[WIP] Wheel of Time: Westlands Vector Based

[Jayharchitect]

[FINISHED WORK LOCATED HERE]

This project is a wedding gift for a couple of friends. The future husband loves Wheel of Time. The future wife collects maps (pretty cool ones on her wall).

Details:
- I have never read Wheel of Time SO PLEASE CHECK MY SPELLING AND LOCATION.
- Software used: Illustrator
- Entirely vector (minus canvas texture): This means I could blow this up to the size of a building and no pixilation!
- Another reason I use illustrator: All mountains, hatches, colors, symbols are parametric. Change one I change them all
- I am done with it minus checking that it fits lore. I will use this thread to show all the components I used.
- THE SHAPE OF THIS WORLD MAKES NO SENSE TO ME. (Tectonics, rivers all emerging from points etc.)

Inspiration:
-Reason I found this website was because I kept finding awesome inspiration via google image search on it.
- MAX
- Tear
- Ascension
- vorropohaiah

MatthewRPauly_Westerlands_DRAFT01.jpg.

[J.Edward]

Looks nice Jay.
I'm not familiar enough with WoT either so I can't help there.

[ChickPea]

I've read WoT in its entirety and this is a cool project. Haven't a whole lot of time right now (I should have been in my bed at least an hour ago!) but a couple of little things jump out at me.

Firstly, you have 'Edmond's Field'. It should be 'Emond's Field' without the 'd'. This is an important place, so better get it right!! Also, bottom right, you have Mayan. Should be Mayene.

Secondly, and this is only a suggestion, but I dunno if you maybe want to do something more with the Blight area at the top. That's the 'root of all evil' Mordor-like place in the WoT world, and I sorta feel it should look a bit more, well, blighted! I'd try to emphasise the sick nature of the land up there.

I'll try to look at it again tomorrow when I've more time, but repped for a fantastic idea! Oh, and welcome to the Guild.

[Jayharchitect]

ChickPea! Awesome feedback! Fixed the spelling errors. I tried this with the Blight... what do you all think?

[J.Edward]

I think it works. ChickPea might have more input since she's familiar with it.

[Jayharchitect]

Okay, I thought it would be fun to include my palette in the illustrator file, so here goes!

Symbols:
I originally started out with more symbols for locations, small ones, large ones, cities, ports... but it got too busy. I also originally started out making the mountains from a pattern, but it felt too monotonous.


Brushes:
I use brushes with multiply, and combined with patterned swatches to give organic feel without having to make all the ins and outs. Sometimes can be monotonous, but a few tricks here and there can break it up.


Pattern Swatches:
I originally tried creating patterns for mountains, hills, grasslands, waves. In the end it felt too forced and you could read the grid a little too easily. So I simplified my palette. On the trees I use the tree brush to edge the pattern. The hatches I would rotate and scale depending on the need.


Color Swatches
This is what ties everything together. I actually had more swatches than this, but eventually things started to merge... for example, I have a swatch in my illustrator file called "Shoreline" but it is the same as "Secondary" now. The great thing is I can change the colors in all the symbols, brushes, and patterns just by adjusting these. So if you wanted one that was bright magenta shorelines with purple water... 5 second change. Because who wouldn't want that?

[Carnifex]

Very nice indeed! Textures and colors are great! I have made a ton of dungeon maps with Illustrator (go check them out if you like) but no world/area maps yet (or at least no finished).

[ChickPea]

After getting bogged down at work, I finally had another chance to look at your map.

Firstly, I think what you've done with the Blight is much better. The way you having it fading out works well too, as it says in the books the Blight grows and recedes depending on the Dark One's touch on the world, so I think that works really well.

I spotted another couple of issues. Firstly, at the far right, over from Cairhien, you have 'Janai Pass'. That should be 'Jangai Pass', with an extra 'g'. Also, just above Tear, you have Maddon Mirk. That should be Haddon Mirk.

There's one place that's mislabelled. Over on the left coast, just under the scale, you have 'Toman Head' labelled in the same style as other cities on the map. Toman Head is actually the name of the peninsula jutting out into the sea. The city itself is called Falme. You have the icon in the right place, but you need to change the little banner label to 'Falme' and I'd try to include a label for Toman Head as well, if you can, because that area does play quite a significant part in one of the books.

I can't see anything else right now, so hopefully that's everything!

[Ilanthar]

Very nice map, harmonious colors and fine details! I'm not fond of those black crosses used as landmarks, though.

[Meshon]

Very nice work, I'm a fan of vectors and I really like seeing what people accomplish with them. My only suggestion is aesthetics (I've never read the series either). To make your coastal wave lines I'm guessing you did an offset of the coast? The lines get tangled in some of the sharp corners as a result. In particular I noticed one grid square to the east of "The Dead Sea" label, just below Tanchico, right by Ebou Dar, and Illian. There's a few other places too, and where two points of land come close together those lines overlap in a distracting way, by the island Tremalking and by the city Mayene (thanks for the expertise, ChickPea!).

This tends to happen with complex lines when you offset them. My suggestion would be to do the first offset and (if you're using Illustrator), try the "simplify" command on one of the ripple lines first. If that gives you what you need you're golden, you can just repeat the offset using the simpler line.

If it doesn't work, you may have to go in and clean up the first offset manually, using the "subtract anchor point" version of the pen tool. Once you've gotten rid of the tangles then you can repeat the offset using the new clean line. For the spots where those lines overlap, just turn the lines into separate shapes, as seen here.

This is a really fantastic wedding gift.

cheers,
Meshon

Edit: I forgot to say thanks for sharing all the bits and pieces, I really like to see things like that, I usually find something I can learn in it.