WIP - Vaehelm

[Cybersmily]

Hi All, this WIP is a campaign world I created many years ago. It start with pencil/paper, then slowly recreated with Campaign Cartographer, and finally went with GIMP as CC3 would constantly crash due to the size I was going for (even with 16GB RAM, 8 cpus, and 1TB of HD). The map is far from finished but want to share and get feedback.

Here is the full map, which is about 10kx8k pixels.
Vaehelm_DeRust3.3.png

And here is a section at normal size where I started adding in details:
vaehelm_zoomin.png

I am still experimenting with the mountains and have been for a week or 2. Basically having issues trying to not them look too cartoon (which I know requires practice) and whether to color them with shading or not. I have read several great threads on the forum already and using them to help inspire/teach me what I can try.

Again, any feedback is welcome and appreciative.

CYBER

[jbgibson]

Really nice work. Kudos for actual foothills, and for forests that extend into the mountains. Are all the gray zones eventually to be mountains?

I'd call your experiments successful. If you want a subtle shading effect, intentionally eschew precision: look at my Jantoos Bogway map for "good enough for background texture" mountain shading. Probably would suffice for foreground mountains, if the linework on the mountains is nice (yours) as opposed to exceedingly mediocre (mine).

Already looking like a great map - I look forward to seeing it progress!

[Chick]

Hi Cyber, This is a very nice map, especially for a first post. You have a really good start on a lot of things, including good coastline shape, well-drawn mountains, and nice forest placement.

A couple of things I notice that I'm not crazy about are the speckles in the ocean (I'd try to find a better texture for that), and the sets of islands which seem far too dense to me.

The mountain color is fine, but you might try choosing a light-direction, and shade that side with a lighter color. Use a brush with about 40% opacity and brush some lighter grey onto the lighted side near the top streaking downward.

I'd say you're well past CC3 level already. Have some rep!

[Cybersmily]

Thanks for the feedback JB and Chick, I will try some of the advice out.

[Eilathen]

Hello Cybersmily, welcome to the guild! (Well ok, technically you are a member since 2010 but 2 of your 3 posts are quite new )

I really like the style you have here! Well done. I hope you'll keep us updated about the progress and/or new maps you come up with.
If i could "criticize" one thing (or maybe two) : 1) not sure i like those dark dots in the oceans and the landbackgroundcolor is a bit too brown and monotonous for me. 2) we need higher resolution of these maps...i want to zoom in to all the glorious details

Have some Rep.! And as i said, keep it coming. Oh and if you are willing to, tell us a bit about this world we are seeing here. I'm a fellow roleplayer and always interested in the world of others.

[Cybersmily]

Thanks Eilathen for the input. Yes, I have been a lurker for quite a bit of time. I figured it was about time to start getting involved.
You are the second vote to get rid of the dots in the oceans. So they are gone . I put them there originally as I was attempting to use some of effects Max did on the Vardenia & Urenia map(http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=26802).
I have done a green fill on the continent which hid on the uploaded piece. Still on the fence whether to use it or keep with the single tan color. I think the tan will work better with the country border color I plan on using.
As for higher resolution, wasn't sure about the file size limit on maps. Right now the map is over 100MB as a Gimp file and export to PNG is around 20MB. I will upload it up to my site and throw in a link here to it.

[Chick]

... As for higher resolution, wasn't sure about the file size limit on maps. Right now the map is over 100MB as a Gimp file and export to PNG is around 20MB. I will upload it up to my site and throw in a link here to it.

The size limit on CG seems to be about 4Mb. I generally use high resolution, then save to a low quality .jpg of about 3.5-4Mb for upload here. The high resolution more than compensates for the low .jpg quality setting, so details are nicely visible.

[Deadshade]

Definitely shade your mountains.
Especially if what you are doing is a range where shading is the only way to bring contrast and identify where valleys vs ridges are.
I commend your hills. EXCELLENT ! This is the first map I see that really takes care to show that mountains dont arise out of a flat plain but have (almost) always foorhills announcing them.
Overall you are indeed already well above CC3.

[Cybersmily]

I started doing the shading on the mountains and creating more of the ranges on the map. I have also recreated the city icons to look a bit more like city/castle/town. Was playing around with paths for roads. Still a novice to GIMP.

One thing I have notice to the two maps I exported to png and saw this when exporting to jpg is that the parchment effect I have on the map isn't getting exported. Here is a screen shot of what is in GIMP
screenshot.jpg

If you compare that to the image from my first post, that image is flat, compared to this one with texture.

Anyone had this issue before?

[Deadshade]

You deserve a prize for your hills. Definitely the best I saw here
No I never had this JPG problem you mention but then I am not an expert in exporting from GIMP.

An improvement would be if you tapered your rivers. You have the same width over the whole course while having them thin near source and wide at outlet provides a more realistic look.