# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Regional/World Mapping >  [WIP] Home-brew Campaign Setting Map

## wthrasherb

Howdy folks! Typically on the weekends I try to work on fun/rpg related material... something leisurely at any rate. Friday night I decided to try to create a new map in the style of my World of Aerdlon map (found here). 

The first part is fairly easy since I'm just doing the initial "shaping" in Fractal Terrains 3 and Wilbur. I actually spend more time waiting on the computer to render/process stuff at this stage more than anything else, but it is still a lengthy process, and takes me about 12-16 hours (including waiting on rendering and such).

Then comes the fun stuff! Once I've shaped and generated various outputs from FT and Wilbur, I dump everything into Photoshop and start making the computer generated stuff look good  :Wink:  Here's where I was a little lost when I started trying to recreate my previous style. I had all my previous versions saved at various stages so I could retrace my steps, but as "non-destructive" as I tried to be, there were still lots of "trial and error" type changes that I failed to notate during my process.

For the most part, it was a lot easier than I thought. I struggled with the ocean again, but I finally got it. Apparently I had blurred a few layers and merged them and such, but failed to make a note of what I did exactly. After feeling satisfied that I had recreated "my style" close enough (I didn't spend a lot of time on touch ups and such), I started working on a different look in the same basic style....... which brings us to now!

This map is going to be my campaign setting for a new D&D group. This is totally for fun and non-commercial use. I'm actually creating a long term campaign based off of the AD&D 2nd edition boxed set adventure "The Rod of Seven Parts" and Monte Cook's "Night of Dissolution" adventure from the "Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire" campaign setting. This map is actually being tailored to those two adventures (and maybe a few choice side adventures). Most of the action (I think) will take place in just a tiny portion of the world.... which I will proceed to map later. For those of you that may be familiar with Ptolus, no, I do not plan on remapping that city. I MAY map choice portions/buildings and of course some of the "dungeons" under the city, but not the entire thing (I'm not there yet with my city mapping).

I'll stop rambling now... comment, curse, or click away!  :Smile: 



More to come later...

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## wthrasherb

Oh, I wanted to clarify that the land is not all desert or whatever. I just wanted something a little more subdued. The land is just supposed to have a 'parchmenty' type look. And after looking at my post, I still can't get the colors to behave. On one monitor the highlights around the land look a little more golden. On my tv/monitor, the continent edge highlights look more reddish-brown (at least on the version I just posted).

All feedback and comments are welcome...

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## Chick

Love the ocean texture and color!!

There is IMHO too much bevel on the land edges.  Also they have fringe look, like ragged pixilation.  Not sure if those are related, but at least try cutting the bevel down a little bit and see if that helps  :Smile: 

Nice job on the land shapes and projection  :Smile:

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## Ilanthar

Very good start, I like the colors.

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## wthrasherb

> Love the ocean texture and color!!
> 
> There is IMHO too much bevel on the land edges.  Also they have fringe look, like ragged pixilation.  Not sure if those are related, but at least try cutting the bevel down a little bit and see if that helps 
> 
> Nice job on the land shapes and projection


Chick, thank you so much for your feedback. It's always exciting to hear from the pros! And you brought up one of my pet peeves because I haven't figured out how to fix it yet. The edges of the continents are supposed to be kinda "snowflake-ish" and a little ragged looking, but NOT pixelated. I haven't been able to "smooth" it out. That's where the heavier bevel comes in. I was trying to compensate. The bevel WAS heavier before I ended up at the current result, and I realized it was too much. I didn't think it was too strong now though, but I'll take a look at dialing down the bevel some. 

Do you have any suggestions for fixing the shorelines as far as pixelation? I'm all ears!  :Smile:  Also, the rivers are a little too jagged/pixelated for my tastes. I'm going to try applying some kind of blur and blending combos and see if that smoothes them out without washing them out. 

Thanks!

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## wthrasherb

> Very good start, I like the colors.


Thanks Ilanthar! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

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## Chick

If you are in Photoshop, try selecting the land area, then use the Select>Smooth to smooth the selection.  Then fill that selection area in a new layer.  The new layer should look just like the old one, but with smoother edges.  Play around with the smoothing parameters until you get something better  :Smile:

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## RevGunn

I LOVE this map! The colors are great. Its like a cross between a topographical/satellite map and an old style overland map. Freaking awesome! If you could do your other terrain... forests and what-not the same way, Sweet. Very cool.

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## wthrasherb

> I LOVE this map! The colors are great. Its like a cross between a topographical/satellite map and an old style overland map. Freaking awesome! If you could do your other terrain... forests and what-not the same way, Sweet. Very cool.


