the High-empire of Korachan and the Inner Sea

[vorropohaiah]

As the title indicates, this is my map of the Inner Sea and the surrounding Korachani empire. I've been working on this for some years now (yes you read that right) though the main reason its taking me so long is that the map has been secondary to my worldbuilding project and regions and localities have only been added to the map as I've fleshed out the world itself. If you look at the corners (particularly the N-W part of the map, you'll notice that it's a lot more bare than the central parts - those areas are still rather vague in the 'Encyclopaedia Elyden' and will be added to later as I flesh them out, though the map is as good as done.

The first iteration of the map was drawn on an A3 paper about 7-years ago and it has gone through countless updates and was first digitised about 2-years ago. All work is done in PS and a cheapo wacom tablet (cannot recommend a tablet enough - it speeds up work so much!). When I first started work on the map I had never used PS before and all my experience with PS comes from this and other doodles and lots of help from this site (especially the Saderan (sp?) tutorial). The original PSD is 300 dpi CMYK 41" x 61" and will be printed at full-size for my man-cave once I declare it done. The jpg this upload is based on is RGB 200 dpi and 41" x 61" and is about 75mb big so rather than shrink it down to a 4.5mb file I decided to split it into four and upload the separate maps, which preserve a lot of detail. I'm still not 100% sold on some parts of it (mostly the texture and colour), though i think this one is as good as done. To anyone interested the WIP thread is here and the map goes through a few iterations due to changing personal preferances and other peoples' opinions and if i end up changing the map it'll mostly be done there.

Please do give feedback and criticisms as this is something I want to turn out as good as I possibly can, so any help is welcome. One thing I've noticed is the displacement layer I used to distort the picture to match the parchment background might be a bit too obvious in places (with the text taking on a wavy appearance in some areas) this is going to be toned down.


1-top-left.jpg2-top-right.jpg
3-bottom-left.jpg4-bottom-right.jpg

EDIT: also added a zoomable version.

[vorropohaiah]

i uploaded a newer version of the map - slightly recoloured (some monitors were showinjg it up very yelloe) and with the displacement player toned down. I'll probably go over the parchment layer with the clone tool to remove some of the creases

[Eilathen]

Well...a masterpiece...anything else would be an understatement. I love this map.
How big will it be if printed out? I know you said it but i forgot.

Have some rep. (if i can rep you again).

[vorropohaiah]

Thanks

it'll be 4" x 6" once printed. I'll be sure to take pics once I do!

Edit: I did it again. I mean of course 4' x 6' :p

[Slylok]

i think the colors are perfect. excellent map! /envy

[arsheesh]

Masterfully done V, this is one to be proud of. Have a bit'o rep (and rated).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[vorropohaiah]

i think the colors are perfect. excellent map! /envy

thanks, i spent quite a while trying to get colours i was happy with (as the various versions in the WIP thread show) and im pleased with the end result.

Masterfully done V, this is one to be proud of. Have a bit'o rep (and rated).

thanks, though i cant see the rating

[Eilathen]

Hey Vorropohaiah,

Do you think you could do this map in a equirectangular grid? Without the strong curvature of the grid and therefore map? I'd really like to see it in the (for me) normal projection.
Unfortunately, i have to spread around the love a bit before i can rep you again. But i am sure we will see many more gorgeous maps from you...so no problem

[vorropohaiah]

Hey Vorropohaiah,

Do you think you could do this map in a equirectangular grid? Without the strong curvature of the grid and therefore map? I'd really like to see it in the (for me) normal projection.

Sure, though its only in black/white, though it should give an idea of coastlines. However, some parts, particularly in the north a very distorted in the equirectangular version. I'll post it up once I get home

[fifty]

Fantastic job! I love it!

I've one tiny comment that I'm sort of embarrassed to voice cause your so much better than me! ..it's the parchment effect on the legend / key, I think its a bit harsh and makes the smaller text a bit difficult to read.. should it not be the same parchment effect as the rest of the map was drawn on anyway, or were you going for a 'stuck on label' idea?

...anyway, an absolutely awesome job on this as all your maps - you must have the patience of several saints as far as I can tell!!!