Big WIP Project - Neoseilthir

[Juggernaut1981]

Kolfax> A number are mouse, a number are "touchpad" and a number are "non-pressure sensitive pen on a tablet notebook"...

But thanks for the praise.

I suggest you go actually here (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822) it's about Rivers, but it helps you with lakes. When in doubt, stick up a WIP and the River Police will pass by.

[Kolfax]

I've heard of such police... I fear them.

Thanks for the link to the tutorial - I'm sure I will refer to it often. BTW, this is probably bad forum etiquette, but I've heard a read quite a few people talking about their use of tablets and I have found that they might become a necessary tool; what kind do you use?

[Juggernaut1981]

Kolfax>
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook T Series. It's basically a whopping big powerful PDA. I can flip the screen over the keyboard and use it like a tablet/PDA directly onto the screen. It's primarily designed for people giving presentations and travelling for business. I find it's been really good because it is fairly light, has a good battery life and for my last couple of jobs I have done a lot of presentations and wanted to do "pen marks" onto the presentations as I speak. So it's not a "proper tablet" it's a really fancy Laptop that behaves like a PDA... (does run on Wacom Technology though... so that's nice... just no pressure sensitivity)

There is a Mouse vs Tablets thread somewhere, check it out to see people's thoughts.

[Juggernaut1981]

Here is the next installment...
Smudged the bottom points of mountain-shapes as suggested by Ascension.

Not sure I'm happy with my "round deciduous tree" forests... but they're too small to do nice shading as is done in a number of other "hand drawn" maps around the place. Hoping density and being deliberately non-uniform will work.

C&C as usual people.

[Steel General]

Now this is starting to 'come alive' so to speak.

My only 'nit-pick' at this point is the red labels, I find that it clashes with the yellow-orange background, and is difficult to read where it overlays the mountains.

[Juggernaut1981]

SG Mon Frere... Nitpick away. I know you guys are "the business" and I don't mind the constructive Nitpick. (Much better than the "It sucks coz it's like sumting I could do if I could be assed not being an emo..." - Yay for well adjusted gamers from my old playgroup...)
I don't think I can use the dark green (it's also going to appear as an empire boundary in a WIP I'll post later). Any colour suggestions?


Sideline:
#1 How many emos does it take to change a lightbulb? None, they just sit in the dark and cry...

#2 I wish my lawn was emo... then it would just go cut itself.

[Ramah]

I'm really liking this map now.
I have to admit, I was very worried about the shape you picked for the landmass. The largest land looked all kinds of wrong but now that you have elements on it looks really good.

Your trees look fine, I wouldn't worry about shading, although they do look a little messy when zoomed out. That's the price you pay for making things small and lots of them though.

I have two criticisms. One is the rivers, but they have already been mentioned. They could use some tapering.
The other one would be the sea colour. I'm not too fussed on the shade and I don't particulalrly like the fade at the edge, the large glow around the edge of the land. It's obvious you aren't going for a hand-drawn look but those large glows just always look too digital to me.
I actually preferred the map when it was all yellow. Hehe.

Look forward to seeing what's in the north of the large continent.

[Steel General]

You could try a dark glow or stroke around the text

[Juggernaut1981]

Ramah> The idea is that it was hand-drawn and painted. Almost like a large artwork you might find on a Merchant Navy wall... So I might change the colour out later or vary the bluring on the mask layer.

I'll get to the rivers later, just adding forest upon forest upon forest...

[Juggernaut1981]

The first image below is the "guide" I've created from this map. Brown/Tan = mountain ranges, green = forests. The rivers are pretty much in place (just fussing around with tapering or other details... which could be a pain as I can't think of a neat way to taper them).

Second image is without the guide. Dark Green marks the empire boundaries.


Ultimate goal: To have this look like it was done by hand, on a wall, as both useful but also as an artwork.

Ramah> Yeah the landmasses make more sense when you know some of the "driving landforms".