Thanks dude! That means a lot to a beginner!

That's kinda the look I was going for. I'm not totally sure where I'm going with this map exactly. The basic idea (visually speaking) was INSPIRED BY those old antique-ish looking globes that have more brown colors, so that's what I'm going to stick with until the Creativity Monster changes my mind and forces me to try something else  :Wink: 

What do you mean about doing the other terrain, like forests and such, in the same way? Typically when I do a world map I keep the terrain kinda vague with the exceptions of mountains, major rivers and large deserts. While I don't always go for the "satellite" look, I genreally go for that sort of terrain scale when doing world maps.  This specific map isn't going to have much more on it than it already has. It is supposed to be a map just to label/layout the continents and give the feel that there is more to the world than where the campaign is going to take place. So I plan on adding names and maybe some kind of decor (that's one of my weaker points right now in my map making), maybe a border of some sort.... ooooooo! I'm going to try some kind of pseudo-navigation lines I think...

Anyway, thanks for the comments! I really appreciate you taking the time to say a few words.

If you have some thoughts on the terrain like you mentioned, please share!

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## wthrasherb

> If you are in Photoshop, try selecting the land area, then use the Select>Smooth to smooth the selection.  Then fill that selection area in a new layer.  The new layer should look just like the old one, but with smoother edges.  Play around with the smoothing parameters until you get something better


Hey Chick, not sure if I did EXACTLY what you were talking about, but I did start playing around with smoothing the selection. Basically, I just modified the selection of the land and made a new mask and applied the new mask as needed. I lost a few of the tiniest islands in the process, but I'll touch those up later.

I also adjusted the bevel. I knocked it down from 100% depth, to 50% and changed the size from 5 px to something like 2 px. 

Better? Worse? Thoughts??? 

Bueller.... Bueller...

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## wthrasherb

Well poop! I just noticed the bottom most layer has some masking issues.... so there are still a few places that have some rough edges. I'll touch that up in a few.

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## Chick

Definitely better.   I'd suggest two more things you can try.

1.  Kill the bevel entirely and replace it with an Inner Glow of dark brown that fades inward on the land.

2.  Another way to smooth something is as follows.  This will definitely eliminate small islands if you do the smoothing bigger than the island, though.  In fact, I use it to get rid of tiny stuff I don't want.

Select your land area.  Use Select>Modify>Contract  for a few pixels.   Then use Select>Modify>Expand for the same number of pixels.  If that doesn't help, try it using a small amount of Feathering as well.   That can smooth out ragged edges, and eliminate regions that are smaller than the number of pixels you use.

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## wthrasherb

> Definitely better.   I'd suggest two more things you can try.
> 
> 1.  Kill the bevel entirely and replace it with an Inner Glow of dark brown that fades inward on the land.
> 
> 2.  Another way to smooth something is as follows.  This will definitely eliminate small islands if you do the smoothing bigger than the island, though.  In fact, I use it to get rid of tiny stuff I don't want.
> 
> Select your land area.  Use Select>Modify>Contract  for a few pixels.   Then use Select>Modify>Expand for the same number of pixels.  If that doesn't help, try it using a small amount of Feathering as well.   That can smooth out ragged edges, and eliminate regions that are smaller than the number of pixels you use.


That's actually what I did already. I used expand and contract and feather and smooth variations. I think it worked MOSTLY, but then I found a layer with the same mask only inverted and it misses a few spots for some reason. I'll keep working on it.

As for the bevel and inner glow. I'll try it without the bevel, but I personally like just a little hint of the land being raised. The inner glow I already have, but it's more of a golden color. I will try some darker shades and see what happens. Thanks for the tips!

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## wthrasherb

Just a quick drop off of an update...

No bevel, darker inner glow on the land, fixed a couple of spots around some shore lines that didn't get smoothed out as well, and touched up the rivers just a pinch.

suggest/comment/critique away!

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## wthrasherb

Just noticed that you could see a pattern in the ocean background on my last post. The pattern is supposed to be there, but it is supposed to be more subtle. I some how altered it between my first post and this one, and I preferred more of the look in the first post for the water. So I added some noise and toned down some blurring on the ocean. that is the only change for this post.

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## Chick

Now it's starting to look pretty nice!

What's next?  :Smile:

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## RevGunn

Well, what I meant was, and if it was me, I might try adding some washed out greens in a few places. Although I'm really bad about trying to add in too much detail. But even if you leave it and just label what you have it looks really good.

