of reading.
- Since the style is relatively simple, and color poor, the borders are very important because they give that much needed color that ppl like.

hope this helps,
Marc

(You can take a look at my mercatur in the finished maps called "Refuge final final" its not a shining example, but it may help a bit.

[Syt]

li might blur up the edges of that naval battle a bit... the boats look a bit crisp in contrast to the area around them...

Thanks, you're right.

[Syt]

I just got finished with a mercatur map with CC3, and here are some lessons I learned. Hopefully they help.

- Mercatur generally speaking look busy. So you want a fair bit of writing.

I'm pretty familiar with 15th - 18th century maps (though I prefer the ones by Joan and Willem Blaeu). You're right, they're very busy, because cartographers tried to put as much info into them as possible and making good use of expensive paper. I considered making my map busier (navigational lines, comments on the countries, more artwork in empty places ... ), but I will (for now) mostly be using it as reference for a ca. 17th Century fantasy story I'm working on, so I'll keep it "empty" for now - I'll certainly have to add towns, villages etc. as the story develops.

- Only put in terrain that is special (very large or important) generally speaking mercatur assumed trees, grass, and the like.

Yes, I know. The woods represented on my map are meant to be large, untamed woods (the westernmost one would be akin to the Amazonas jungles). You'll notice that the forests shown are not part of countries (which doesn't mean that they're not receding).

- Generally speaking with that style, they kept the labeling straight as much as possible for ease of reading.

Yes; I used curved labels for mountains, rivers and seas, mostly as a means to conserve space for later use.

- Since the style is relatively simple, and color poor, the borders are very important because they give that much needed color that ppl like.

I think that's a bit of a misconception due to the aging of the maps. Still, European maps can't quite compare to some Arabian or Asian maps of the era in terms of color. I overdid the "bleaching" a bit, though.

hope this helps,
Marc

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

[Syt]

Thinking about the business of the map some more, I raided some 16th century Africa maps for ornaments.

[rdanhenry]

Poor 16th Century Africa. Even in map form, it isn't safe from being raided.

I like the result.

[Syt]

Thanks.

This should be the final version now. I'll leave this up for suggestions before moving it over to finished maps.

Thanks to everyone who commented or left me some rep.

[Noon]

I like mercator maps. This is very well done.
Have some rep.

[torstan]

Really nice indeed. Well done.