New Style WIP - Victorian

[HandsomeRob]

Hi all,
I am trying a new mapping style for a new project I am working on... I'd like to emulate a Victorian, "Pirates of the Caribbean", Steampunk-ish map style. Here is what I've come up with so far. I'd appreciate feedback!

Thanks,
-Rob

[Fransie]

Nice style. I'd try to make the heightlines a bit thinner.

[ravells]

Hey Rob,

The style looks really familiar, but when I looked in various old atlases / map books lying around the place for a reference I couldn't quite find one that matched. I'm just wondering if you are going to age/grunge the map up whether the red road lines should slightly less saturated. Also, if you're going for an 'ink bleeding onto the page' look a tiny amount of outerglow in the same colour as the line helps with the effect.

Cheers

Ravs

[Ilvarin]

I don't really have a frame of reference for a Victorian style map, but just on its own merits, this is a nice map. It communicates the lay of the land quite well. Cheerio!

[HandsomeRob]

ravells-
I based the style primarily off of this thing:
Linky!
which I found for sale on ebay.

I agree about making the hatching a bit smaller. Also, I think the forest might be a bit overpowering. I will try to screen it back some and alter the color to something a bit grungier.
Thanks for the tip about the roads, I will try it out.

Does anyone know of any good fonts or icon packs that feature lots of gears and clockwork type stuff? I'd like to add some of that in the cartouches.

Thanks!
-Rob

[Ascension]

I can't think of any fonts with gears. You'd think that after years of steampunk there would be some cool ones. I know some ones with wheels, tires, clocks, pipes and caveman stone wheels and you could modify those but that's a hassle and they're all quite cartoony.

[ravells]

There was a tuturial in 'photoshop creative' magazine (I think) a few months back (or was it last year?) which had a tutorial about making a steampunk font based on gears and such. It involved finding loads of images on the web of gears , fancy stone bits of churches etc, cutting them out with the pen tool and then putting them together in a grid (desaturated) to make the type and then colouring the word when done. Very time consuming. I found this on google - looks bloody good actually, althogh it's not the one. (I never even knew an 'expand appearance' tool existed) and there's 3d app stuff involved.

[Iapetus]

I like where you're going with this, and the pattern used for the forests. I'm not too fond of seeing the red line go through the city symbols, though. (I'm assuming the red lines are roads.) I would delete the red lines in the circle.

I'm keeping my eye on this one!

[HandsomeRob]

Iapetus: I know, the roads going right through the city symbols do seem odd to me (as a professional cartographer, it's just wrong). But it also appears to be the period style. I'll consider it - my instincts are to break the lines through the symbols, so maybe I should ignore the period style and just follow my instincts.

Ravells: Thanks for that tutorial! It's fantastic. I don't have the 4D software they use, but I was able to duplicate a lot of the effects in photoshop. Here's what I've come up with for the main title. Of course, it will end up being aged and grunged up a bit in the end, but I think it's a pretty good start.

Thanks!
-Rob

[RobA]

Some Fonts/Dingbats:

http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=8
http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/detail.htm?pid=402206
http://www.candycranks.com/archives/1939
http://www.fontspace.com/funk-king-fonts/beltway
http://www.fontspace.com/gaut-fonts/web-press
http://www.fontspace.com/gaut-fonts/gearbox
http://www.fontspace.com/funk-king-fonts/heath-robinson


And a few steampunk tutorials:
http://pizzabytheslice.com/make-a-st...nd-effects.htm
http://michan.deviantart.com/art/Ste...orial-77191545

Just think brass

-Rob A>