# Community Participation > Mapping Challenge Archive >  Oct / Nov '17 Lite Challenge: Waskingdale Island

## Straf

I thought I'd toss my hat into the ring early for this one. I don't have any story behind this yet, but I think the explorer who discovered it, Captain Juan Tedman, named it after his main patron, Lord Waskingdale.

Anyway I've been messing about with GIMP and haven't done any drawing yet. Things might change drastically while I work out what I'm going to do next and start 'painting'. It almost looks like one of those LIDOR things.

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## Mouse

Wow!  That's very striking, Straf  :Smile: 

I think this is my favourite of all the island shapes.  

I'm very envious of you all.  Maybe we need to ask Diamond if he would run a similar Main Challenge  :Smile:

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## Redrobes

Yeah - good start ! Is there anything you can do about the 30 degree lines running through it ? Nice texture and colours.

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## Bogie

Good start Straf!  Glad you're in!

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## tilt

Looks like a rough place to live  :Smile:

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## Straf

I've been faffing about with GIMP a bit more to try to come up with a different terrain. I think I'm liking this one better. 

Errr, I mean some erosion and geology stuff happened but miraculously left the land shape the same as it was...

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## Mouse

Well its certainly different, Straf, but I'm not entirely convinced.

Maybe something altogether a lot less contrasty and hugely patterned?  Something like a very fine grass base on which to grow your mountains from the ground up with patches of rocky stuff and relief shading?

EDIT:  It might be easier to start with the bottom layer - a pale sand or grit, then add the variably transparent ocean layer(more transparent around the shores than out to sea), then texture paint something rocky as the cliffs (if you're going to have them) around the edge leaving some of the sand/grit visible as beaches between the edge of the water and the cliffs (though only a tiny slither, since this is 150 miles across), then cover most of the island with very fine grass, and work on mountain ranges on top of that?

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## Mouse

Oh my!

I can't imagine what state of mind I must have been in to be such a bully yesterday!  I am so sorry, Straf.  My bad.  Please ignore the last comment?

The new texture is definitely an improvement on the first one

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## Straf

I already did ignore it  :Razz: 

I did wonder if you thought this was my finished map - it's not, it's the beginning really. I have a lot of 'sculpting' to do. I'm trying something new out for this challenge  :Wink:  You'll have to wait to see if it comes off though  :Very Happy:

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## Mouse

Aw, thank you  :Smile: 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of it  :Smile:

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## - JO -

Looking forward to see your sculptural work !

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## Straf

Unfortunately I broke my tablet stylus by using a hammer on it!

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## Mouse

Now we are all sitting here trying to work out how you managed to do that.

I hope it doesn't mean you're throwing in the towel?

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## Greason Wolfe

Yikes! I'm all for using a bigger hammer, except maybe on personal electronics. When it comes to work electronics though...well then the hammer can never be big enough.  :Wink: 

Still hope you can get things worked out.

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## tilt

> Now we are all sitting here trying to work out how you managed to do that.
> I hope it doesn't mean you're throwing in the towel?


Always bring a towel... then you have something to throw in.. however, I can't see Straf throwing in his - he'll work through it  :Wink: 




> Yikes! I'm all for using a bigger hammer, except maybe on personal electronics. When it comes to work electronics though...well then the hammer can never be big enough. 
> Still hope you can get things worked out.


Maybe that's a future challenge.. map by hammer  :Wink:   .. Maybe Straf is already praccticing  :Wink:     hmmm.. "straf" means punishment in danish...

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## Mouse

What kind of pen was it, Straf?

I have reasonable google-fu, and could try and find you a good deal, but I had a quick look and could see there are about a billion different pens.  I don't even know if they all work with all the Wacom tablets, or if you have to have a specific pen for each one.

Maybe it would be more useful if you gave us the tablet model.  I think you have a Wacom Bamboo, but its not quite the same one as mine.

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## Straf

It was a joke!

