Isolden (my 1st world map)

[ChickPea]

Very nice! I like that a lot.

[Neyjour]

Thanks very much, ChickPea!

Last update for today:

Isolden Heraldic Shields WIP-01 by Neyjour.png

[ChickPea]

These are fab! The mixture of muted and bright tones really appeals to me. I'm dying to see them placed on your map.

[Neyjour]

These are fab! The mixture of muted and bright tones really appeals to me. I'm dying to see them placed on your map.

Thanks again!

Okay, here's all five Shields. I've also placed them on the map. Next up will be the Pirate flags.

Isolden Heraldic Shields WIP-02 by Neyjour.png Isolden (labeled) WIP-03 by Neyjour.jpg

And I'm going to redo the Points of Interest labels. I've been testing a different font, with a brighter colour and smaller dropshadow, which I think looks better. You can see the test label "South Majhar Ruins" (just above the city of Dehrenhar).

EDIT: The shields for Neron and Dehrenhar look a bit too muted compared to the others, so I'll be brightening them up a bit as well.

[Abu Lafia]

Hey Neyjour, first of all, i like your map a lot! The textures are very nice and the new shields are looking great on the map. I also like the "darkness" of it...
I'm actually happy that u consider changing the font, since it is the only thing that somewhat doesn't match with the rest of the map in my view (i just didn't dare to say it, because i know how time consuming this can be ). I think to make it brighter is a good idea, although i'm not a big fan of sans-serif fonts on fantasy/medieval maps. Have you tried out the font you used for "Legend" in the cartouche? This might be an interesting one. Also, since i'm occupied with questions of labelling maps atm, i can only recommend a look into Imhof's "Positioning Names on Maps". I think tweaking some label positions here and there might have a huge effect. Please take it just as a suggestion from a novice in labelling myself . Keep up the great work!
Cheers,
AL

[Bogie]

This is looking fantastic!

[Neyjour]

Hey Neyjour, first of all, i like your map a lot! The textures are very nice and the new shields are looking great on the map. I also like the "darkness" of it...
I'm actually happy that u consider changing the font, since it is the only thing that somewhat doesn't match with the rest of the map in my view (i just didn't dare to say it, because i know how time consuming this can be ). I think to make it brighter is a good idea, although i'm not a big fan of sans-serif fonts on fantasy/medieval maps. Have you tried out the font you used for "Legend" in the cartouche? This might be an interesting one. Also, since i'm occupied with questions of labelling maps atm, i can only recommend a look into Imhof's "Positioning Names on Maps". I think tweaking some label positions here and there might have a huge effect. Please take it just as a suggestion from a novice in labelling myself . Keep up the great work!
Cheers,
AL

Thanks very much! Glad you like it. And thank you for the link to the positioning names guide. I'll definitely check that out.

As for the labels... this has been giving me such a headache. I've seen other people's maps that have a nice, clean line of colour around the edge of the font, but I have never been able to reproduce that in PaintShop Pro. Using the "Stroke" option always looks hideously terrible on small text, so I have to use a double dropshadow. Problem is, with fancier fonts that have "thin" parts, the dropshadow tends to bleed into the font colour, making it messy/muddy and difficult to read. And the smaller the font, the worse the problem gets. So... that's why I chose a simple, "fat" font for the new Points of Interest labels.

I'm attaching a small example. As you can see, the one on the top (Celtic Garamond the 2nd) looks "muddy" in sections where the dropshadow bled into the font colour, and it's difficult to read. The one in the middle (Arial Black) is the easiest to read, and doesn't get that muddy effect because it's a "fat" font. Now, the one at the bottom (Duvall) doesn't look too bad. But that's the one I've been using for the Cities, Towns, and Villages... so if I went with that one for the Points of Interest, I've have to find a different font for the rest. Urgh...

Anyway, if you have any suggestions for fonts to try, please do let me know!

Isolden (font test).PNG

[Neyjour]

This is looking fantastic!

Thanks so much, Bogie!

[ChickPea]

Does PaintShopPro have an 'outer glow' filter effect? I think that's what people often use to separate their text from the background/

[Neyjour]

Does PaintShopPro have an 'outer glow' filter effect? I think that's what people often use to separate their text from the background/

The dinosaur I'd been using up until just a few days ago (PaintShop Pro 8 ) didn't have that option. But it looks like this one (PaintShop Pro X4) does have it. However, it seems to be pretty useless for text. I slid the "Size" marker all the way to the smallest setting and it's still HUGE. There doesn't seem to be a way to set (for example) a 1 or 2 pixel line around the text...