(WIP) Arch City of Nessa'Mor

[Mouse]

Well....

I've gone and forgotten what software you are using, so this may make sense, and it may not, but in GIMP...

If your map is X px wide, and Y px tall, and if you want the border all the way around to be 200 px (this is just an example and not 'the ideal width' or anything) then you need to enlarge your map canvas (not the map layers but canvas) by 2 x 200 px in both directions, which means you will have to break the little chain link thing and manually add 400 px to both dimensions.

If it's GIMP you're using, then you can do the alignment of the map layers while you are expanding the canvas.

[XCali]

Well....

I've gone and forgotten what software you are using, so this may make sense, and it may not, but in GIMP...

If your map is X px wide, and Y px tall, and if you want the border all the way around to be 200 px (this is just an example and not 'the ideal width' or anything) then you need to enlarge your map canvas (not the map layers but canvas) by 2 x 200 px in both directions, which means you will have to break the little chain link thing and manually add 400 px to both dimensions.

If it's GIMP you're using, then you can do the alignment of the map layers while you are expanding the canvas.

Okay. Though I'm not too sure how to work in px. My canvas size is 3508 x 2551

That last one is definitely good to know. I went about it an other way around, so that might be my problem with the alignment tool. So thanks.

[Tenia]

In my opinion the overall looking is great, there is something in this work, contrats of colors, shapes, I love it. Don't touch the sea and rocks, they are hypnotic Just keep the same style on the top and the sky... Go on !

[XCali]

In my opinion the overall looking is great, there is something in this work, contrats of colors, shapes, I love it. Don't touch the sea and rocks, they are hypnotic Just keep the same style on the top and the sky... Go on !

Ah, thanks a bunch Tenia! I really appreciate it!

I have to ask what you meant exactly with 'Just keep the same style on the top and the sky'. I didn't quite understand what you were alluding to.

But again thank you for the compliments.

Have a nice day.

[XCali]

Hi everyone,

This is a purely technical experiment.
I just changed the alignment on Fort Silverman. Still a bit 50/50 about that one.

And then added a LOT of different text for checking out what works best for a fantasy map like this.

This is a discussion on the matter. So I would like to know what number text works best and why before I throw in my thoughts on the matter.

The font is Century Schoolbook Bold.

Nessa'Mor_NamesExperiment1_byOmriHope.jpeg

[XCali]

Hi,

Thought I'd add a second one today. I'm still keen on hearing your thoughts on the different colour text.

For this I drew a storm drain and brushed the way down to the see. And tried one of the sets of name colours out for this one.

Nessa'Mor_names and StormDrains_byOmriHope.jpeg

[Mouse]

It doesn't matter if you make it too wide to start with because you can always trim the canvas size to fit it once you've done the border, so try adding vastly too much, like 1000 px in both dimensions (re-sizing your canvas to 4508 x 3551), which will give you 500 pixels all the way around to play with.

Once you've finished drawing the border you can trim the canvas to fit the border

EDIT: when you are resizing the canvas in the dialogue box that opens up for you to give the new coordinates, you will see an alignment option below the resizing boxes. If you make sure that 'Centre' is selected you should be fine

[Mouse]

If the choice was mine to make, I'd do white text with a black glow around it. I'm not keen on any of the coloured versions for different reasons in each case. But that is only my opinion - so don't make your choice based purely on mine

The font you are using is a tricky one, since it has very slender parts to the letters that can make it less legible at very small sizes. However, if you like that font, I wouldn't start adding lots of other fonts on the same map. I'd stick with just the one font for all the labels on the map, and maybe a slightly different one for the title that is closely related to the first.

[XCali]

If the choice was mine to make, I'd do white text with a black glow around it. I'm not keen on any of the coloured versions for different reasons in each case. But that is only my opinion - so don't make your choice based purely on mine

The font you are using is a tricky one, since it has very slender parts to the letters that can make it less legible at very small sizes. However, if you like that font, I wouldn't start adding lots of other fonts on the same map. I'd stick with just the one font for all the labels on the map, and maybe a slightly different one for the title that is closely related to the first.

What font/fonts would you suggest then? I'm all ears. (Though a free one would be best.)
I was thinking in the line of what would be fitting on a Fantasy Tabletop map. But legibility is also key.

[Mouse]

Oh my! There are literally THOUSANDS of fonts out there on sites like Dafont.com (which is the one I tend to trawl) and you can get really bogged down or even fall asleep choosing one, there are just so many.

Google 'free fonts' and you'll pretty quickly discover most of the main sites.

Font choice is such a very personal thing, a bit like your favourite colour or taste, that it would be impossible for me to guess what the ideal font would be for you. I would suggest that the best and only way is to go looking at what there is for yourself.

Guidelines - try not to fall in love with anything that is grossly ornate or distorted. Those kinds of fonts look great on a poster ad, but they're pretty much rubbish in a map because they are hard to read, and map labels are meant at the very least to be legible. The other one you already know - a graceful font might look very nice, but they tend to have lots of thin bits in the individual letters that disappear if they are used at a small scale.

Before you go racing off to google everything, though, just check out what you've already got available on your system by flipping open that font box in GIMP, as the last thing you want to do is bog down your PC with a thousand different new fonts, if you already have the one you like right there.

One rule: Never use Papyrus!!! Its got a really bad name around here because it was totally overused to death in the early days of fantasy cartography