I mentioned sculpting and JO mentioned it too so I imagined using the pen and tablet to 'sculpt' using the pen as a chisel. I didn't really hit it with a hammer. I'm not that daft.

Although I wonder if there's a virtual/digital sculpting tool much like the pen and canvas if there's an electronic chisel and hammer where you start with a cube of stone and chip bits off to make a sculpture in 3D.

tilt - yep, I discovered that. I think it's a general Scandie/Dutch word rather than just Danish.

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## Falconius

> It was a joke!
> 
> I mentioned sculpting and JO mentioned it too so I imagined using the pen and tablet to 'sculpt' using the pen as a chisel. I didn't really hit it with a hammer. I'm not that daft.
> 
> Although I wonder if there's a virtual/digital sculpting tool much like the pen and canvas if there's an electronic chisel and hammer where you start with a cube of stone and chip bits off to make a sculpture in 3D.
> 
> tilt - yep, I discovered that. I think it's a general Scandie/Dutch word rather than just Danish.


That's pretty much what 3d sculpting programs like Zbrush are.  Also they are doing some interesting things with VR sculpting although I don't think it's really developed yet.

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## Mouse

> It was a joke!
> 
> I mentioned sculpting and JO mentioned it too so I imagined using the pen and tablet to 'sculpt' using the pen as a chisel. I didn't really hit it with a hammer. I'm not that daft.


LOL! not as daft as me then  :Razz: 

I had in my mind a sort of image of you not being able to find the little tool thing to change the nib, and then deciding to wedge the nib between the desk and a handy hammer to try and get it out!  (Weird stuff goes on in my mind!)

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## Straf

Right I've been faffing again. I've been pushing buttons, pulling levers and hoying coal into boilers. I've even tightened a few flanges and greased some bearings...

I've also spent most of the day playing about with Wilbur and GIMP. This is what I have so far:

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## - JO -

Good sculpture ! Many chisel broken ?

Being picky, I would notice some rivers stopping just before the sea... hopefully, I'm not (picky)

Your alchemy is working !

Is there a way to make the mountains appear less flat ? I think if you draw shadows on the whole flank of the mountain that is supposed to be in the shadows, the whole « block » of mountains should appear more in relief... what I mean, is that the detailed shadows are very well done, but if your rivers are down a valley, then the whole mountains flank facing SE (I think) should be in the shadows ?
Does it makes any sense, what I'm trying to write ? If not... then I'm sorry, and it probably not important...

Sorry if I interfere in your process ... I meant no harm

Édit : or it’s an issue of scale maybe : if the whole island is 150 miles wide, then maybe the mountains are too small ? Not enough coal or grease ?

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## Straf

I think you're right JO, the mountains are tiny for a 150 miles long island. Wilbur carved out the land and put the rivers in. It seems that there are a lot of valleys that used to be rivers but dried up at some stage, or something like that. If only this was the 'map it wrong' challenge then I could really mess about with scales and stuff.

I think I might have shoved coal into places I shouldn't have. Or I could just blame Waldronate for programming it wrong, I mean he should have foresaw my map when he set out to do this thing and made concessions for it  :Razz: 

Seriously I think I'm going to take a few more cracks at this. The grey scale height map that I bring in to Wilbur needs to be a lot lighter overall I think. I should adjust the levels quite significantly and perhaps do some 'painting' of the peaks/ridges. I only started using it today. And there are a lot of buttons, levers, switches and cogs to grease in that little package as well. I don't even think I've scratched the surface with it.

Another thing is I think I can use it to output a contour map and use that as I have done with previous maps, to manually add relief shading and do my rivers by hand. I have 2 weeks and a few days to decide before I suddenly redo the whole thing from scratch in the last 3 days  :Wink: 


EDIT: I've just been and measured on my screen - how wide is a mountain range? The ones to the north of the map are 10 miles across but they aren't very long.

