Reply With QuoteExcellent!
Eriond: Completed Ascension Style Map
Hello All,
Here is the completed version of my map, the original WIP thread can be found here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...8ish%29-Style!
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me along in this process. This was my first attempt at fantasy cartography, and I knew absolutely nothing about the software I used to make this map (GIMP) before finding this site. The tutorials by Rob A, and his many helpful Gimp plug-ins were of huge help to me. Rob, you are the "PIMP of GIMP" man! Also, as alluded to in the title, this map was done in general style of Ascension's Atlas Style, which is absolutely fantastic. As good as his tutorials are however, I would not have taken on the task of attempting his Atlas Style were it not for the wonderful tutorial by Gidde, who translated Ascension's Photoshop instructions into GIMP. Thank you both. Also, I was really encouraged by all of you (you know who you are) who visited my post, offered constructive feedback, and helped me through a few tight spots, y'all are a great bunch!
Alright, that said, there's not allot to tell about the process of making this map that isn't already covered in the Ascension/Gidde tutorials. I did deviate a bit though, so here's a quick recap of those:
The Ocean: I added more texture to the ocean floor by creating clouds, using a smudge tool on them, and then embossing them.Well, that about wraps it up, hope you enjoy, and thanks again for all of your help and encouragement.
The Map Symbols: these were essentially done the same way as discussed by Rob A in his tut on GIMP-made regional maps, except that rather than adding a shadow to the symbols, I bevel & embossed them.
The Borders: After creating the map, I enlarged the canvass by 75px and added a black border layer surrounding the map. I then enlarged the canvass by another 50px, and added a gold colored border layer. I then bevel-and-embossed it, added a texture overlay, and satin style, and voila (not nearly as amazing as CoyoteMax's gold technique, but it's the best I could do with my limited knowledge of GIMP).
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Last edited by arsheesh; 05-08-2010 at 04:20 PM.
The gold border looks just fine to me, I'd have done the exact same thing for an edging like that
Great map, and excellent use of Ascension/Gidde's tutorials
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
So it's finally done, eh? Great job!
I see you left out the names for the roads and rivers, which I can understand. I was working on those last night, and they're really a pain!
Oh, no trouble with the wife about the border, I hope?I, for one, like it. Simple yet elegant, gets the job done perfectly.
I'd have repped you if I could, but need to rep some others before I can, haha
Last edited by Matrim; 02-02-2010 at 07:02 AM.
Doodle it.
One to be proud of!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Great map and great names!
I dunno why people tend to make up really stupid names in fantasy. I'm glad the names here sound good!
Yesterday today was tomorrow.
My deviantart: http://darkaiz.deviantart.com/
It looks great, lots of detail. Nice work. Repped
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt
Hey thanks the encouragement guys, y'all have made me feel welcomed within the guild. As for the river and road names Matrim, I discussed the reasons for leaving them out at the end of the WIP thread, but basically I found that I couldn't both reduce the font size, and transfer the font to a path to align it with the roads/rivers, without the font becoming pixelated and nearly illegible (I found this to be the case even after switching to clearer and more compact fonts and playing around with the font tool settings). I tried simply enlarging the font size, but then the map canvass just seemed to crowded by text. In the end I just found the additional names to be to cumbersome. I might try checking out Vector based software in the future to see if I can get better results with with reduced font sizes, but that will have to wait for another day. School is starting back up and I won't have time for another project for a while. Hence, decided to just call this one good. Anyway, thanks again to all of you for your feedback.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
I already repped you in your WIP thread, but have some more hypothetical rep, since I can't give you any right now.
Awesome finished product. I love it.
Really like this one. A very close Ascension-simulation
I'm trapped in Darkness,
Still I reach out for the Stars
