Freehold

[Diamond]

Thank you, guys! I appreciate the kind words.

[Abu Lafia]

I somehow lost track of this beauty of a map in the stream of awesome works flowing in week by week. Very impressive Diamond! i can only agree with the others: mission accomplished regarding the balance of names and map elements. Well, i have to admit i can't remember a map of yours, that wasn't very well balanced/harmoniously arranged Btw. Whats up with those Kantians/Kantics lately, i always imagine a people of stiff, compulsory characters no one can understand fully

[Diamond]

I don't know why I keep using Kant - I guess I just love the sound of that name. Have to retire it from anything official I may do though, since it's used by Abercrombie in his books...

[Josiah VE]

Very, VERY awesome! That's all I'll say...

[arsheesh]

Yup, I'd say you hit your goal here. The labels are prominent but don't distract away from the rest of the map. I like the overall composition of this piece. Wonderful job as always.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Warlin]

Great work Diamond. I like the way you use the space in this map, and the soft coloring.

[Carnifex]

Great landforms, excellent colouring. A great piece of art!

[Colt556]

I don't know if this is a bit forward or not, but I was wondering if you could give any tips or resources, or guide me to some tutorials on how to achieve a map like this. I've been working on a map of my own but I don't know much about art or the tools used (I've been using GIMP) so my attempts tend to be very flat. I went looking in search of tutorials on how to make it better and that's when I stumbled upon this site, and subsequently this map and it was like love at first sight. This map is EXACTLY the sort of feel and look I wanted for my map, it's absolutely perfect in every single way. So I was hoping there might be a tutorial or something to help get this type of look for my map. Again, sorry if this is a bit forward but it's such a good map and it's style is exactly what I had in mind for my own map.

[Diamond]

Thanks for the praise, Colt! There's really no wrong or right way to do something like this. Unfortunately I didn't document my steps in making this map (I seldom do), but as trite as it may sound, it just takes practice. I can see the growth in my technique just in the time I've been a member here, so a lot of it stems from applying stuff learned from other Guild members.

Most of this map's strength (I think) lies in the coloring and texture. The texture(s) were done by layering several patterns/photos/textures atop each other and playing with the various layer styles and opacities until I got something I liked. It's just really a lot of experimentation and futzing around - there's no huge mystery to it. You just have to be willing to burn a lot of hours playing with colors and textures.

[Colt556]

I appreciate the insight and I have been looking through various tutorials, although I did think of something. I don't know if this sort of request is frowned or not in the map-making community so if it is please just ignore it. But I was wondering if you would be willing to share the texture/color you used on your map. From my experiences with GIMP and the tutorials I've read the whole texture thing, and getting colors that look good, seem to be my biggest weakness. So it'd be really nice to be able to use your layers as a base if at all possible. But like I said, I know these sort of requests are frowned upon in some content-creation communities and if this is one of them that's fine. One way or the other I'll have to learn eventually anyways lol.