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## Mouse

This map has an interesting evolution, Straf  :Smile: 

The only real help I can give you is this: Stretch the height map from black at sea level to absolutely white on the tops of the peaks, and concentrate on drawing the shape of the ranges rather than individual hills and mountains.  The smaller divisions will appear when you use Wilbur  :Wink: 

Also - that its very rare to get the height map exactly right the first time around... or even the second or third...

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## Straf

Would it surprise you if I said I haven't done any drawing whatsoever here? My Wacom hasn't left the drawer.

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## Straf

I've lost a bit of my initial enthusiasm for this. I need to think about it some more. I think I need a story, perhaps its discovery, and who was already there if anyone. Bare ladies and dodos may or may not feature.

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## industrygothica

> I've lost a bit of my initial enthusiasm for this. I need to think about it some more. I think I need a story, perhaps its discovery, and who was already there if anyone. Bare ladies and dodos may or may not feature.


It's early, and I'm still half asleep -- and that totally did NOT say "dodos" the first time I read it... :/

That being said, I hope you find your motivation again. You're off to a great start!


-IG

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## Straf

> It's early, and I'm still half asleep -- and that totally did NOT say "dodos" the first time I read it... :/







> That being said, I hope you find your motivation again. You're off to a great start!
> 
> 
> -IG


Thanks but the terrain doesn't feel quite right. Perhaps I need to add a mainland...

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## - JO -

I dont know what you mean by mainland, but if its a place without mountain on your island, I think youre right : (in a strange way, it could help you to build those mountains...) On the east side, for example, you could suppress two mountains (one down south on the coast, the other in the middle, a bit on the north, add forest and maybe plains and the island would look more « right » ?

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## Bogie

I misread it the same as IG did,  guess that says a lot about us guys "Minds in the gutter"  :Wink:

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## Straf

> I don’t know what you mean by mainland, but if it’s a place without mountain on your island, I think you’re right : (in a strange way, it could help you to build those mountains...) On the east side, for example, you could suppress two mountains (one down south on the coast, the other in the middle, a bit on the north, add forest and maybe plains and the island would look more « right » ?


I meant mainland in terms of this being an island off the main body of land that rules it. Like how the island of Eurasia and Africa is an island off the coast of Britain.  :Wink: 




> I misread it the same as IG did,  guess that says a lot about us guys "Minds in the gutter"


I suppose I could state there's a serious squatting problem on the island  :Razz:

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## - JO -

> I meant mainland in terms of this being an island off the main body of land that rules it. Like how the island of Eurasia and Africa is an island off the coast of Britain.


Oh ! I think I understand...

Does it has something to do with the « rule Britannia rule » thing ?  :Very Happy:

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## ThomasR

Nice one Straf, your island seems pretty jagged. As a tabletop RPG player, I'd love to discover such an island where your vision is blocked by a mountain in every direction. It must be full of surprises !

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## Straf

There seem to be quite a few redundant river valleys that I imagine contain a lot of forests and jungles. Maybe when the rains come to this island there are lots of rivers that join together only to leave swamps and marshes all over the place.

If you want to take this map and use it for a game Thomas feel free. I'm going to have another go at it soon. I need to get some more words down though. JO's wife was somewhere around 3.5k last count and tilt is 2.5k so my 2.2k is falling behind a bit.

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## Straf

I've been playing about with a few things again. I think I am somewhere I can start from now. I'm reasonably happy with the terrain so I'll start doing some painting and that on top of this and altering the colours a bit.

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## - JO -

Oh yeah ! That looks much better now ! A nice sculpture work !
Looking forward to the painting part !

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## Bogie

Right on, those mountains are cool!!

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## Straf

Thanks chaps. I've now started to add some life. A little bit of fiddling about and I made a sort of forest/jungle type of texture that I've been painting onto the map. I'm starting to get more of an idea where this is going now. I think there's just a week left isn't there?

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## Mouse

Oh that's looking excellent!  :Smile: 

I wonder... is it possible to turn that forest texture 90 degrees to the right?

If not don't even worry about it.  I just get this sense the trees are in vertical lines - but I think everyone knows I see patterns where they sometimes don't even exist  :Wink:

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## Kier

Very Nice. Coming together great. Love the rivers.

