Thread: Heghruil - RPG map in the making.

Avoid "proper black". Ink isn't "black black" it's just really super dark grey, like a 90% black. The "other" 10% is probably best in the purple range. If you're curious why...just get a cheap felt-tip pen, draw a big splotch on a strip of paper at one end and lay the end into water (keeping the other end out of water). Come back in 2h and you should have some nice colour separation of the tints in the "black" ink.

In older maps the seas often turned into "doodle spaces", notations or other things. I remember seeing a map from Columbus' voyage to the Americas that had drawings of the three ships named in the "spare sea".

Looking good. I was going to mention the tree trunks but it sounds like you've addressed that.

I'd avoid the overall drop shadow beneath your land. If anything I'd go for a straightforward outer glow instead. At the moment it looks a little like your land is a plinth rising straight out of the sea.

Otherwise this is coming along nicely. I like the colour scheme you've got going on. Definitely looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Ok, I dropped the shadow and played around with the outer glow and I like what I see so far. Now I need some advice on the rivers. They just look like lines with no character. I want to be able to see the difference between rivers and roads.

I had considered using a different color for roads but wasn't really sure that would be a good idea. Any tips from you guys?

*EDIT*
I put up the work I've done to the map up until now. You can see the improved forest in the northwest corner. You can also see what the coastline looks like now without the drop shadow and some toying around with outer glow.

Yeah, that forest looks a lot better.

As for the rivers, they look ok as they are but you could try thickening the lines up somewhat as they get closer to the sea. Maybe that will provide the variation you feel they lack.

As for roads, a different colour could work, yeah, or maybe try making them a dashed line instead of solid.

That forest is looking much more convincing, nice move

Definitely thicken the rivers a tad towards the coast. Just increase your brush size incrementally as you go closer to the shore (or decrease if drawing from shore to the end) if you don't have a tablet, or play with the fade option (noticing you use photoshop) Perhaps use the same colour as the edge of the coast for the river colour? That will help blend them in at the coastline too.

And dotsor dashes for the roads seems to work well on quite a few maps out there, might be worth a try here too.

You could add character to your rivers by making them more squiggly and adding thick and thin spots along the way...like in the bends.

Here I finished the forests and started the laborious task of cleaning up the clipping with the mountains. I've also began to address the river issue. I have been playing with different things in that respect.

You will also notice I have also began labeling the cities and land features. The font is not set in stone but I was thinking about just keeping it simple to avoid hard to decipher fonts.

*EDIT*
Ok, I am uploading the next stage in the map. I have finished the mountain clean up and added most of the terrain tags. I am undecided on whether to label the mountain ranges and still haven't come to a decision on the font style.

I am also considering making some hills and brushing them in to give the map some more depth. If I like the outcome that will be the next post.

Ok, changed the font. There is something hookey going on with that. Some words looked bold while others are normal. Not sure where the hiccup is there. I put in the hills and I am happy with them. As for the rivers, I have tried several things but nothing seems to strike home for me. So I am leaving them as they are and considering other avenues (no pun intended) for the roads.

So let me know if the font is too hard to read or if the coloring is not enough of a contrast from the terrain.

The new font looks ok to me apart from where it changes like you pointed out.

Did you change the image you posted two posts up when you edited it? I ask because, I liked your trees when you had done them all but now they seem too thick. I'm sure you changed them. If so, I preferred the first ones.

A few changes I'd make would be: The new hills. There is little to no variation in them but I just can hardly see them. They are so light in relation to everything else. Also, there would maybe be some hilly areas that aren't just mountain foothills.
I think you need to change either the colour of the sea or the land as for now, all that is to differentiate between them is a stroke or two.
Also, and this is just personal taste, I'd re-darken your mountains somewhat. They don't want to be black but they just seem kinda washed out as they are now.

Still, coming along nicely.