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## wthrasherb

@chick thanks man! And I REALLY appreciate the tips. My other world map needs some similar fixes. As for what's next.... not sure. I'm gonna take a look at trying some subtle coloring to HINT at vegetation/terrain variation like RevGunn is talking about. Also I'm going to start looking for some fonts, oh and pseudo-nav lines. I say "pseudo" because I don't actually know much about them or how they were used, so I'm just gonna make something that looks cool until one of the hardcore cartography buffs on here educates/corrects me or until I'm curious enough to research it myself.  :Wink: 

@RevGunn, I'm gonna give your idea a try, but I'm trying to keep it subtle still. 

Time for class! Gotta go...

Thanks folks for the comments and feedback, I'm very grateful.

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## wthrasherb

Ok, before I go too far with trying out various ways to add some POTENTIAL color to this map I was hoping to get some thoughts on how the tiny bit of color looks so far. 

I want to be clear that I'm not sure I'm going to add color based on terrain. I'm thinking about going with political/regional boarders or something. Not really sure. I didn't put a lot of thought into this map before I started making it.

The only color I've added is on the north western landmass and just a hint of color in the arctic regions of the north eastern landmass. The two maps posted here are the same except one has slightly softer looking rivers.

Any feedback on the coloring would be awesome. I'm also open to suggestion on any ideas on adding some subtle color. I'm not in love with what's on there right now. I'm going to bed and will see if I like it in the morning.

 softer rivers ---->

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## RevGunn

The second map looks better but seeing it... I think no. Sorry. Was just a thought.

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## Chick

The "softer" rivers are better simply because it makes them easier to see.

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## wthrasherb

> The second map looks better but seeing it... I think no. Sorry. Was just a thought.


Agreed. Leaving the color alone. Might still have some kind of regional/political borders, but not sure yet.

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## wthrasherb

I made a few color adjustments over all and I adjusted the texturing of the ocean. 

Of these two variations which one looks better. The only difference is in the ocean texture and maybe slight color variation, but not much. The land is the same on both.

Ocean A 

Ocean B 

Ocean C (one of the previous versions in this thread, which you can indicate by the post # in the top right corner of each post).

Fire away!  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

I thought the land looked just a tiny bit too bright, so I adjusted the brightness and contrast just on the land. So on this post just pay attention to the land. Compare it to the land in the post right before this one and let me know what you think.  Both look fine to me, but again, I am having computer monitor variation and I can't decide. 

Any feedback would be great! Thanks!

Again I have two versions. 

Land A 

Land B

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## wthrasherb

Here is my very first ever digitally hand drawn compass rose.  The globe in the center is a spherical projection of my map colored with more earthy colors and a cloud overlay added (although some of that detail might not be obvious in this lower res copy).

This was done in Photoshop and Illustrator and Fractal Terrains 3 (for the globe). The basic technique I used was based on Djekspek's tutorial found here. The texturing is based on Coyotemax's beaten gold effect tutorial found here. The background element of this image is just for viewing purposes.

Keep in mind this is a game map and it's supposed to look fantastic... not going for realism here.

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## wthrasherb

Just some touch ups on the compass rose. I thought the texturing was a little heavy, so I toned that down some and got rid of some unnecessary shadows and such. Very subtle changes... except for maybe the texturing.

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## wthrasherb

Here's what I've done this weekend. I got frustrated trying to come up with a nifty border, so I used one I made previously that was already the right dimensions for this map. Coincidentally, the border looks really good, possibly better than the first map I used it on.

I'm posting two versions here, but I'm going with Map A. I just thought the faded version looked neat as well and thought I'd share and hopefully get some feedback.

Let me know what you think!  :Smile: 

Map A 

Map B

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## Domino44

Wow, Great map! I really love that rose compass!

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## ChickPea

I love Map B. I'm a sucker for grungy, desaturated colours, and you've absolutely nailed that look in the second map. I love the texture and the way the sea fades out towards the border. Also, your compass rose is fantastic!

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## wthrasherb

Thank you so much for the kind words. I appreciate ya'll taking the time to comment.

@Domino44 I'm glad you like it. Thank you for the praise. I've honestly surprised myself with this map. It started out as a simple attempt to recreate the method I used in a previous map in an attempt to develop "my style" and ended up being a map for a new D&D game I will be running later this year. I really love the compass too!  :Smile:  I like it so much in fact that it will probably be used in some iconic fashion in later work... or at least variations of it.

