the City-Kingdoms of the Hareshk

[vorropohaiah]

Hey all this is a WIP of a quickish (for me) map I'm working on at the moment. As always, the map is based in my Conworld of Elyden, though' I'm trying out a slightly different style to that which I normally do. I spent some time in particular on the typography, as it's an area I'm hoping to improve in (sea text will receive a faint border to counter the wave-lines). I settled on two clear fonts and restricted tracking to geographical features, like mountains and seas, only.

The Hareshk is a dichotomous place, its idyllic terrain and beautiful hills and grasslands forming a stark contrast to the politicking of its regions and their rulers; kings and queens and their countless lords and advisors. The place is somewhat antiquated, still holding onto traditions that the world's major power, the Korachani empire, considers to be antiquated, such as knightly traditions and feudalism. the region is renowned for its myriad flags and heraldic devices and the angelic motifs that fill its art and religion.

It's still heavily WIP, and i still need to add the hand-drawn features (cartouche in the upper left and mountains, forests,regional banners/shield designs etc). though I'll keep the thread updated with progress, of course. I'm particularly looking forward to the various shields and heraldic devices of the various regions: something I've been wanting to try for a long time now.

C&C welcome, as always.
EDIT: the scale-bar shows a total of 300-miles

the hareshk2.jpg

[- Max -]

Looks good so far. The corners ornaments seems a bit pixellated+blurred though.

[Bogie]

Nice work V. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

The resolution of the map and borders looks fine on my computer, maybe it had not fully downloaded Max.

[Freehand 5.5]

I like the torn border at the bottom.

Overall impression is solid, but personally I don't like the clean computerisch look of the
ornaments and the scale. It doesn't fit well with the phantastic content.

[vorropohaiah]

I like the torn border at the bottom.

Thanks! I spent a while masking the layers to get it to to fit with the paper background

Overall impression is solid, but personally I don't like the clean computerisch look of the
ornaments and the scale. It doesn't fit well with the phantastic content.

Not sure what you mean. It's still wip, so some layers need noise added, though I'm not sure what you mean about about the details not being fantastical enough. There's not much that's fantastical about it

[vorropohaiah]

not much work today due to my illness, though i moved the land around and changed the scale so we see more of the Hareshk.

here's a wip, including the cartouche (might add some more text-boxes if i can figure out where to add them)

the hareshk.jpg

[anomiecoalition]

So jealous....love the tear and the overall worn look you've given the map...looking forward to seeing what text you throw in there.

[Freehand 5.5]

The map gets better and better. Great project.

But I don't like the underlines of the mountain labels. It's from the typographical point of view always a bad solution.
And if you do have to underline something, do not let it go way over the letters at the end. And do not underline word spaces. And do not underline letters going under the baseline (what is not the case with the capitals on your map). It's generally bad typography.

Labels like the red wall and the horse gate, interfering with other map elements, should get an outline in background colour.

[Thordred]

For a newbie like me this map looks quite finished and wonderful. What are you planning to do next to improve it?

[vorropohaiah]

So jealous....love the tear and the overall worn look you've given the map...looking forward to seeing what text you throw in there.

thanks i love that tear in the base paper texture and love using it in the maps i make with the texture

And if you do have to underline something, do not let it go way over the letters at the end. And do not underline word spaces. And do not underline letters going under the baseline (what is not the case with the capitals on your map). It's generally bad typography.

Labels like the red wall and the horse gate, interfering with other map elements, should get an outline in background colour.

yeah, the underline going on after the end of the words is a result of the tracking i used to space them, and will be deleting them. and also, since posting this update i've gone on and added a faint white stroke to certain labels, such as seas and others.

For a newbie like me this map looks quite finished and wonderful. What are you planning to do next to improve it?

quite a lot actually! the cartouche is still empty. i also need to add mountains, trees, more borders, a lot more labels, trade-routes and roads, as well as shields and heraldic devices for the many regions and territories. i should be starting on the latter tomorrow.