Machair and its mountains

[ChickPea]

I'm very new to map-making and I'm working on something just for fun, and would enjoy hearing some opinions.

Last time, when I made my only real map from scratch, I used brushes for mountains and trees. This time I wanted to try and create everything myself. Not sure if I'm being overly optimistic about my "talents".

I've attached my new map, which has most of the basics done. The labelling isn't finished. I've still to add some names, and I'm going to move them around and might change fonts and so on. I want to pretty-up the main title in the sea area too. I'm also thinking of doing something for the towns/cities instead of just a coloured circle, but haven't decided what. There are a few other bits and pieces to be worked on/cleaned up too.

What I'm mostly interested in hearing is what you all think of the forest and the mountains, and, of course, first impressions of the map in general. I made my own brushes for the trees and tried to fill out the forest area a bit, without going so far as having a forest-shaped 'blob'. Does it work? Also, the mountains ... honestly, I can't draw for toffee and I was a bit nervous of even trying this. I followed a tutorial from the guy at Fantastic Maps (he makes it look so easy!) and I'm sorta OK with how they turned out. If I take my specs off and lean back from my monitor, they at least look vaguely mountain-like! I don't seem to have individual pointy peaks though. It looks like one big line, which isn't quite right, but the thought of erasing everything and starting from scratch again is a bit soul-destroying. I'm also not sure if I've gone overboard with the colouring. Do the mountains seem to blend OK or do they stand out too much?

I'd love to hear some thoughts. Thanks, folks.

[Llannagh]

Well, I would say that you definitley CAN draw for toffee! (reat expression I never heard before, btw)

The mountains are a little bit blockish, but I have seen mountains like that all over the place and they do their job just fine. Though if you want to refine them, I'd suggest drawing a more curved main ridge and work off of it the way you did here. Otherwise you've done a great job imo, also with the blending.
Talking about soul-destroying: I just did the very thing and deleted major mountainranges in one of my maps and started from scratch. My soul survived, but it now hates my perfectionism...

Regarding the forest I would suggest variying the trees a little, make a different brush for... sorry, I don't kow the english word for it. I mean trees with leaves, not "needles".

I don't know why, but I'm not too keen on the rivers. The way they're flowing is fine, as is the line work, but I feel there're too many of them going kind of parallel. Bur maybe that's just me.

A few things I really like about your map:

- the font (which is it and where did you get it, if I may ask?)
- the coastline is great with a very natural feel to it
- I love the texture and it's shading. I neglect that in most of my maps and thus haven't gotten the hang of it yet...

Lastly, have some rep!

Cheers,
Llannagh

[ChickPea]

Hi Llannagh, thanks for your reply and your kind words.

About the forests, I did actually made another couple of brushes but ended up not using them. I might go back and see if I can mix it up at little. Also, I think the word you're looking for is 'deciduous', that is trees with leaves that fall every autumn, rather than evergreen 'needle' trees.

About the rivers, I agree actually. The bottom one is OK and I can live with the top one, but the couple in the middle, once they come off the mountains, are a bit ... flat. I think some erasing will be required. I might combine or re-route them.

On the font, I can't remember the name right now (I'm at work) but I'll look it up tonight and post again. I have a feeling I got it from Dafont, but will check on that.

On the mountains, yeah, my technique definitely needs improving, but I suppose you've got to start somewhere! I can picture in my head how I want them to look, but getting it drawn on the screen is another matter! I had a peek at some mountains you drew a few months back in another thread, and all I can say is 'Wow!' I want to create mountains like those!

[CaptainJohnHawk]

ChickPea

I really enjoy your style, and agree with Llannagh that you can draw very well. For your first hand drawn map I believe this is going very well.

Pros: Great forest, the diversity in size,color,shape is awesome and exciting.
Colors in general work very well with each other.
Coastline is nice and crisp, just be aware that if your style on the map looks more hand-drawn, the coast should reflect that style as well.
I believe it is a very successful first attempt!

Cheers,
Capt.JH

[ChickPea]

Llanagh, I checked back on the font I used, and it's called Quill. It wasn't from Dafont as I'd thought initially; it was actually through a link I found on Cartographer's Guild (via the Mapping Elements sub-forum fonts thread).

The link is here: http://moorstation.org/typoasis/designers/lloyd/

Select Quill in the 'I-Z' dropdown box. There are some other nice fonts on that site too if you poke around.

CaptainJohnHawk, thanks for your comment and compliments! I'm glad you like the map. That's an excellent point about the coastline perhaps looking a little too computer-generated, whereas the rest of the map looks more hand-drawn. I have a line along the edge of the coast, and might see if i can give it a more caligraphic feel, perhaps with varying thickness, to make it fit better with the rest of the map. Thanks for taking time to give me your opinion.

[Llannagh]

Thanks a lot for the link, ChickPea. Do you know how the license situation is with those fonts?

[ChickPea]

Llanagh, sorry, I'm not sure about the licence. I'm not using them commercially, so it's not something I considered. I looked around the site, but it doesn't seem to say (one of the pages just says "Download some of my fonts, designed purely to be decorative and never practical, and use them.") There is an email address, so I guess you could check with the creator?

Thought I'd upload my latest work on my map. I was working on it last night, and this is where I'm at now.

I've removed some of the rivers and tweaked the colours a little. I also removed some roads, as there were just too many, and I took out the background colour from the dots, as it was too dominating. I decided, on a whim, to add some more trees. Not sure if I've got too many now. I need to stare at it for a day or two till I decide. I also added the labels late last night, though I think I need to blur those a little to make them blend a bit better. I also notice I've left one of the text 'path' lines visible. Oops!

I want to revisit my mountains and try to salvage them a little. I haven't got the heart to erase them and start from scratch, but I might try to tweak a few lines here and there to see if I can improve them. Since these are the first mountains I've ever attempted to draw, I'll use it as a learning experience and try harder next time. (I'm trying to soak up tips and suggestions from around this site, as well as ogling the pics of other more talented artists!)

Finally, I still want to look into icons of some sort for the cities, rather than coloured dots. Not sure if I'll go with this idea in the end, or just stick with the dots. I haven't had time yet to poke about at it.