The Kingdom of Krea - Unfinished Commission

[DanielHasenbos]

Last spring I was commissioned to make some maps for a game. After a short time I stopped hearing from the client and it has been a couple of months since the last time I had contact. The maps aren't finished and probably never will be, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway.

So here's the Kingdom of Krea:
Krea Map 1.jpg

Nomadic Map.jpg

And here's another one of the Capital Duchy of Aesa:
Aesa Map.jpg

Any comments and critique are welcome!

-Dan

[ThomasR]

As it's not finished, maybe some of the comments I'll make cover things you were planning to do later but let's go.

On the first map, I like the landscape and think the swift transition of colors is the way to go, no clash here. My only nitpick would be about the labels it seems like there's a noise around the gothic letters. That gives a blurry impression with the white outer glow.

The second map really sells a sinister mood and has a hand-drawn-on-the-corner-of-a-tavern-table vibe that touches my core. Here again, the labels clash with the rest. Too clean/digital while the map feels very organic. The subtle difference of tone between land and sea works well and the dark red/brown ink is a win on this kind of parchment.

The third map reminded me of the archipelago of ashes. When zoomed in, I'm not a fan of the landmasses rim and there is too much hills for my task. I think you'd give a better impression of uneven terrain with fewer well placed hills, this would bring the land to life as it'll feel more real. I'm also not sold on the beach at the south. The mountains are great and the fact that some of them are askew near the lake is a nice way to show declivity. The title is very well placed.

All in all a pretty nice set.

[Sizeman21]

I enjoyed all of these maps! Good work!

[Ilanthar]

Nice work, Daniel, everything is very clean and well drawn. I would have prefered a bit more land color diversity for the Duchy map, though.

[Tonnichiwa]

Sorry to hear that you haven't heard from the client for a while though I do like what you have done with them so far. I particularly like map #2. Great job on these

[Greg]

Yeah, sorry to hear about the client too, so I hope perhpas they contact you again at some point. Trying to see the positives, I guess extra practice commission work is never a bad thing and you've got a neat little set out of it (albeit unfinished).

I particularly like the first Queendom of Krea map. Real professional look and a great style similar to other pieces you've done. I'd tweak the fonts a bit on it to make them more similar overall, but otherwise perhaps with a compass rose in that one could pass as a pretty neat finished map.

The second version with the mountains is harder to comment on as it's no anywhere near as done. The mountains once filled in would help it a lot, but otherwise it's shaping up in a cool style.

You've got really nice linework on the third map (not saying the others don't ), but in this one it's obviously got mountains, trees, cliff etc for you to show off your talents. I'd like a tiny bit of cliff on the smaller isles, as otherwise they look a little too flat compared to the main landmass. Again, other elements are really neither here nor there as I'm sure you would have tweaked and played around with the title some more. It's got a nice border too.

[Mouse]

I agree with what Ilanthar and GLS said about the third map (which is my favourite), and tentatively add that IMHO a very slightly thinner coastline might also improve it just a tiny bit.

What a shame about the client. Let's just hope nothing bad happened and that he/she will be back some day.

[tainotim]

I'm sorry to hear about the client, but the maps are nevertheless great!

Cheers,
Tainotim

[ChickPea]

Bad news about the client. I hope you got some money upfront. Still, every map's a learning exercise and I think you get something new out of every piece you create, so even if you didn't benefit financially, hopefully you gained something out the process.

I think the first map of Krea is my favourite (you have 'Kingdom' in the thread title and 'Queendom' on the map. I rather like Queendom! ) It's very clear and legible with a nice colour palette. For the second map, whilst I usually like dark maps, but I feel this one is just a bit too dark for me. Or maybe it just needs more detail to overset the duller colours. Not sure. It's not totally grabbing me as it is at present. I do like the third map a lot too, though the sea areas feel a little empty in contrast to the busy land areas, but I appreciate it's effectively still a WIP.

It's great to see that you're able to turn your hand to different mapping styles and produce nice work in each of them, so that at least is something to be pleased about!

[Robulous]

I love the Queendom! I'm not always keen on maps with blackletter fonts but this one looks great. I can't believe your client abandoned this project!