@ChickPea Thanks! That means a lot, because I had a pictue in my head, but I was struggling at first to bring it to life. I think Map B did it... for now. I know I stated in an earlier post that I was "going" with Map A, but after sharing with my local friends and getting their opinions, the general consensus seems to be Map B. So I am strongly considering using that one for the main map for this game. I wanted to make my own compass rather than just snagging something from the internet or Campaign Cartographer or whatever. I wanted it to look fancy, but not over the top. The dragon head "etching" was just a cheesy addition to add a little flavor (and I like dragons). The gems are kinda relevant to the setting and the globe in the middle is supposed to look sort of like a large "gem". I'm working on this technology that runs off of various crystals, so I wanted the compass to resemble not just a compass rose, but also something like a dial or device (maybe for navigating???) with some gems radiating with energy set into it. The original version is 5000 px by 5000 px at 300 ppi (I know the ppi is over kill for on screen viewing), but the compass on the map is at 20% of that so some of the detail seems a little lost. But I'm thoroughly satisfied overall. Thanks again for the praise.

So the next step is figuring out Fonts and labels. I haven't made it very far yet. I don't want to over do it necessarily. Ideally, I would like to just have one map with different "layers" I can turn on and off to show various labels depending on what kind of map is necessary. So different fonts may work for different purposes. But for now I want to come up with a World Name label, the major seas and oceans, the continents, and MAYBE major mountain ranges and major rivers, but that might be too much on this scale of a map. 

I'm open to font suggestions.

Keep the feedback coming folks!  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

Words words words...

Added some type. Not sure if I'm going to keep some of the smaller text. Names are tentative for now. Hoping to get some feedback on the labels as far as font and legibility and such.

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## ChickPea

Some thoughts ...

I like the font you've used for ocean text, but I feel like it needs tweaking. When I zoom in, it looks OK, but at smaller resolutions, some of the finer parts of the letters are overwhelmed by the stroke. Also, I feel the hard edge of the light-coloured stroke doesn't quite fit. Maybe if you tried blurring the stroke, it would soften the edge yet still allow the letters to stand out from the background?

With the title, I love the design and I think it could work really well, but something nags at me and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think maybe it's the use of very similar colours to the land masses. I see your textured lands with lumpy bumpy bits, then I see the flat text and it feels disconnected. I'd maybe try some sort of bevel or shadow on the text, or simply try a solid colour. My vote would be for a solid colour or subtle gradient to contrast with the colours of the land.

Anyway, just my thoughts. No doubts others will have differing opinions!!  :Very Happy:

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## wthrasherb

> Some thoughts ...
> 
> I like the font you've used for ocean text, but I feel like it needs tweaking. When I zoom in, it looks OK, but at smaller resolutions, some of the finer parts of the letters are overwhelmed by the stroke. Also, I feel the hard edge of the light-coloured stroke doesn't quite fit. Maybe if you tried blurring the stroke, it would soften the edge yet still allow the letters to stand out from the background?
> 
> With the title, I love the design and I think it could work really well, but something nags at me and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think maybe it's the use of very similar colours to the land masses. I see your textured lands with lumpy bumpy bits, then I see the flat text and it feels disconnected. I'd maybe try some sort of bevel or shadow on the text, or simply try a solid colour. My vote would be for a solid colour or subtle gradient to contrast with the colours of the land.
> 
> Anyway, just my thoughts. No doubts others will have differing opinions!!


ChickPea, thanks for the feedback. I was right there with you on feeling like the world name label just didn't look quite right.... good, but, didn't quite fit. I REALLY like the font. I think it complements this map well. I just need to figure out how to make it look best.

I got rid of all effects period on the text except for the world name label (it still has a small stroke). Also, I faded out the water a lot more, still going for a kind of old globe look.

Better? Worse? Text legibility???

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## SteffenBrand

I like this last version much more, looks kind of nostalgic and very beautiful! I'd try a perhaps 30% opacity 1px or 2px outline on the other text or probably 100% soft light 2px outline. 

Also, I'd color a bit more land mass on the lower right side. You go much further to the border on the area in the south before you fade out. I'd even try to go very near the border, since it doesn't look less like an island there.

Rep!

Actually I'm quite impressed by the details of this... may I ask how you made the shore lines (especially the wobbly effect)?

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## wthrasherb

> I like this last version much more, looks kind of nostalgic and very beautiful! I'd try a perhaps 30% opacity 1px or 2px outline on the other text or probably 100% soft light 2px outline. 
> 
> Also, I'd color a bit more land mass on the lower right side. You go much further to the border on the area in the south before you fade out. I'd even try to go very near the border, since it doesn't look less like an island there.
> 
> Rep!
> 
> Actually I'm quite impressed by the details of this... may I ask how you made the shore lines (especially the wobbly effect)?


