WIP:Blackross

[darkseed2012]

I really like the style used. What program did you use to draw this with?

The city doesn't have a clear downtown. The type of buildings, I'm guessing are row houses really reminds me of the Sunset District in San Francisco, CA. For more accuracy with the passage of time, you should add out buildings in the backyards of some of the houses and more variety in the shapes of the houses, since people tend to add rooms as time passes. I really like how it is turning out. It looks like a lot of work.

[RedKettle]

Apologies for not attaching things correctly the first time. I am not sure what I did differently this time to stop the attachment from loading, but I am hoping one of the Great and All Powerful Forum Overseers could step in and lend a hand (if they have not already! and many thanks if you already have!)

In order to help troubleshoot I will try another attachment on this post. The last was a 3MB .gif, and this latest will be a 4MB .jpg. Let us see if that is any better!
blackross2-2.jpg


Also, thanks all for the comments! It helps! Now the pressure is on to keep it looking good.

I did not see any parks, or I missed them.

I guess I should have warned you guys that I am using some very light gray lines, which may require some zooming and squinting. Since I am working with vectors right now I am hoping to spend some time at the end fiddling with lineweights, etc. to not only match the Ordinance map style but also to make this more legible.

You said it's an older map style, but a more modern time, yes?

That is generally correct.

What program did you use to draw this with?

I am using a CAD program (Draftsight) with some help from GIMP to switch between filetypes.

The city doesn't have a clear downtown. The type of buildings, I'm guessing are row houses really reminds me of the Sunset District in San Francisco, CA. For more accuracy with the passage of time, you should add out buildings in the backyards of some of the houses and more variety in the shapes of the houses, since people tend to add rooms as time passes.

The downtown area is not complete, but will be the denser core of the town, so I will keep your advice in mind as I continue to develop that area.

[pionono]

Reminds me of Amsterdam...Buildings in the Netherlands by year of construction

[Ilanthar]

Thanks for the link pionono, it's quite amazing!

[RedKettle]

Here is the latest from Blackross. Most of the drawing of stuff is done, including the accessory buildings in the rear of the lots and trees. Now I am starting to work on labels/border/presentation/other mapping elements. Hopefully the labels should be on in the next few days.

blackross2-6.gif


Also, very cool link pionono!

[RedKettle]

Here is the latest!

It finally has enough elements to start understanding how it will look. For better or worse, the ordinance map style has been partially abandoned, and additions from more modern street/tourist maps have been used to fill the gaps creating a hybrid style. It seems to all work, but probably only because I do not know which rules I am breaking (or which rules to break!).

Some parts of the plan continue to be reworked, so this is still a little ways from complete.

The heraldry? comes from the client, and a large number of the street names have been borrowed from Cork.

Comments/Critiques/Questions welcome! I am not sure I am sold on the Black/White checkerboarding, the contrast feels a little overpowering relative to the rest. Also, I want to keep the tone of this serious, but I am wondering if this is feeling a little too stiff. Maybe more fancy fun lines are needed?

blackross3-0a-final2.gif

[Ilanthar]

I like the design and added elements. But I think the buildings were easier to spot with the grey lines you had before.

[RedKettle]

Thanks! Yeah, I agree that the buildings are slowly fading away. I think that comment also brings up a broader question of what exactly I want (or what should be) emphasized. I think right now I am not sure, and it shows a little.
blackross3-0b-final7.gif

[RedKettle]

Before I go back to making actual map changes I wanted to make one more quick iteration of the layout. I've removed the outer border lines and instead started giving the legends/indexes their own cartouche-type borders. I've also removed the black in the formerly black/white grid numbering.
Despite the under-worked cartouches (I was looking at triskelions for inspiration, but I might need more spiral!), I think just the border change helps free up some of the stiffness and lets things move around the page more, so this might be going in the right direction.

blackross3-1-final (2).gif

Triskelion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Ilanthar]

The triskelion are pretty. As for the buildings, my personal preference would go for the "hatched ones", with an opacity between your grey and the full black.