Nautical Chart inspired New World

[Llannagh]

So a few weeks ago I got really dissatisfied with the old layout of my world. It has basically existed in it's rough shape since my late teens. The last refining I did a few months ago when I was pretty new to the CG felt quite good, but it wasn't good enough. Somehow the backstory I have didn't fit the world. It felt too small.
So I revisited Vorropohaiah's Korachan which had inspired me in the first place to getting serious about map-making. That worked and I decided to relaunch my world. Maybe I'll use the old worldmap in a different scale and fit it into the new one, but that's not decided yet.

My original plan for the maps was to keep them relatively simple and informative. Anyone who has seen my latest mapping attemps will agree that I failed in that regard. I seem to be getting bested by an urge for detail. Same thing happened with the map I'm presenting here:

(Insert map thumbnail... somehow the option's not there... so see post below)

Edit: okay, so somehow the option for me to upload an attachment is missing. Anyone know why? Is there a global maximum number of attachments that you can have? Do I need to donate frst? Hm. Strange stuff.

So anyway, once I'll be able to upload it, you will see what I mean.

[Llannagh]

Okay, now I got it. My browser seems to be strange, lately... HTML is off... hm. Whatever.

Anywho.

This style is inspired by the maps to be found here Search Results: All Fields similar to 'Nautical' - David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Again, thanks to Vorropohaihah for pointing me to those.

I hoped to achieve a feel of those old nautical maps. So far I'm quite satisfied.

For now, I'm off to bed! Have a good one!
Llannagh

[Llannagh]

Update.

I scrapped the above because it again went in the highly detailed, unpratical direction. Or at lest it showed the wrong details. I kept myself in line here, which was quite difficult tbh. I thought screw hills, all I need is mountains, rivers and forests. And settlements and roads of course.

SW-2.jpg

Any ideas on how to improve the mountains?
Do you like the red symbols better or the black ones (for the settlements)? Should I coulor-code the settlements?
Should I get rid of the forests?

Cheers,
Llannagh

P.S.: I also call upon the River Police to verify or shun my work!

[jbgibson]

The rivers are fine.

If there's a flaw in the mountains, it's a style mismatch. The coastlines are crisp and clear, the rivers simple line work, and the roads nice and diagrammatic. Then you add shaded, raised-relief, somewhat fuzzy 3-d mountain chains... They just don't play nicely together. A simpler caterpillar-ridges look might fit better. Or even something like what you have, washed out to be just a background texture?

Detail isn't bad in and of itself. You're working with a tool that does layers, right? Add all the detail you like and segregate different types on different layers. Then output a family of maps, each tailored to a certain purpose.

[Llannagh]

The rivers are fine.

That's good to know. I feel a little proud.

If there's a flaw in the mountains, it's a style mismatch. The coastlines are crisp and clear, the rivers simple line work, and the roads nice and diagrammatic. Then you add shaded, raised-relief, somewhat fuzzy 3-d mountain chains... They just don't play nicely together. A simpler caterpillar-ridges look might fit better. Or even something like what you have, washed out to be just a background texture?

I tried the caterpillars, but unless I do them as in the original historical maps with a very fine pen and lots of patience and time, it won't look too good. I literally spent hours trying to come up with a good compromise and that's the end result. Plus I don't really like caterpillars. (I know, many nautical charts use those)
The height lines (are they called that?) I like, but that's an even larger amount of work, especially if it's supposed to look good.

But I'll try your suggestion with the washed out background texture. That appeals to me. I get your point about the style mismatch. That was probably bugging me anyway.

Detail isn't bad in and of itself. You're working with a tool that does layers, right? Add all the detail you like and segregate different types on different layers. Then output a family of maps, each tailored to a certain purpose.

That's kind of what I'm going for. But at first I want to keep it simple, so I get to actually finish a map!

Thanks for the input!

[Llannagh]

Okay, so I took jbgibson's suggestion to heart and tried something different. I like that a lot better, although it's getting further and further away from that nautical style I was aiming for, but that ways just a means to an ends anyway. All I wanted was something simpler, more informative, and I think this is getting pretty close.

SW-2-OrgColor.jpgSW-2-Water.jpgSW-Color.jpg

Notes:
- the compass rose in the bottom right is just a placeholder, as is the box on the bottom left.
- the icons for settlements are still not final, as is their placement.
- same goes for the roads.

I tried a little coloring. I defnitely like the blueish ocean but I'm not certain about the colorized land.

Oh, all textures are courtesy of CG Textures, btw.

[vorropohaiah]

wiould have been nice to see where you went with a more realistic-looking nautical-style map, though this is looking good.

I love CG textures though the bandwidth limit on downloads is a bit annoying at times

[Ilanthar]

I like the colors, but yeah... can't see the "nautical chart" part (yet?)

[Llannagh]

I like the colors, but yeah... can't see the "nautical chart" part (yet?)

Yeah, well, I was origianlly going for the nautical thing... but as it seems, I have found a way with this style to create goodlooking, versatile maps with an amount of work that suits my general impatience ("I need results, dammit!").

[Llannagh]

Righty ho, update time.

Doesn't look like I've done a lot, but I worked all afternoon on this. First time for me to really, seriously putting in settlements, roads and borders.

Things I've worked on in this version:

- Rivers: I changed the rivers from simple lines to.. well what they are now. I cut the rivers out of the land and let a darker version of the background texture shine through.
- Added lakes. Just a few, since this part isn't too lake-y. Same technique as with the rivers.
- Borders: I put in borders for the different Iurisdictions, a term from the backstory that I might still change. They're not countries but more like duchies. Didn't want to call them duchies, though, because that's not what they are.
- Settlements: I put in Towns and villages. Just the more important ones, since I don't want to get it too crowded.
- Roads: Yay! People can travel now.
- Legend and name of the map
- Frame: I put in a simple frame in black. I don't have a clue yet of how to do a proper one, that'll come later, as the final finishing touch, maybe.

SW-V4.jpg

I'm trying to dodge the whole labeling business, but I'm afraid I won't be able to much longer. It's gonna be a bitch, though...

I'll work on a nice compass rose now.

So long and cheers,
Llannagh