Frigealand WIP, looking for tips and critique.

[dsfargeg]

Hello everyone. Ideally, I would've liked to make my first post be a finished project, but critique is more welcome before the piece is done.

nuka map20.jpg

I'm creating it as a part of a role-playing campaign I run on roll20, where I will use it as a background for overworld travel. I've already tested and it works fantastically.
Thematically, I'm pretending that it is a map drawn by a very enthusiastic, goofy cartographer hence all the different colors for nation borders and so on. The setting itself is late northern European bronze age with a dose of iron age along with a mix of the age of myths and ancient civilizations.

I spent a stupid amount of time searching for fonts to use and I am still not really happy with what I've got; is it bad practice to use many different fonts on a map? What I use now I think works great for large, bold text like the name of nations but it's not entirely legible at smaller sizes for place names.
Cheating a little, I made a heightmap to decide where to place my mountains and then used Wilbur to generate rivers for me but their placement made no sense once they were put on flat paper. I must have erased far more than half of them and kind of winged it and redrew parts so they'd connect to elevated terrain. I'm wondering if there are still too many rivers, making the map look cluttered. I have not even gotten to drawing roads and there are dozens more cities and castles to place. Considering the tech level I'm working with its already too accurate and ideally only the most important geographic features should be present. It's a general overview of the free nations on this bit of land, not a map commissioned by an emperor for launching a conquest with.

Any advice is welcome. I feel like I've hit a wall and I'm becoming blind to my own creation and need an other pair of eyes to look at it.

[caribbeancasa]

I spent a stupid amount of time searching for fonts to use and I am still not really happy with what I've got; is it bad practice to use many different fonts on a map? What I use now I think works great for large, bold text like the name of nations but it's not entirely legible at smaller sizes for place names.

Hello dsfargeg,

First off, welcome and thank you for posting your map. I must say that I really enjoy the watercolor aesthetic.

I'm going to focus on the fonts, since that was a concern of yours. It is perfectly acceptable to use multiple fonts on a map design. However, I would say that you probably shouldn't be using more than three before they will start to detract from your work.

The key is that the fonts compliment one another. The only way to truly tell if the fonts are complimentary is to play with them. I often open a blank Word document and type several fonts and look for those that look good together. There are also websites that list complimentary fonts if you Google the term. The only disadvantage with that method is that the fonts are often rather bland and might not be as dynamic as you'd like.

Personally, I think the font you're using is too ornate for even the larger countries. Even zoomed into your painting, I had trouble discerning the names. If you're absolutely set on that particular font, I would suggest playing with both the size and the shape of the text so that there is as little overlap with the other map elements as possible.

For example, currently 'Tembarga Country' at the bottom of your map could use a slightly smaller font size so that the T doesn't overlay the river and on the mountain. The word, 'Country' could be adjusted so that the Y doesn't end on a river. That might help make the font more readable for your players. There are plenty of areas when the font can be resized, curved, or spaced more effectively so that the letters land upon the clean, parchment background instead of on the actual terrain elements. It will also help make the map less cluttered looking.

But when it comes to the smaller writing you definitely need to change the font. Areas like 'ashcroft' and 'Midwood' can barely be read even zoomed as far in as possible.

If you want a suggestion regarding complimentary fonts, I would try Bridgnorth for the larger text. It gives a similar vibe as your current choice and is much more legible. For the smaller font, I'd try Footlight MT Light. Again, it gives off a similar feeling and is easier to read.

Those are just suggestions. Take what you need and flush the rest. Good luck with your map. I look forward to seeing how it progresses.


Regards,
Scott

[dsfargeg]

Thank you for your words. The watercolor was actually a happy accident, where I was using the wrong colors, on the wrong layer, with the wrong blending mode. I rolled with it and asked an artist friend how to best make it look like actual water colors.

The font I was using in the first picture was just another experiment, but I had been looking at it for so long while painting that I got used to reading it. See if you can spot the text that's in Times New Roman! The problem you saw was that I used all uppercase, with all the mess that produces. I went back to lowercase letters and increased the font size where necessary. I still like it, I think it looks good for example out in the water where there are no extra details to detract from it. I moved most place names around to put them next to instead of in the middle of the feature, and redrew four forests. I tried the Bridgworth font you mentioned but its uppercase K's looked too much like R's, it wasn't usable, can't have a land full of Ringdoms. I changed the country font to IM Fell Great Primer and will see if I should change the other font again, once the map starts to actually get cluttered with place names and towns. The reason I want to use an ornate font is as I mentioned, I like to pretend that the map is drawn by a very enthusiastic mapper and the setting is long before the printing press. Showing off his fine writing skill is as prestigious as drawing an accurate map.
As a side note, on roll20 where I use it as a background it is about 4x the size when scaled up to fit the game grid.

