Continent of Anasthias - 1930s gazetteer style

[- JO -]

Nice job ! It took me years ago, in those maps from encyclopedia (like the one you're talking from)... It's really a special design that you replicated perfectly !
You bring back nice memories for me ! Thanks

[Diamond]

Hey Robulous, this is looking really nice. I think the only thing that's bugging me is the slanted labels. Why not make them horizontal? You've got plenty of room. Alternatively, you could make all the nation labels a solid black, lower their opacity to 50% (or lower), and size them bigger or smaller to fit the individual countries, and arch them. The benefit of that method is that you can still easily read the those names, but you can also keep any text written over them legible as well. I dunno, it's just pinging my OCD I guess. But most excellent map anyway! I really dig the side maps.

[Robulous]

I think the only thing that's bugging me is the slanted labels. Why not make them horizontal? You've got plenty of room. Alternatively, you could make all the nation labels a solid black, lower their opacity to 50% (or lower), and size them bigger or smaller to fit the individual countries, and arch them.

Originally on a plain political map I had all the country labels at a similar slanted angle but as I was adding in features it all got kinda messed up, so yes they are a little wonky now I look at it. I played around with having them solid black but it looked odd - I prefer the white country labels and the black province labels, it makes them more easily distinguishable. I'm not messing around with opacity, that really wouldn't fit with the style or printing technology of the period.

It's the trouble with such a complex map, I really could fiddle with it for ever!

[Robulous]

Hey all - I've done a final edit of this map for the OCD-inclined, with the labels slanted at least in the same directions, which is in Finished Maps here.

Thanks so much for all of your help! Your comments really have helped me improve my work. I really don't have the time to tinker with it more so that's it for now until I add more content to it. I'm still adding in more cities as the story unfolds in my mind so it's an ongoing process