Kharoun - Orientalist Imaginations (Regional-Map WIP)

[Abu Lafia]

Hello everybody,
inspired by Ilanthars attempt to rework an old map (http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29671), i "gimped-up" an old map of mine (http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29659) and thought a bit about the region/ world in general.
Kharoun - "Reich des roten Sands" ("empire of the red sands") was born (again...)
The Idea back then was to create a pen & paper setting inspired by the great Artwork of the "blackblood" (Chronopia) by Adrian Smith. A dark-fantasy oriental Ogre/Orc/Goblin empire.

I followed (though not too dogmatic as you'll see ) the great tutorials by arsheesh about Eriond and Mapborders
(the chequerboard-pattern gave me a real nervous-breakdown due to the DIN A3 format ). The cities and agricultural land were mainly inspired by a fantastic set of related regional maps by one of the members of this community, which i couldn't find anymore . Thanks a lot anyways (maybe someone knows the maps?)!
But in the work process i often fell back to the huge amount of amazingly crafted maps and tutorials from the whole commmunity for inspiration and help, so first of all:
Thanks to all of you!
But - despite the many hours i worked on it - the map is still very much "in progress". After long nights of remaking my terrain (wilbur is a very nice programm btw.)
i decided to switch to the "stuff" around the actual terrain and had a lot of fun creating the patterns for the border, doing the shields, etc.

As a noob in Gimp my workflow in general was pretty messy (to much unsaved progress was gone, the overall layer/mask-management killed my toaster,etc.)
but i learned a lot so far and hope to start my next map with a clearer plan in mind.

Some of the things i'm aware of on the unfinished Map:

- Mountains:
well, they are a bit to "thin" and too "flat"... The next days, i'll have a look at how Harrg did his fantastic Mountains on Kronos (http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29486)

- Rivers:
... i'm on the run from the River-Police ...^^

- Forests, fields and cities:
the final arrangement isn't done yet... i was just testing in general how to make these things

Next thing to be done is a windrose.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments and critique...

-Martin

[RevGunn]

I like both maps. The new one is really cool though. The mountains look good to me. Is there no other green vegetation other than the trees? I actually come from an area like that, where the grass is normally brown. Your mountains look like caliche to me also. I love the glyph icons and the border. I also like the way the rivers are drawn. I ain't river police so placement looks ok to me.

[Abu Lafia]

Hey RevGunn,
thanks for the feedback! Yes i was thinking about other vegetation because it looks a little "blank", but 1. i like the idea of the centerdnes(?) of vegetation around the rivers in the otherwise really arid area (in the mythical story -in german - the "map-creator" is writing about the growing heat after the second sun-eclipse in a lifetime, which drove the nomadic tribes to the more fertile western valleys...) and 2. i just havent found a good-looking texture/brush to apply some grass.

Edit: Thanks for the rep!

[arsheesh]

Off to a great start Abu!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Abu Lafia]

Thanks arsheesh! Btw, i played around with your desert gradients for gimp, but i think i messed up something in wilbur with the height-span, so the deepest areas were just black I had problems with changing the ranges of color in the gradient (maybe they are locked?), so i applied other gradients i downloaded from deviant-art (have to look up again who it was...). The gradient-thing is something i definitely have to look deeper into the next days...
Thanks again for all the well done and very helpful Tutorials!

[Abu Lafia]

So, here is the next addition to the map, a compass rose... I'd love to hear your thoughts on it...

-Martin

[Wingshaw]

A few thoughts of mine:
--perhaps make the vegetation darker. I assume you want the vegetation to look like a satellite image, so this picture of the Nile seems like a good reference.
--can you make the coastal waters fade more gradually, and perhaps have deep water look darker? (again, the Nile image is a good model)
--I don't think the cities work very well, at this stage. I'm not a fan of the bevel/emboss method, generally, and in this case I didn't even realise they were towns until I read your post earlier. Maybe a better option would be to just have a sand-colour with a thin black outline, and perhaps diagonal hatching?
--the most striking thing about the map is just how orange it is. In my opinion, it doesn't look a realistic colour (it kinda looks like it is the afterglow of a nuclear explosion). If you want really red sands, maybe this image is a helpful guide.

Those comments are all a bit negative, so here's some positive: I really like the border and the text box, and that compass rose is one of the best I've seen. The whole image has a very authentic middle-eastern feel, and I really like how you have reused the same motif and integrated it effectively.

THW

[Abu Lafia]

Hey THW, thanks for the comments!

- Yes, the Nile was of course one of the main sources of inspiration, i will try a more saturated green for the trees next time.

- The coastal waters: I like the effect of an "outline" for the landmass, but you are right, they should fade more...

- The cities: Well, i wasn't sure about how to make the cities look fitting to the rest of the map. I decided against totally abstract icons. I'll definitely give your suggestion a try!

-The overall colouring of the terrain: That's one of the biggest building sites on this map... before i went with more brownish-red colours (maybe i'll upload it next time). Good to hear, that it looks quite un- (or even "post-" ) natural to you. Thanks for the reference to Australia, i'll try to make a pallete out of this picture....

Negative Comments: I wanted to hear some comments/critique, so i appreciate it if they are honest (even, or even more, if they are "negative").

Postive Comments: Glad to hear that you like the "artwork" around, i was wondering whether the (re)-usage of the "Kharoun-motif" is a bit too much.

Thank you THW for giving me some things to think and work about!

[Ilanthar]

I kinda agree with THW. Why didn't you kept your original color palette? I like your shields and symbols.

[Abu Lafia]

Hello Ilanthar, thx for the comments! Glad that you like the shields, they are my "gimp-newbie-pride-and-joy" on the map

As THW suggested, i changed the color of the landmass back to a "pre-nuclear" state. Although it looks less hazardous now, i'm still not sure about the best way to apply other colours(&texture) to the landscape without letting it look like "painted on"...

I also reworked the coastal-waters and the whole ocean, it's really looking better now...

I darkened the forests a bit.

I played around a bit with the shape/texture/... of the cities. I tried different things, but in the end, they didn't fit the "bumpy" style of the rest. Still working on that, because they are admittedly not in a perfect state right now.

Btw, i found the Map/Cartographer i was referring to in my initial post: The "Carian" Regional-Maps by Yandor.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...t=14040&page=4
The shape of the cities on those lovely maps might be a good orientation.

Although its not too much "progress" to see in the latest WIP, i'm thankful for all comments, thoughts and critique...