My 1st Map - CC3 B&W - for my novel

[Miafeya]

Hey All,

I have spent a long time learning how to use CC3 to create a fantasy map for my epic fantasy novel; Dark Moon Rising. I am working on a coloured map as well as a Black and White one. Here is the B&W one as this needs to go in the novel soon.

The continents took awhile and whilst they may look funny they were created to match the continents described in the book, as are most of the mountains, forest, rivers and villages. The map is not complete but it is nearly there.

I did find that drawing in B&W in CC3 is very 'blocky' and doesn't hold the niceness of, perhaps, a hand drawn one I could create. The drawing tool - pencil size for want of a better explanation - is also quite massive. this is probably because when I started drawing the map with the map wizard I set the size to 24000 width x 18000 height because I need it large to map continents. I'm still not sure whether that size is in miles or pixels - please enlighten me if anyone knows . Also, is there a way (button, function) to see what size and/or dimensions your created map currently is? I've forgotten the original dimensions and wanted to find out.

I have also been playing around with whether it would look better with more or less stuff on it - does it look too cluttered? Would a B&W map look better with less 'stuff'?

I have not attempted to label anything yet - I'm quite afraid of this part as not sure how it is going to turn out with black writing on a B&W map! Any advice would be great.

Any thoughts, comments, advice, assistance, general knowledge, most welcome

Thanks so much

Miafeya

P.S. not sure if I should post this image as an attachment or an insert so I have attached it first. let me know if it is not viewable.

[Diamond]

I like it; it has a real 'in-world' feel to it, as if someone in the setting drew it. Your rivers look right for the most part, which seems to be one of the major pitfalls of newbie cartographers. (There is one area on the eastern continent where a river/lake system appears to join two oceans, which doesn't happen in the real world.)

I don't use CC3 and so can't offer much technical help, but as far as labeling, if you have access to GIMP, you may be able to do something like this:

samplemap1.jpg

It's pretty challenging to show black text on a black and white map. The little map above isn't the best solution, but it gives you some ideas, hopefully. The best option is to make it so no (or little) text overlaps any map features, but I know that's not always feasible.

Another program to consider is Inkscape, which is the open-source version of Adobe's Illustrator, and superior to that product from what I hear. I've never used either of those programs either , but from what I've seen here on the Guild, Inkscape can be used to create amazing text and labeling.

[Miafeya]

Hi Diamond,

Thanks so much for taking the time to have a look and comment . Great comments too, I shall work my way through them. I think I will try to clear some space for text on the map. I loved your little map. Do mind telling me what you used to create it?

Thanks again.
Miafeya

[Diamond]

I used Photoshop CS6, a combination of brushes and hand-drawn.

[Miafeya]

Thanks, it looks very nice