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## Bogie

Looking great, very nice update.

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## ladiestorm

This is looking really good, Straf!!  I do have one issue, and it may just be the stigmatisms in my eyes, but I'm seeing this island cutting into the surrounding sea instead of rising out of it.  I've been seeing it that way since the first image.  It may just be the shading, or it may be I need new glasses... but I thought I would let you know.  Maybe bevel the island a bit?  I have no idea  :Smile:

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## Straf

I have to work on the sea. It's a bit featureless. I'll sea what I can do with it  :Razz: 

I've still got quite a bit to add to the whole map and time's ticking by!

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## Straf

Just a quick update. I've been messing around a bit more with things. I've hardly done any drawing on this, I've just been playing with GIMP and Wilbur. The only drawing I've done so far is to paint the forest texture on a mask. Anyway I've been playing about with the sea a bit and round the coastline. I'm not entirely convinced at the moment but I may start playing about with opacity and other things to see what happens.

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## Mouse

That's looking really good, Straf  :Smile: 

One thing I noticed when I was playing around with Wilbur a while back is that you could export the hill shading separately, which proved invaluable, since I could overlay the hill shading on top of everything else so that it made things like roads and forests sit properly on the ground (the forest on the shadowed side of a hill would be shadowed, while the forest on the lit side would still be in full light - that sort of thing).  It made a heck of a difference to the map I was working on at the time  :Wink:

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## Straf

Nah, that looked naff.

I've stepped back a bit:

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## ladiestorm

Hey Straff!  I really like the mountain and forest textures you have going.  And your island is starting to rise out of the ocean like it's supposed to.... I'm so sorry to say this, but I'm seeing wonkiness again, this time with some of the forest/mountains... especially the ones in the middle.  It looks to me (and again, it could just be my messed up eyes) that some of your mountains are 'sitting on top' of your forests.  I don't know how else to explain it...  But you usually see mountains rising out of the forest, and most times the forests creep up the mountain side.... but I'm seeing the many forests, and then the mountains are just plopped down on top of them.

Your rivers also seem to be two different colors?  It's like they look blue closer to the coast where the rivers meet the sea, but then half way inland they seem to turn black.  Is that they way they are supposed to be?

I'm still loving this island, though!

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## Straf

Thanks ladiestorm  :Smile: 

I have to do some fine detail painting on the forests - I've left large gaps because I need to soften the edges - I've used a hard brush to paint them in and I need to go around with a softer brush to 'merge' them in. The rivers are indeed two different colours because the main branches are part of the same mask as the sea. Again I need to do some touching up (oo-er missus!) using a brush with the dynamics switched on.

I've also got to work out the final presentation of this.

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## ladiestorm

ahh, okay, that makes sense  :Smile:

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## Straf

Take that back at once!


 :Razz:

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## Straf

First there's a month, then a few weeks, then all of a sudden there's just a couple of days! So much still to do.

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## Bogie

The map looks great Straff!  Just add a compass, and some labels, maybe a border if you want one.

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## Mouse

Its all looking really good, Straf  :Smile: 

Bogie's right.  A couple of labels, a title and a scale would be great  :Wink:

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## Straf

Thanks Bogie and Mouse. Mouse you're obsessed with scales  :Razz: 

I've just done a little bit more on the detail before I start adding the ornaments.
If it looks bad I'll revert to earlier.

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## - JO -

This is great ! It looks real !good job !

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## Straf

Thanks JO, it's real only in the sense that it really exists on my hard disk  :Wink: 

I've noticed a distinct lack of disgusting mustardy colours in maps these days. I'll rectify that in a temporary WIP.

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## - JO -

One never have enough mustard !

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## Redrobes

I like the latest WIP. Nicely done. Could do with a few more textures for different vegetation or rock types etc but I know its a lot of work. Your trees work well, I like the new sea and the rivers match up with that now. Yeah - really good. And we cant have very long now before it has to be in. Its this eve isnt it.

