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Thread: Hand drawn map of Pletevaia (Brittany 13th century)

  1. #1
    Guild Apprentice Eochaid's Avatar
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    Default Hand drawn map of Pletevaia (Brittany 13th century)

    Hello all!

    Back to my Ars Magica campaign, I remarked that the map that I made was riddled with historical imperfections and anachronisms. So back to my books, a few months of reading, and now I'm back to a (hopefully better) map. I took a larger setting, that of the old Pletevaia County (composed of Tregor, Goello and Penteur).
    This is the beginning of the GM map (and perhaps just a draft). A second map will follow, for the players.
    The GM map should be full of informations and details (but still readable), and in a simple style, while the player's map will be a copy of a monastery's map, with all its imprecisions and illegible latin writing, and in full medieval style (if I can).
    So for now, I'm drawing the GM map, which should be easier...

    The basic informations: coast, rivers, places, are in place, and the details and embellishments are left. I'm posting now because I'm not sure in what direction to go. I'll have at least the terrain to draw (hills and mountains, not that there's a lot of them in this place, except a bit in the south...). So I'm asking you guys for ideas: style and details that I might add.

    I'll have a compass design to find, too...

    Well, here it is:

    Pletevaia_0a.jpg

    Sorry about the rift in the middle, I do not have the equipment to numerize an A3 paper at home... It will have to wait the finished product.

    Cheers!

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    Guild Expert Guild Supporter Lingon's Avatar
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    Very nice job! I really like the writing, it looks very medieval. Planning to add some more color, like an old paper yellow? Maybe it's just me, but I find that I get more interested in a slightly tinted map than a pure black-and white, for some reason.

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    Guild Apprentice Eochaid's Avatar
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    Short of using a different paper, no, unfortunately... But I do definitely agree with you. Unfortunately, I always find the tint on industrial paper too uniform for my taste, hence the whitish paper for now.

    The player's map will most likely have some colors, though, since I plan adding some heraldry to it. Medieval maps were sometimes painted, so I'll try that too (at least the sea, and most likely the places icons). I'll definitely try to find some decent tinted paper for it too (halas, that parchment is so expensive...).

    Thanks for the feedback!

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    Guild Member AlexSchacher's Avatar
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    For the digital version atleast, a simple hue/saturation adjustment or even a quick sepia effect that most graphic programs have could give that color pretty easily. Using sepia and then adjusting the hue/saturation to get the right color would work wonders. I do find it kind of hard to look at in complete black and white, but maybe its just me.

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    Guild Expert Guild Supporter Lingon's Avatar
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    Yes, as AlexSchacher sais, it could be done digitally – or you could paint some thin yellow-brown watercolor over the map. Provided you used waterproof ink of course! I destroyed a map once because the pen I used claimed to be waterproof but actually wasn't at all, so make sure to test it if you haven't done it already. If you choose to add some color, using for example a lighter tone (=thinner paint, if you do it by hand) on the ocean would look nice and add some further clarity to the map.

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