I think I was still stuck in the happy amateur mindset where you do things you shouldn't, just because you can and you think it's good at the time even if it's not good practice.

nuka map22.jpg

[caribbeancasa]

I love 'happy accidents' happens to me more than I'd like to admit

The country names are much more legible now that you've placed them on a solid background. The small font probably still needs some work, but the map is looking very nice. Great job!

[Schwarzkreuz]

I totally disagree with the new placement of the country names. YOu should place them like before but with a curved placement. Also just add some outline in color of the paper to it by teh Strokelayer option and it should work out to be readable.

[dsfargeg]

Weekend update.

Changed fonts and font sizes, moved names around and added new ones. Added new cities. Next item on the list is to redraw the swamp to the north-east.

nuka map27.jpg

[dsfargeg]

It has been forever since I last posted anything, so I figured it was about time. Not an amazing amount of progress, but I've added some flair and a placeholder sea monster I found that looks like a penisworm with wings. I've named, renamed and removed almost all river names at least twice and will do it again; I just can't decide on a theme.
I use butchered Old English that I dredge up here and this tool to name towns and cities. I'm getting there. A bunch of towns and cities are preliminary marked on the map, many will likely end up changing locations at some point and I wouldn't mind suggestions if you see something that appears to be wildly out of place. I'm satisfied with the fonts for once, and my players aren't mocking me by adding apostrophes after vowels anymore, which I'm going to accept as a personal victory.


The western islands are still without national borders as I'm not entirely confident in my plans to have them occupied by mainland privateers and other unsavory folk. I toy with the idea that they are simply lawless and no man's land and have been for so long that no nations even bother to claim them as de jure territory anymore, with the other options being a) belonging to the mainland empire, b) the waters surrounding them belonging to merfolk who don't actually lay claim to the islands but they really, really don't like boats in their waters and thus, no man sets foot there or c) uninhabitable, worthless rocks.

nuka map33.jpg

[pennamechris]

Lovely map, and your compass rose is really very pretty.

I kind of like the idea of merfolk waters, its also probably more likely if you want them to be 'unclaimed', as kings and rulers tend to grab up anything, even the most apparently worthless of things just to lay claim on them.

I do have one minor comment on the map legend. My eyes aren't what they used to be, the very fine scripted font in the legend forces me to actively read the text, instead of the information being easy to gather at a glance. If that made any sense.

[Elterio Delgard]

Bronze age or Iron age eh? You may think about ceramic as well! I know that this subject does not really touch the field of cartography, but there is a way. If you want you could work on the cultural sphères of influences on your map, this will help you work on the trading setup. Often in Bronze and Iron age, ceramic traveled widely. You could say by the design which country it belonged to.

I think your Pertengahan Lake will be an excellent area to work on the trade. Many civilizations have access to it and it could even explain why some of them don't care about the western islands, indeed, the one who has control on the island in that lake could have an enormous advantage on the trade. So you could have a big dispute for who has the foothold for the commerce of that lake.

[dsfargeg]

pennamechris, the legend is on purpose, I'm emulating all those old maps with flowery penmanship espousing the greatness of His Majesty and/or the Good and Gracious man who commissioned it. If I change it, it will still be a fine script. I believe the markers and type are clear enough that you will only read the legend once and not have to reference it at all.

Elterio, that's how I use the lake already. Copper Hill is located on a hill obviously, a tall, proud and very defensible hill that has clear view all the way to the forts in the north, the mines to the west and south and the great plains to the east. The mines are where the majority of this region's copper is found. It is near the southern coast so tin is easily imported and Copper Hill has become the de facto capital of metalworking. Thanks to this a great many merchants travel across the lake and it becomes the single most important trade stop for luxury goods, weapons and armor. The Sciper river provides Seaport with the trade and capital needed to sustain itself as a large city and is where economical commodities such as wood, fur, stone and food is freighted up- and downriver.

As for the island in Pertengahan, it is not actually contested territory per se. Everyone involved is quite aware than any military power play will spark the flames of war that might turn out to be neverending. There is a status quo where nobody dies, and nobody is unfairly taxed or embargoed. There are minor conflicts and political grandstanding over small things such as a fishing fleet crossing borders or complaints as to who actually has the right to set the tax on fishes that spawn in one nation's waters but spends their entire lives in another's.