Hey SteffenBrand! Thanks for the Rep and the suggestions! I just adjusted the stroke on the text like you recommended. The 2px soft light 100% looks best I THINK.

As for the land in the bottom right fading out a little further from the border.... welllll.... the land actually stops abruptly right there. It has been bothering me a little bit too, mainly because that whole side just looks a little hard on the edge between the faded out part and the border. On this current version the actual image has been flattened for the sake of file size and RAM while I'm working, so I will have to go back to whatever previous version where I masked out that edge and play around with it some more.  That whole corner has given me issues since I started this map, even from the very beginning when I was first generating the land mass shapes... ugh! So I will touch that up later.

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "wobbly effect", but I initially generated the land masses/shore lines using Fractal Terrains 3. Then I do erosion effects in Fractal Terrains and another program called Wilbur. Once I've "shaped" the land masses and ocean floor to my liking, I out put black and white alpha channels essentially and some varying height maps for the terrain. Then I throw everything into Photoshop. In Photoshop I polished up the edges (thanks to a recommendation by chick) of the shore lines by selecting the outline and smoothing the selection a little just to cut off an ragged edges. That's about it for the shore lines I think. If you could explain what you mean by wobbly effect I will try to elaborate further.

Here's the touched up version based on SteffanBrand's recomendations. Also, I've put generic continent labels on this one, so if ya'll could maybe set me straight on how the continent labels look as well that would be great...



Oh and just for schitz and giggles, here's one version of the world name label I did... I found this font called "barbarian" that is supposed to resemble the Conan the Barbarian movie logo and it was just too neat to leave alone. The background is just for display purposes. This isn't going to be used. I was just for fun.



**EDIT**

And for the record, the positioning of the map labels are not final. I'm just trying to get the font and color and size, etc all correct first, THEN I'll go back and use a little more care in placement.

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## SteffenBrand

Nice one! What I mean is this, I marked the wobbly lines I mentioned on the map. Actually, I tried out the font settings I'd try, too. I don't have the one you used (I used Snell Roundhand [Black]), but my settings were 2px white outline with 30% opacity set on overlay. Then, the whole layer on 80% with overlay, too (black for the font, of cause). Maybe you like this setting more, it doesn't grips in that much and with 80% on opacity it fits in more by using a bit of the underlaying informations and adds at least a bit to the nostalgic feeling IMO. =)

Keep up the good work, I'd love to see this finished!

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## J.Edward

This looks quite nice wthrasherb. It has a really nice feel to it.  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

> Nice one! What I mean is this, I marked the wobbly lines I mentioned on the map. Actually, I tried out the font settings I'd try, too. I don't have the one you used (I used Snell Roundhand [Black]), but my settings were 2px white outline with 30% opacity set on overlay. Then, the whole layer on 80% with overlay, too (black for the font, of cause). Maybe you like this setting more, it doesn't grips in that much and with 80% on opacity it fits in more by using a bit of the underlaying informations and adds at least a bit to the nostalgic feeling IMO. =)
> 
> Keep up the good work, I'd love to see this finished!


Ok, SteffanBrand, the wobbly effect is just a layer style with some distortion applied, and obviously everything else that has happened to the image since adding that layer style  :Wink:  You can find the layer style file here. Download and unzip and some where in there is a style file (whatever those are called) for Photoshop. I did not create any of that stuff. It is from the Genesis of Israh tutorial. I'm sorry but I don't know the screen name of the person that came up with that tutorial. As far as that layer style on my map, I'm sure I've adjusted it some from the tutorial version, but it's pretty close. For instructions on how to use the layer style according to the tutorial go here. On that page press Ctrl-F or (Cmd-F) to bring up the Find function in your web browser (at least in Chrome) and type "water_ripples" and press enter and it should take you right to the part that talks about implementing that layer style in a similar fashion to what I have here.

As for the font outline adjustments, your most recent suggestions look good for the Water text, but it's not quite working for all of the land labels. It looks ok, and better than the white outline I had, but it's not as legible for all of the labels. I'm in the process of trying some things out. I'll post and updated image later. 

I really appreciate the feedback and input, especially the visual aid, that helps  :Wink: 

@J.Edward - Thanks for the kind words! It really boosts my enthusiasm and motivation every time someone gives me feedback, especially when it's positive!  :Smile:  I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Keep it coming folks!

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## wthrasherb

ok, how about this?

Text better? 

I changed the stroke on the land text and the world name text to a BLACK stroke instead of white and that fixed it IMO.

