The Coastal Regions of the 2nd Kingdom of Aranoth

[Stevenday]

My first finished map. Drawn with pen and paper, then colored in Gimp.

This was my first real use of Gimp, so I stumbled along with layers and the colorization. Still learning! Overall, I like the way it turned out.

Included below are both the B&W and the colored version. You may spot my goof up on the compass on the B&W version, ;D.

Enjoy!

Aranoth.jpg Aranoth Cropped.jpg

[tpunko]

That is really cool, I like the mountain colour.

[Kellerica]

I love how you coloured the trees here, the varying tones really make the forests pop. The title scroll looks nice too!

[Stevenday]

Thanks so much!

[FantasyMapmakingCo.]

The coastlines look incredible, and overall a really solid map.

[jfrazierjr]

Very nice map!

Things I loved:

• The color difference between the Easter mountains vs Western mountains. This is a subtle touch that conveys a sense of how the mountains were created differently.
• Varied tree color and shapes
• the hand drawn picks. This is a simple but amazing little touch that I personally love.
• The title banner

Things I did not like quite as much (or perhaps would suggest keeping an eye out for might be a better way to say it)

• Though this is a VERY fine detail, the grass seems inconsistent in height(some are almost as large as the trees beside them) and stroke(some seem like hard ink others like soft pencil)
• "font". Hollowford appears to be "over inked" heavily and especially compared to Starborne Sea seems to stand out to much(unless this is intentional as the primary locale of a story)
• Shadows. your single trees have shadows towards the east as do some of your symbols(towers), but some of your symbols(towns) and forests have some inconsistent shadows on both sides which stands out.
• This is less a complaint and more of a suggestion, add shading and highlights to your hills a bit so they match the light/shadow of your mountains. This is a very minor thing but will make the map pop a bit more. I tend to do this with dodge/burn tools on a grey overlay layer in GIMP(ask if you don't know what I mean), but could be done with just pure color "painting" as well if you prefer.

There is one really odd thing on the map that bugs me and that's the river. It flows from what appears to be flat plains, hugs a very long mountain range before emptying into the sea. This is just really odd without hills on both sides to indicate it's falling from an even higher elevation.


Nothing on the not like make this a bad map in any way. Still great work for hand drawn(which I can't do to save my life honestly).

EDIT: oh, and I caught your two Wests....lol

[XCali]

Awesome first finished map! Even a great map was it not your first one.

I have to commend you for getting this far on your first GIMP rodeo. Mine was not nearly as good. It took me a bit get a hang of it. I still use GIMP. It's a great program.

The mountains are done solidly, the trees as well. I agree with the others, the variation in colors added a nice pop.
Feedback wise, I agree that grass being that big relative to the trees is odd, but done right it wouldn't be a problem. I have loads of maps where if the overview maps were to scale, my trees would be gigantic. So, it's a balance of getting your lineart to fit the style.

All in all, very nicely done. looking forward to seeing your next.