Mapmaking offer

[pyrandon]

Hello, friends.

I'm in between projects right now (actually, I'm never in between projects, but I feel like taking a break), so I thought I would offer to create a map for someone else. Take a look at the other maps I've posted here & see if my work suits you (i.e., the work of a complete hack), then please email me & tell me what you're thinking. I'll get back with you in a day or two.

If it works out, I think I'll make a tutorial out of your mapmaking project, just in case anyone out there could benefit from my stumbling steps.

Take care!

[MittenNinja]

Heya, I'm new to these boards and just came over from the CBG. Just wanted to say first that I'm overall very impressed with the work I've seen around here. Props!

I am currently in the process of fleshing out a setting of mine and one of the things I still need to get figured out is the layout of the continent. I would be extremely appreciative if you could throw that together.

Here's the link to what I have up on my site thus far.
http://www.thecbg.org/settings/347/index.html

If you'd be interested I will gladly give you some more detailed info on the general premise of the continent and such.

[ravells]

MittenNinja, let me just tell you that pyrandon is far too modest for his own good. He produces professional level maps for his hobby.

Don't believe in his 'stumbling steps', they are in fact the foot prints of giants.

Ravs

[pyrandon]

MittenNinja, let me just tell you that pyrandon is far too modest for his own good. He produces professional level maps for his hobby.

Don't believe in his 'stumbling steps', they are in fact the foot prints of giants.

GULP! Now how am I supposed to live up to that high praise!!

Actually, this is more evidence of Ravs being one of the nicest fellows you'll ever meet than a clear appraisal. But thanks so much for the thumb up! Rou rock, Ravs!

EDIT:
PS: Ninja, I sent you an email; let's talk about this!

[pyrandon]

OK,

so a few weeks & half-a-dozen emails later, I'm attaching what Greg & I hashed out. This map displays the basic layout which he will be able to "tweak" to fit. For example, the two labels I placed on the map are just to give the idea of a font, style, size, etc. which Greg will complete.

When all is done, we'll post it in the Finished Maps thread.

As you can see, the "tone" of this map is quite a bit different than many fantasy maps out there--and definitely different than my previous maps! Karis is a world that was all but destroyed by demonic forces in the recent past--and could still be in danger--so we tried to capture that ruinous, desperate, and death-ridden flavor through both dark colors and roughly hand drawn style. Definitely a challenging experiment for an amateur like me. Frustrating, but fun. If I had to do it over again...well, let's just say I learned a lot!

I'd be interested to know what you think of this map. Take care.

[ravells]

I really like the colour set you've chosen, Don. It has that 'post apocalyptic' feel to it. I also really like the very large stroke value you've used on the coast outlines - it works really well with the map. Bringing down the level of fiddly detail by not using fine lines adds to the 'primitive' 'nothing refined here' feel to it.

Suggestions:

It's a matter of 'feel' of course (isn't it always?) as to whether you want the cities and labels to appear overlaid on the map or actually drawn onto it, but if you're thinking about the latter then I'd be inclined to not use a regular red circular shape for the cities. Maybe a fractalised circle, with a larger than normal stroke value for the outline. - Gives the impression of a ruined city, if you see what I mean and maintains consistency. Depending on whether you want the cities to 'pop' you may want to reduce the staturation value of the city colour to that of the rest of the map.

Same with the text, I'd try fractalising the edges it a bit or choosing a font that's a little more tatty round the edges to add to that destructive feel. It'll be a compromise with ease of legibility though, although I think with the outer glow you should be ok.

Again, to add to the destructive feel, you may want to make a custom brush of craters and/or lava flows (not sure if these are in the brief). In terms of colour use, red really pops out on the map, and here you may want to use a high saturation red (like the present cities) with an irregular lumpy black fill to draw the eye to the really scary places. I'm not sure how easy that will be to fit into the underlying textures, but maybe worth a go. It will add a more 3d feel to the map as the red will appear to advance against the background.

My assumption is that the top of the landmass is lighter because it's arctic, or (less likely) it could be a sunrise on a planet with a 90 degree axial tilt! I suppose any ambiguity there could be cleared up with the text labels (e.g. the good old 'Frozen Wastes' or similar).

Finally, again maybe an idea to play with, a lot of stains, scuffs and scratches to make the map look a bit beaten up, echoing the state of the terrain.

Hope that's helpful - great work and looking forward to seeing the rest of it!

(I'm trying to complete a 3d model at the moment that it taking up all my home computer time - hence my lack of mapping at the moment, but I hope to jump into the fray again soon!)

All the best!

Ravs

[MittenNinja]

You are correct about the arctic region at the northernmost part of the map. I'm actually the one going to be going through and doing the labeling for all of this so that's why it hasn't been done yet.

I like the idea of craters and lava flows but they arn't really present in the setting so it kinda rules them out.

Good to hear some 3rd party input on this.

[pyrandon]

Good to hear some 3rd party input on this.

Ditto--especially from Ravs! I like a lot of the suggestions you made. That's why you get paid the big bucks, my friend!

[pyrandon]

MittenNinja has kindly posted the near-finished map on a Finished Maps thread; click here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...tered+kingdoms