July Entry: The Fairy Necklaces Map

[terrainmonkey]

okay, so i got excited about this one, and thought about all the fairy tales i ever liked, played around with a few ideas but nothing really gave me any kind of enthusiasm. then i came upon a book my sister had called "The complete book of flower fairies" by Cicely Mary Barker. In this book was a short tale called "The Fairy Necklaces." This tale is about a young girl who wishes for treasure so her mother doesn't have to work for the bad people in the Great House and a couple of fairies that grant her wish with a gift of 365 necklaces. i'm not sure if you can find it on the net, but it truly is a charming tale and i found it had a lot of good locations that would look great on a map.

i tried to use as many colors from the pictures of the book as i could, created a pallete based on them and went to town. here's the first result. if anyone has any other ideas, let me know. i'm thinking of adding a couple of extra things onto the area known as fairy home, but i haven't decided what yet. the only thing that's bothering me is the background color and the house colors.
anyway, let me know what you think.

[RPMiller]

Not bad. Two things that stick out for me. One is the sparseness. It really needs more surrounding woods or something to help balance it all. The second is the city up the road sort of clashes with the nice clean lines of the rest of the map.

[terrainmonkey]

okay, so i added a few things, changed the woods, added mountains, hills for the fairies to live in, and changed the town to a style more in keeping with the other houses.

aside from a few other small cosmetic changes, i think this one is done. i wanted to keep it kind of simple, so if anyone thinks i need to detail it up a bit, let me know.

[RPMiller]

I like it. Much more balanced and still simple. I think the only thing that needs to be changed no is the 'compass'. That big heavy black dot keeps pulling my eye to it and it makes the map feel heavy on that side. If you could do something to 'lighten' it up I think you would be set.

[Duvik]

I'm gonna agree with RP on what is a very nice looking map. Those simple changes you made really brought it out from what it was in the original image posted.

The compass certainly could use a bit of work though. I'd go with thinner lines and little to no large black oval.

Think of a stylized number 7, then keep that one,copy it, invert the copy horizontally, and then vertically...

that'd give ye a nice slim looking up and down arrow ((now, i don't mean for ye to actually use the number 7 to do this, use a stylized arrow and add a little length to the lines but... well... hopefully ye follow what i'm getting at... you've gone with a minimalist design and should let the min flow baby ))

[terrainmonkey]

hey all.

This is pretty much it for the final entry in July. In between rehearsals and performances for a production i'm in, work, and family stuff, girlfriend, etc. you know life... well, this is all i can do to the map so let's consider this one done.

thanks for all the suggestions folks. i always enjoy putting my stuff up here because you guys are so good about constructive critism and giving serious help to those who need it. when one looks at one's own art, he doesn't see flaws that others would. that's why i like these forums. thanks again to all who gave me ideas. (the stylized 7 was a handy touch and one i would never have thought of. thanks Duvik!)

so i added a small picture of a fairy on top of it, if it still draws attention away, i'm sorry i tried to lighten it up a bit and make it less pronounced. i suppose i could lose the whole compass thing altogether if it looks out of place.

everything else, i'm pretty happy with.

thanks again!

[RPMiller]

I would call that done. I like the fairy compass. That is a nice touch.