Thoughts?

If this is good I'll start working on the actual continent names and better positioning of labels.

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## J.Edward

Yes. I think that looks better. It's easier to read at a distance. 
I'm happy to leave a comment when I can.  :Smile:

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## ChickPea

I like your latest version a lot. I love the way you've faded out the sea colour and the compass rose looks fantastic against the paler background. I'm glad you got rid of the white stroke around the text. I didn't feel that worked well at all. What you've got now looks so much better.

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## SteffenBrand

Thanks wthrasherb! =)
I like what you did with the last version!

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## wthrasherb

> I like your latest version a lot. I love the way you've faded out the sea colour and the compass rose looks fantastic against the paler background. I'm glad you got rid of the white stroke around the text. I didn't feel that worked well at all. What you've got now looks so much better.





> Thanks wthrasherb! =)
> I like what you did with the last version!


Thanks folks! I guess that means I can start figuring out the actual names of the different continents and get the labels positioned better. Once I've taken care of the proper labeling, I might be finished with this one. I've thought about a couple of additions, but I'm not sure yet. I need to develop the setting a little more before I can add too much more in the way of detail.

How do you decide when something is truly "finished"?

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## Ilanthar

> *By Wthrasherb*
> How do you decide when something is truly "finished"?


For me, it's when I don't have and/or don't want to add anything more on the map.
Good job for an orignal map btw. The colors give a particular feel to it.

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## wthrasherb

Here is what will be the focus region of the campaign setting initially.

I am trying to keep the style consistent for now, but as I add more detail to this regional map it is going to change.

All feedback is welcome!  :Smile: 



EDIT:
   After posting, I see that it is over saturated. I will be adjusting things like that as I work... more to come!

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## wthrasherb

Stopping here for the day. I adjusted the saturation and I'm trying out some mountain symbols instead of the satellite style topography. And I went ahead and tried out some sample text labels.

Need some feedback in general. Do these mountains look ok so far? Is the text legible?

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## wthrasherb

Ok, what about this? What if I colorized this map this way and left the mountains just as they are, very subtle and subdued, with the rivers giving more of the mountain range definition........?????? 

I've been up for a while so I could use some fresh eyes on this...

I'm stopping for real this time.

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## Ilanthar

The blue and greens are fine on this last one, and the previous brown in the previous also. Why not keeping the mountains you have in the post 45? For me, it's a very good, and you can just color it your way.

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## wthrasherb

> The blue and greens are fine on this last one, and the previous brown in the previous also. Why not keeping the mountains you have in the post 45? For me, it's a very good, and you can just color it your way.


What about this one? Kinda a blend between post #45-47...

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## wthrasherb

Here's an update with color and texture adjustments.

I'm seriously struggling with how to do mountains on this map. I'm practicing Torstan's style of drawing mountains but mine haven't come out as nice as his yet  :Wink:  I tried out a few Campaign Cartographer symbol sets and didn't like how those fit either. I DO want to have some kind of "symbolic" mountains drawn in, but I just can't find a look that fits. I don't necessarily need realistic looking mountains, but I want them to be recognizable as mountains... I can't seem to figure out the perspective I need to use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, thoughts and feedback on the color and such is always helpful.  :Smile:

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## Ilanthar

The combination 45-47 is quite good in my eyes. It could be really nice with added/reinforced shadings and colors/textures. But of course, it depends completely of what style/use you want in the end  :Smile: .

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## wthrasherb

> The combination 45-47 is quite good in my eyes. It could be really nice with added/reinforced shadings and colors/textures. But of course, it depends completely of what style/use you want in the end .


Thanks for the feedback Ilanthar. I think you are right about the mountains being fine as they are. I was just trying to do something different, but I guess my style is just leaning more towards what I call "satellite" style mountains. Also, I'm getting impatient. I need to be spending more time on developing the campaign instead of making a pretty map that my players will probably look at for 2 seconds and say 'wow, that's cool.... let's go kill stuff'. LOL. I suffer from that 'perfectionism' disease... that's why I asked in a previous post how do you know when you are 'done'. I always seem to find SOMETHING to tweak, change, improve, or add to... UGH. 

So I _think_ this post is the "base" map I'm going with unless someone comes along and makes a irresistible suggestion. I say this, but typically, as soon as I post an update I tend to catch something I want to fix or change... 

Now I'm going to start adding details and see what happens! Stay tuned!!!  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

Quick update on the world map. 

No real changes since the last version I posted except I filled in actual continent names and adjusted some text stuff. 

