Thread: Shadowfell Map

Hi, Ish. What software do you wish to use to add the text, borders, etc.? This will help us help.

As for fonts, my suggestion is "Fire of Yzgard" at http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=402&page=4 ; I say this because your map is too modern/realistic-leaning to support truly medieval or hand drawn fonts; Yzgard is a nice compromise--although click through those Gothic>Modern fonts at Dafont; there are hundreds of possibilities.

When you place text in, I'd say perhaps go reddish with a light, white shadow. This will allow them to stand out. But color coordination is my weakness, so I'd just play with it.

I would not put this map on parchment (again, it's too photorealistic), but give it either an ornate frame of a repeated pattern or a simple series of black lines. It may be a nice effect to have the color of that frame to play off the same blue of the ocean's blue (or a close neighbor).

I hope this helps get you started with some ideas! Keep us posted!

Thanks Pyrandon,
I use the Gimp and PaintShop Pro v 7.0 for all my graphics needs. I'm still learning the Gimp, but I know Paintshop pretty well, so if you guys know it and want to give tips based on that, I should be able to follow along pretty well.

That's a nice-looking font you recommended, with all the font-searching I do, I'm surprised I've never seen it before!

Yeah, I had planned on it being a pretty realistic-looking map, and for the finer details (when I do individual kingdom maps), I plan on going down to a hand-drawn style. I'm not positive exactly what you mean by a frame of lines for the map.

Thansk for the advice!
-Ish

Ish: By "frame lines" I simply meant a rectangle that forms the border of your page, which can be as thick as you wish. Sometimes a really thick one can form the main border, with a thinner line (or 2, or 3...) as the rest. It's a simple technique that really has only one purpose: create a non-distracting border.

If you are shooting for a realistic map, and if you have the original GIMP layers/files (or, if you feel like playing around a bit) I would kindly recommend you redo a few of the textures your friend used. For example, the forests look a lot like swatches of rug (I assume this was the canvas filter on green or something); break that up & do something less regular & less "filtery". Ditto on the grasslands & the desert.

Also, the colors are a bit too pastel & too regular for a realistic map. Add variations--especially darks--to the land & water. The mountains, I think, are basically fine though.

I would finally recommend that when you're all done you use some sort of filter to mute just slightly the sharpness of the entire map (ex: blur or noise); hard, crisp edges rarely look realistic INHO.

I hope that all helps at least a smidgen!

Originally Posted by pyrandon

Ish: By "frame lines" I simply meant a rectangle that forms the border of your page, which can be as thick as you wish. Sometimes a really thick one can form the main border, with a thinner line (or 2, or 3...) as the rest. It's a simple technique that really has only one purpose: create a non-distracting border.

Something like this attachment (I just quickly threw this over your map as an example).

What also may be nice to blend the transitions would be a feather selection, then a slight erasing of the edges of main geographical elements (such as your desert) This would look like it blends in, and would look more realistic.

Hope that helps

Sandeman

Okay, I see what you mean by the border now. Also, I contacted the original artist about getting his gimp files, and am awaiting a response, so hopefully I'll be able to touch up some of these parts you guys mentioned.