Fantasy setting : Nightfall (WIP)

[Viking]

Nice improvement so far. I really like the idea behind this world with regards to how magic works and the sun's movement!

[Tyjah]

Nice, I really like it. Is this place from something?

[vorropohaiah]

i love he overall feel and look of this map. nice colours and border/neatline too

[Ilanthar]

Thanks a lot guys!

@ -Max- : the fonts used are "Francisco Lucas Briosa" for the seas and oceans and "Onciale PhF" for the rest

@ Tyjah : I am not sure to understand correctly your question. It's a setting for a rpg and I took inspiration from paleo earth (as I often do) for the coastlines.

[Ilanthar]

Well, to pursue the idea of jfrazierjr, I finally made this kind of coloring for the mountains.
With all these improvements, I just have no time for labelling

NF test MC.jpg

I found it quite hard to add the color without clashing with the rest... And I'm still not sure of my feelings about the result.

So don't hesitate to comment !

[jfrazierjr]

For the most part, that's perfectly acceptable. There are a few spots where the mountain/hills color has stark cut of that you would need to blend in, but you get the idea. Depending upon your software you use, you can modify your brushes(or perhaps make copies and modify those) to pre-color your brushes(GIMP, perhaps others but not Photoshop since it does not do colored brushes). Note, you would still have to do some manual blending after placement in MOST cases, unless you have very muted colors overall. Personally, i MUCH prefer using the smudge tool(vs the Blur tool) as you get much more control over the blending and you can make it much more natural looks(IMHO).... If you ever want to build your own brushes by hand, you really should get used to the smudge tool anyway(see sig link for poor examples.)

[Ilanthar]

Well, I think that I am a rare Paint Shop Pro 7 user... At first read, your comment was a bit technical for me, but I think I get the idea.
I did the mountains/forests by hand actually (except a few things, see my recent post http://www.cartographersguild.com/ma...tfall-set.html), and I didn't use the smudge tool to soften the drawings.

Here, I just add a layer with the mountains color and blend it with an effect & transparency. I didn't thought to rework the mountains, but why not. Anyhow, it seems to be a good advice and I'm likely to use it on this map or the next ones !

Good to keep learning, thanks!

[jfrazierjr]

Here, I just add a layer with the mountains color and blend it with an effect & transparency.

Though it's not terrible using that approach, I would suggest an approach which though takes longer, provides a much better end result, namely the smudge tool. As noted, this works far better/faster if you color the individual brushes, followed up with some touch up work once the brushes are all applied, but again.. that depends upon your software capabilities as noted several times... You CAN do it all manually, but it's a lot of work, but IMHO, the results are well worth the work if you can't go the colored brush route from the start.

I didn't thought to rework the mountains, but why not. Anyhow, it seems to be a good advice and I'm likely to use it on this map or the next ones !

Well.. that suggestion really depends on if your going to use those same "icons" again in the future and if your program supports brushes with color(as noted, Photoshop does not, but GIMP does... not sure about PSP though).

[Ilanthar]

By reading your answer, it appears to me that I didn't catch your idea actually...

I use GIMP, but just for a few things that I cannot do easily (or do at all) on PSP7. So, I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with this smudge tool and the possibilities it has in GIMP.
In addition, I did not use a "brush". Since I have drawn the mountains/forests by myself, I "copy/past" each. In fact, I have no idea of how it can be turned into a brush... And I've never used a brush for that.

I'm pretty sure you're right about the fact it would look better, but I lack a lot of knowledge/skills in the matters! I've improved a lot thanks to cartographer's guild, but I'm still a beginner I'm afraid.

[jfrazierjr]

By reading your answer, it appears to me that I didn't catch your idea actually...

I use GIMP, but just for a few things that I cannot do easily (or do at all) on PSP7. So, I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with this smudge tool and the possibilities it has in GIMP.
In addition, I did not use a "brush". Since I have drawn the mountains/forests by myself, I "copy/past" each. In fact, I have no idea of how it can be turned into a brush... And I've never used a brush for that.

I'm pretty sure you're right about the fact it would look better, but I lack a lot of knowledge/skills in the matters! I've improved a lot thanks to cartographer's guild, but I'm still a beginner I'm afraid.

Ah... with the number and variety of the mountains, I assumed you had created a brush for each one and then laid them down, but instead you "cloned" them one by one. From what I can tell searching the internet, PSP does have the smudge tool, but does not have full colored brushes.