This campaign setting is being made up as I go, so the continent names are _potentially_ subject to change in the future. I'm developing the setting from the perspective of the people that live in the small area of land that connects North Atlantea and South Atlantea, so the "known world" may not extend to the other continents in the current time period. I labeled the map and laid out the continents more for my sake than anything. Again, I'm making this stuff up piece by piece. I'm trying to flesh out some details today and over the weekend.

So TECHNICALLY, I'm "finished" with this WORLD map, but I'm using this thread to develop maps for the campaign overall, so I'm just going to keep posting maps related to this  setting in this one thread... unless mods decide otherwise I guess.

Welcome to the world of Mythrengard everybody!

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## tainotim

Usually I don't like these kind of maps, however, this really has a nice edge to it. Keep up the good work! 

Oh, and I have to mention the compass rose. It's absolutely stunning. Especially the center part. 

Cheers,
Tainotim

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## wthrasherb

> Usually I don't like these kind of maps, however, this really has a nice edge to it. Keep up the good work! 
> 
> Oh, and I have to mention the compass rose. It's absolutely stunning. Especially the center part. 
> 
> Cheers,
> Tainotim


Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I had fun with the compass. I had never drawn a fancy one by hand before. On most of my old hand drawn maps back in the day I usually did just a simple one-sided arrow with an 'N' above it or something else equally simple. I'm glad you like it!  :Smile: 

You mentioned you don't typically like "these kind of maps"... what do you mean exactly? I like to hear opinions on both sides of an arguement. I want to know what people find appealing and what they don't. So, even though you said this map is an exception to your typical preference, could you elaborate for crticisms sake what you don't TYPICALLY like?

Thanks again for taking the time to comment!

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## tainotim

Sure thing! What I mean isn't that deep thought. I guess you could call it the "atlas" style, the kind of geographic style that is standard in both modern and older(not to old) atlas books. Personally, my mapping interest is devoted almost only to more illustrative fantasy style maps. However, on rare occasion I find this more contemporary/antique blend to my liking  :Wink: 

Cheers,
Tainotim

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## ChickPea

Tainotim, I agree with your sentiments above. My usual preference is also for fantasy maps or the hand-drawn style. In this case however, I think wthrasherb has managed to 'straddle the divide', so to speak Although this map has atlas style features, I think the colours, fonts and grungy texture gives it more of a fantasy feel. That's my impression, at any rate. I think it works incredibly well and looks great.

Great work,  wthrasherb!  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

Wow! Thanks folks. Words can't fully express how excited it makes me to hear that someone likes my work. I sincerely appreciate y'all taking the time to comment. 

Regardless of style preference, that combo "atlas" geographic/fantasy look is exactly what I was going for  :Wink:  so I guess mission accomplished then... lol

I also like more illustrated fantasy styles. My hand drawn style I've always used growing up was very simple and functional. I'll see if I can find some old maps and I'll scan in some examples. Now I'm interested in doing professional work so I've spent the last 2 years teaching myself how to make digital maps and digital artwork in general. I'm a "world builder", so my focus isn't just on the map itself. Until this year when I started posting on here I've never made anything to be seen beyond a gaming group or local friends. It's really nice to be received so well with some of my first public works. Thanks again.

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## wthrasherb

Picking up where I left off in post #52 with the region map, I have decided to go a whole different direction. I was wanting to do this map with map icons/symbols for the mountains and some of the terrain. I want this map to have more of a rpg map look to it.

I just started this today and haven't made it very far yet. The mountains are from the DeRust Campaign Cartographer annual pack and the coloring and textures are all a blend of my own and some Campaign Cartographer bitmap fills. All the work has been done in Photoshop.

All feedback is welcome!



More to come...

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## wthrasherb

Slowly but surely I'm developing this map and the world in general. I've finished the mountains.



EDIT:

   Correction! I have not finished the mountains entirely... the mountains that are there already are finished (might add a touch of snow to some peaks... not sure), but I am thinking about adding a solitary peak ( a "lonely mountain" if you will) just south of the mountains near the center of the map, somewhere in the southern parts of that forest. This peak is most likely going to serve as "White Plume Mountain" (or at least my homage variation).

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## arsheesh

The mountains are coming along nicely.  About the forests though, they seem a bit blurry and indistinct to me, especially given that your linework on the mountains is so clear.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## ChickPea

This is looking good! I really like your mountains and think they're very well done. I can see what Arsheesh is saying about the forest line work and I think the pine forests at the top could use a little more definition, but I think the rest are OK. I think I would add a little bit more colour in the forests, maybe just a few different shades of green/blue/orangey-brown, just to make them stand out from the background more, but perhaps you've yet to start on that?

