Black Titan Redux (Encounter Maps 1 - 4)

[helium3]

A while back I posted a map for "Black Titan Dungeon." Since then I've "refined" my process and come up with an end result that I like a lot more than the results at that time.

Here are the internal maps for the dungeon in entirety. I made these with a combination of Illustrator CS2 and GIMP.

What do you like? What do you not like?

Here's another question I'd like to pose for anyone that may be able to provide some guidance. I would like to make some extra cash and freelance cartography work is something I think I could do. Is my work as presented in this thread good enough or not, and if not what do I need to improve on?

[thebax2k]

Glad to see you've been putting more work into this Helium3, the maps look sharp and I like the flagstone effects. However, I did have a few more brickbats

1. Lighten up or change the coloration of the background surrounding the maps. Although maps 5-7 stand out well against what you've got, but maps 1-4 "blend in" with the background. That's not good, as you want your map to stand out from the background, not blend in. Also, I do not know if your maps are meant to be printed out or used in something like virtual table top, but the way you have them set up is very ink intensive, using a lot of black ink in the area surrounding the map when it might not be necessary.

2. The light "line" around most of the mapped sections is a nice, subtle cue that the section is part of something larger, but it would be better to use numbers or a small transparent mini map with the relevant section highlighted to give a viewer an idea of where the map sections are located in relation to other map sections, what you have now is a bit confusing.

3. A table showing what colors and symbols represented what and the scale would be a definite improvement.

All in all, I'm very impressed by what you've done Helium3, just keep refining it and you'll have something professional grade.

[helium3]

1. Lighten up or change the coloration of the background surrounding the maps. Although maps 5-7 stand out well against what you've got, but maps 1-4 "blend in" with the background.

Good point. They are rather similar, particularly when the image is "zoomed out."

That's not good, as you want your map to stand out from the background, not blend in. Also, I do not know if your maps are meant to be printed out or used in something like virtual table top, but the way you have them set up is very ink intensive, using a lot of black ink in the area surrounding the map when it might not be necessary.

Fair enough. I've considered cropping the images to the bare minimum necessary, but have kept them all the same size for now.

The light "line" around most of the mapped sections is a nice, subtle cue that the section is part of something larger, but it would be better to use numbers or a small transparent mini map with the relevant section highlighted to give a viewer an idea of where the map sections are located in relation to other map sections, what you have now is a bit confusing.

Actually, that's a visual artifact that I haven't determined the cause of. It's process specific, as it doesn't appear in all of the images or is a lot more subtle.

That being said, the idea of a mini-map is a good one that I hadn't considered.

A table showing what colors and symbols represented what and the scale would be a definite improvement.

Definitely. Thanks for the feedback.

[Sigurd]

I like the crosshatching pattern. Where'd you get it?


Sigurd

[helium3]

I like the crosshatching pattern. Where'd you get it?


Sigurd

I made it myself. I can email you a copy.