Feb / Mar '18 Light Challenge: Castleton Island

[Tonquani]

### Latest WIP ###
castleton island.png

So I've decided to remove the dropped shadows and blur the different seafloor colours a bit. Also added a slight dotted line to indicate depth contours...

[- JO -]

Nice touch... the effect for the eye is very mesmerizing... that's something unusual ! The eye is really caught by the island !
I like the altitudes lines too... the dotted lines is a good move, I think !
Looking forward to see what comes next !

[Tonquani]

A bit more detail slowly emerging... I've started putting in soundings in the top left corner... OMG that is going to take me hours for the whole map!
Also, a bit more detail on the land, some text, cliffs, etc.

### Latest WIP ###
Castleton Island.png

[Mouse]

Looking good Tonquani

I'm not sure about the drop shadow on the land, but I agree with Thomas that if you intend to create a wood cutting effect like that beautiful map of Lake Erie that he linked to, its a good start

[bkh1914]

I like your nautical compass rose - a nice touch.

I agree with Mouse about the drop shadow on the land.

Those soundings are going to take a lot of time (and energy). They're important near land, but could be a lot sparser in the deeper water.

One thing you might consider: Some of the cities might have harbors for larger boats (large pleasure yachts and supply boats), so they will need to have a clear and deeper channel leading into the harbor.

Edit: Looking at your map again, it looks like the island is smaller than I thought and it looks like you already have a channel leading to that yet-unnamed town. And everything else is vacation or small resort locations, or points of interest.

[Tonquani]

Looking good Tonquani

I'm not sure about the drop shadow on the land, but I agree with Thomas that if you intend to create a wood cutting effect like that beautiful map of Lake Erie that he linked to, its a good start

Thanks Mouse, the drop shadow has now gone - I was trying to get more of a separation between the land and the various colours of the sea floor, but don't think I need it. And anyway, I think it was a bit distracting. No, there won't be a wood cutting effect - I am going for a clean, crisp plain finish, similar to most modern nautical charts, although I do like the wood cutting effect - something to look into for the future perhaps

I like your nautical compass rose - a nice touch.

I agree with Mouse about the drop shadow on the land.

Those soundings are going to take a lot of time (and energy). They're important near land, but could be a lot sparser in the deeper water.

One thing you might consider: Some of the cities might have harbors for larger boats (large pleasure yachts and supply boats), so they will need to have a clear and deeper channel leading into the harbor.

Edit: Looking at your map again, it looks like the island is smaller than I thought and it looks like you already have a channel leading to that yet-unnamed town. And everything else is vacation or small resort locations, or points of interest.

Thanks bkh1914, the compass is a sort of copy of what you get on modern nautical charts, with a couple of tweaks. Yes the island is quite small - my initial assessment of 10-20 miles in length has now been reassessed and it is probably more like 3 miles in length. I am also developing shortcuts as I go along to put in loads of soundings - I'm definitely going to need them as they take ages

### Latest WIP ###
Castleton Island.png

[Falconius]

Personally I liked the hard transition between water levels. The blurred edges is a bit meh in comparison IMO, although maybe it doesn't work without the drop shadow or some other sort of transition.

[Daistallia]

Agreed in the hard edges.

[kacey]

I agree on the hard edges as well, I didn’t like the drop shadow at all but this style also doesn’t suite a faded edge. I think you should stay true to the classic style of this type of nautical map and keep clean edges wherever pausible. I do really like the border elements and the compass though and the land and Topo lines look good too, just fix up whatever’s going on in the water and this map could be the challenge winner.

[Bogie]

Looking good! You've got some interesting elements in there!