Thread: [WIP] Lamnia and Dwuarrowdelf

The easiest way is to overlay a paper texture, or use your map as an overlay of a paper layer.. um, maybe i'm not explaining it right.

method 1 - put a paper layer over your whole map, with a partial transparency or layer blend mode, and fiddle with the settings.

Method 2 (my preferred) - put a parchment layer underneath the whole shebang, and group all the layers above it - then set the layer blend mode to multiply for the group (for a b+w/grayscale, this is awesome).

Assumes you use photoshop or gimp, though there are ways to do that in Illustrator (and I assume inkscape etc).

Thanks man, yes, I am using Photoshop. I was trying to replicate the texture myself....
And your quote is making me having second thoughts....

His quote is the official mantra for many of us. Many of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out ways to replicate the hand-drawn look with filters, pre-made brushes, blurs, and such (because we're not good at drawing or just lazy) but it always looks fake. It takes some practice but once it clicks for you, then it's like riding a bike.

Personally, I like the minimalism that there is at the moment. I wonder if at least the smaller "holes" in the ocean should be filled in with the horizontal-lined effect. The main inlet I suggest trying both ways and seeing which looks best.

New version!

You have an awful lot of splitting rivers and multiple-outlet lakes.

I don't want to sound like a fool, but I guess I never thought about it.... And you are absolutely right.

You might want to tone down the texture a bit; if it were really that rough it would visibly distort the image. Together it makes the image look as if it were sort of floating above the paper. A complex map, especially one where someone has gone to the trouble of colouring it, would probably be done on a fairly high quality substrate, good paper, vellum (High quality parchment), a fairly fine fabric, etc.

You might also want to give the blue of the water the same blurry, not perfectly in the lines treatment as the on land colouring, a bit of unevenness in its application might also bee a good idea. Try to think about how someone who was doing this with physical media would be doing it and what effects that would have on the image.

Next version, texture, rivers and lakes fixed, and something different with the water...

I need to put some dwarven, elf and human cities.... any suggestion on the symbols to use? pls?