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## Mouse

That's a really nice finish - the frame I mean  :Smile:

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## Straf

I've added a title, border and a parchment texture. I still have some labelling and a compass to add.

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## Mouse

Nice, but a little smaller on the title?

You've got the right amount of space around the island, but the title is cramping it a bit by touching it when it doesn't need to  :Wink:

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## industrygothica

That parchment just put your map on another level. Just adds a sense of elegance to it that I didn't see coming.  Nice job!

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## Straf

> Nice, but a little smaller on the title?
> 
> You've got the right amount of space around the island, but the title is cramping it a bit by touching it when it doesn't need to


Arrrrrgh! I didn't see that when I was doing it and now I have to go back and undo it! I'd shut out everything else when I was putting that title box in even though I'd told myself to 'mind the island' before I'd started. I rushed it.





> That parchment just put your map on another level. Just adds a sense of elegance to it that I didn't see coming.  Nice job!


Thanks. I wasn't sure it was going to work - for some reason I don't really get to see what I'm doing in the package, only when I export it and view it in something else. I think it's all the junk like toolbars and things.

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## Mouse

No matter  :Smile:   If its on a layer of its own just scale the layer down a little and adjust the position with the move tool  :Wink:

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## ThomasR

Pretty good looking map !

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## Straf

Thanks Thomas  :Smile: 

It wasn't on a layer of its own. Not really. Anyway I've moved it and added a scale and a compass.

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## Mouse

Looking better and better, Straf  :Smile: 

Now you've gone and done it, though - added place spots.

I want to know what they are called!  :Razz:

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## Straf

I've been struggling with labelling in GIMP. I could use Inkscape or I can take the place markers off the map  :Razz:

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## Mouse

At this late stage you could just leave them as-is

What kind of problems are you having?

I just click the text tool and type the name in a chosen font, colour and size.

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## Straf

It just looks yucky at smaller sizes.

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## Mouse

Is that resolution or font?

I mean, is it pixelated, or the wrong font?

I've never had a problem that way, so I'm not sure what you mean.

If you are having resolution problems you can always type them bigger than you want them to be, and scale them down, which will get rid of the pixilation  :Wink: 

If its making them stand out from the map, duplicate the text and turn the lower copy the opposite colour to the top one, then blur it, or do a drop shadow on it with x and y displacement set to zero, and the blur set to about 10, then duplicate the resulting shadow layer several times until it shows up like a glow.

(I've had problems using actually using a genuine glow!)

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## Straf

It looks like this:

### Latest WIP ###

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## Straf

Oh, that doesn't look that bad on here. Haha! This is an example of what I meant when I said I only 'see' what I've done when I post on here.

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## Mouse

Your screen must be quite small if you can't see it on your PC, but I do know what you mean.  Before you judge how something has turned out, zoom back out of your image until you are at 100% zoom by the bar at the bottom of the app.  I have a feeling you are looking too close in when you judge  :Wink: 

If you use one of the methods I suggested above to give the labels a hint of a darker fringe (not too much!) they will stand out even better.

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## Straf

Already added an outer glow I just forgot to unhide that layer  :Wink: 

I do believe that I'm finished, or thereabouts anyway  :Smile: 

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## Mouse

Perfect  :Smile:

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## industrygothica

Yeah that loos great!

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## Straf

I spent quite a lot of time fiddling about with Wilbur on this. It's my first go with that software. I followed a tutorial written by Arsheesh but then I sort of deviated from that and started to do my own stuff, just to test things out. A lot of trial and error but I think the end result was reasonable. I'm not ashamed of it anyway  :Wink:

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## Mouse

And you should be proud of it  :Smile: 

I love seeing people pushing their boundaries and breaking the rules.  Its all very well having a set style - good for business if its a popular style, but there are many advantages to being able to map in lots of different styles as well.

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## Bogie

Excellent work Straff!  great map.

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## Straf

Thanks Bogie.

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