City map (and my first commission!)

[feanaaro]

The style is a streamlined version of what I used previously for some of my personal maps, to make it quicker and easier... but actually I'm feeling it works better this way, without needing to obsess on the single-building level as I usually end up doing.

It sort of look like a 19th century map, though this city is apparently more of a low-tech fantasy (as the other ones I mapped for myself in a similar style).

Unnamed and unlabeled as that part is left to the client.

A couple of variations are included. Let me know what you think (if you want!)

Edit: forgot to credit the hachures brush, which is J. Edward's good work

First-City-(Commission)White.png

First-City-(Commission)Parchment.png

First-City-(Commission)Flatter.png

[- Max -]

Hmm what bothers me is the pixelaltion and the sharpness of the outlining. Also the numbers labels aren't really legible when zoomed out.

[feanaaro]

At 50% size the numbers should be legible and the pixelation not noticeable.

[J.Edward]

Hey feanaaro - glad to see that the brushes have been useful.
Did you use photoshop for all the outlines? [buildings, land, etc.]

[- Max -]

At 50% size the numbers should be legible and the pixelation not noticeable.

What's the dimensions of the map?

[feanaaro]

J. Edward, yes it's all photoshop. I know it would have been crisper in vectors, but that would have been too much work at my current level of competence.

Max, I posted it at full size, which is 1px = 1m, thus the entire map is ~ 3.3 * 2.3 km. The area inside the walls is roughly 1.6 kmq

[- Max -]

If it's intended to be printed, the pixelation should be less noticeable indeed but some labels would be still hardly legible (especially the 7, 10, 11 and 13)

[J.Edward]

How wide were the lines? Meaning the brush setting?
That may be why it looks pixelated.

Two suggestions to go along with what Max is talking about - the font. A sans serif font would probably look bolder at a smaller size like that.
And the other is that if you move the numbers slightly on certain buildings they will show up better.

I did a quick sample of what I'm talking about. The font is actually slightly smaller but more readable. [It's Adobe Gothic std.]
First-City-(Commission)Flatter.jpg

And aside from that the city looks good. Well laid out.

[feanaaro]

The numbers are not that important in the end, since they probably won't be used by the client. I don't like sans serif though.
The lines are mostly 1px wide, but as I said, at 50% size (or at 100% on a retina macbook pro) the pixelation isn't so noticeable. 100% on a standard resolution screen would only show a slice of the map and not be so useful anyway.

[J.Edward]

Okay. Just a suggestion. No worries feanaaro.