January 2018 Challenge : The City States of Azellak

[MapMappingMapped]

Hand drawn with microns. Didn't move any names by even a single inch. Just printed it out and started drawing.
This is my first challenge as I'm new to the site.
A bit of lore.
The land used to be united as the Empire of Azellak, with is capital at Grimpati. But after many wars the different cities became states of their own, and now no one wishes to return to the old ways. The rising kingdom of Aelios consists of united city-states, and it's out to conquer all the other states. Sethis, Alard and Riavolo are its current target - in the east, Kordorak, Mularak, Khusep and other great cities are in league to defend their freedom. Southwest, only the impenetrable Vharamet Mts. stop Turarak and Pandora from being eaten up by its northern neighbours. They're desperately trying an alliance with the nearby powerhouse of Borka. Just north of those, Aravia has given up its freedin to avoid war, and Aeolios now controls it. In the south-east, petty states squabble continuously, oblivious to the danger that lurks from the north.
All so far....
I'm not sure if I've posted the map right....

### Latest WIP ###

[Redrobes]

Welcome to the guild and double welcomes for the entering a challenge. Extra bonus welcome for submitting a really nice map too !

Now for the challenges we have this useful little feature on the guild called the WIP tag. If you put that code in above your latest WIP (Work in Progress) image then we have some code we added so that we can build up a gallery of latest WIP images to check up on the progress. So put one in each time you update your image in a new post and the gallery shows your latest. If you want to post an image which is not a submission and is ancillary to the challenge then just dont put a wip tag next to it. On the advanced message editor there is a button you can press to insert that code to make it easier.

[ZoraSpringer]

Welcome to the guild from another (more or less) noob. I really like the way this map turned out, though I think in black and white it's a bit chaotic. I think though that it might come out really great if one were to color it it's just a suggestion of course. But in general I really like where you're going! Maybe you could do it digitally? I think that would really give it another great kick! But the outline is awesome already!

[MapMappingMapped]

Welcome to the guild and double welcomes for the entering a challenge. Extra bonus welcome for submitting a really nice map too !

Now for the challenges we have this useful little feature on the guild called the WIP tag. If you put that code in above your latest WIP (Work in Progress) image then we have some code we added so that we can build up a gallery of latest WIP images to check up on the progress. So put one in each time you update your image in a new post and the gallery shows your latest. If you want to post an image which is not a submission and is ancillary to the challenge then just dont put a wip tag next to it. On the advanced message editor there is a button you can press to insert that code to make it easier.

Thanks for putting it up Redrobes! And thanks for the warm welcome!!

Welcome to the guild from another (more or less) noob. I really like the way this map turned out, though I think in black and white it's a bit chaotic. I think though that it might come out really great if one were to color it it's just a suggestion of course. But in general I really like where you're going! Maybe you could do it digitally? I think that would really give it another great kick! But the outline is awesome already!

It is chaotic xD. Ive just installed Gimp, hoping to color it with that... No digital experience though. Thanks though!

[MapMappingMapped]

Ouch. I'm struggling.
Any good tutorials on colouring maps out there??

[Mouse]

Hi MMM

There are loads and loads of different ways of colouring a map.

The quickest and simplest I can think of right now just to get you started in the right general direction is this one:

Open your scanned image in GIMP.

Add a new transparent layer on top of it, and set the blend mode to either "Multiply" or "Overlay" (that's a drop down box near the opacity slider on the layers panel), and just start experimenting with a soft brush on that new layer. Don't expect to get it right first time. Most colouring jobs take an inordinate amount of faffing around to get right. Sometimes its better to not do too much on one layer, but add another transparent layer on top of that one again, so that you can get rid of the layers you don't like without losing the ones that you do.

Most colouring jobs take several layers to achieve.

A lot of mappers use a two stage process, where the first layers are all about adding shading and shadows, and the colour layers are only added on top of them once the shading is right.


Golden Rule:

Save your GIMP file regularly, and NEVER merge anything down!

When you have reached a point where you need to produce another WIP image, just go to File/Export and export a new jpg image. That will give you an image you can upload here that is quite separate to the GIMP file.


That's a really nice map already, by the way

[AzureWings]

The drawing style you have there feels so nostalgic - so reminiscent of classic fantasy literature maps. Touches like the longboat in the Panjatmun Ocean add so much, and I'm really curious about the literal key tucked into the compass rose - some deeper meaning for the world? A pun? And is it a correct assumption that the stone pillars above it (and sun/moon?) are meant to represent (a) megalithic structure(s) oriented to times or directions (like Stonehenge)?

As a heads-up, you do appear to have a tiny bit of map (well, really just title/legend/border) cut off at the top and the right - although I know how finicky getting a good scan of hand-drawn work can be.

[MapMappingMapped]

Thanks Mouse! Makes a lot more sense now!
@AzureWings Thank you . I'm not sure what the design on the compass rose means myself.... Just liked the look and added it on. Ofc I can easily add a meaning behind it... if my inner self doesn't already know it.

[Ilanthar]

Welcome indeed! You have done a lot already. It makes me think to the maps you could find in the good old gamebooks, and I definitely like that.

[MapMappingMapped]

Thanks for the welcome Ilanthar!
I'm quite struggling with coloring the map... Gimp is so hard to get used to