I really enjoy watching your maps come together.  :Smile:

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## wthrasherb

@ arsheesh and @ ChickPea Thanks folks for the feedback! The forests are hopefully getting worked on more today. Started on them yesterday and got distracted touching up other little bits. I should have an update to post later today...

Thanks again for the comments! I appreciate you guys/gals taking the time to comment!

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## wthrasherb

Ok, so I think I got the forests looking a little better. I MIGHT be finished with the land /geographical features on this one. I'm looking now to start adding labels and map info and such.

As usual, all feedback is encouraged and welcome!  :Smile:

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## Pixie

I like the overall feel of it. The mountains are very dominant and the "dark/eery" style of them marks the style of the map.

The rivers don't fit that style, an almost-black-shade-of-blue would be better imho, using lines equal in size to the lines in the mountains. Just my two cents..

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## Kyros

A nice world, and overall very well done map. I am curious as to what font you are using?

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## GuruKast

> Quick update on the world map. 
> 
> No real changes since the last version I posted except I filled in actual continent names and adjusted some text stuff. 
> 
> This campaign setting is being made up as I go, so the continent names are _potentially_ subject to change in the future. I'm developing the setting from the perspective of the people that live in the small area of land that connects North Atlantea and South Atlantea, so the "known world" may not extend to the other continents in the current time period. I labeled the map and laid out the continents more for my sake than anything. Again, I'm making this stuff up piece by piece. I'm trying to flesh out some details today and over the weekend.
> 
> So TECHNICALLY, I'm "finished" with this WORLD map, but I'm using this thread to develop maps for the campaign overall, so I'm just going to keep posting maps related to this  setting in this one thread... unless mods decide otherwise I guess.
> 
> Welcome to the world of Mythrengard everybody!


loving the base map, but not so much the fonts on the continents, perhaps they need to be smaller?

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## wthrasherb

> I like the overall feel of it. The mountains are very dominant and the "dark/eery" style of them marks the style of the map.
> 
> The rivers don't fit that style, an almost-black-shade-of-blue would be better imho, using lines equal in size to the lines in the mountains. Just my two cents..


Pixie, thanks for the feedback. I try to make the rivers close to the ocean color. While I appreciate your opinion, I think I am satisfied at the moment, with most of the geographic features. I will take your comments into consideration though. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.




> A nice world, and overall very well done map. I am curious as to what font you are using?


Kyros, thanks for the kind words. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. The font in the World Map is called Aquiline Two and can be found here.




> loving the base map, but not so much the fonts on the continents, perhaps they need to be smaller?


GuruKast, thanks a lot! I'm glad you like the map! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Your comments have been noted and I am going to look into making the continent labels a little smaller. I'm actually in the process of a rework of some ideas invovling this map and the world/setting in general, so I may be making a few changes here and there anyway. Thanks for the input!


Sorry I've been kinda quiet. Going through some alterations to the setting and campaign concept and haven't been working on the maps/visual aspects as much lately. I should have something new to show soon, so STAY TUNED...  :Wink: 

Keep the feedback coming folks! It only makes me better!

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## Jaxilon

This is looking good. I agree that the mountains are really hard inked, in comparison to the rest of the map. Maybe soften them up or strengthen some of the rest of the features? This is coming along nicely Though.

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## wthrasherb

> This is looking good. I agree that the mountains are really hard inked, in comparison to the rest of the map. Maybe soften them up or strengthen some of the rest of the features? This is coming along nicely Though.


Thanks for the feedback. I see what people are talking about with the mountains being "inked" a little harder than most of the map, but that is mainly due to the mountains I am using. I've tried drawing mountains my self, but I can't ever seem to achieve the look I'm going for. So I'm still stuck using brushes or icons. These are mountains from the "DeRust" Campaign Cartographer annual pack. I manipulated the initial coloring and such some, but I haven't found a way to tone down JUST the line work. I've tried various Photoshop techniques to try and soften up those lines, but I have yet to find something that looks good. I just tried a Gausian Blur of 4 px and it softened them SOME, but made the mountains look kind of airbrushed overall and I didn't like that look.

So I'm TOTALLY open to suggestions here. For those that haven't been following along, we are talking about the line work on the mountains in post #64 and a way to make the line work a little more subtle.

For the record, I may not do anything to them at all. I personally think they look fine, but I'm always open to tips and ways to improve my work, so I'm keeping an open mind.

Thanks for the input!

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## Christian Nicholas

Did you ever "finish" this map? It looks fantastic!

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