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Thread: Ink and Parchment Style Regional Map

  1. #21
    Guild Journeyer Alecthar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alfar View Post
    Very nice map.

    Maybe work a little with the labels? I know readability is important, but I think it would add to the parchment effect if the text followed the texture of the paper. As it is, it looks like someone put an old map through an inkjet printer and added the labels.
    Maybe just curving the labels will do the trick - the mountain labels that are on a path don't seem to "offend" so much.

    Oh, and the ⌘'s do seem rather on the large side.
    Why must you hate my ⌘s?

    As far as the names go, I'll see what I can do. I'll play with colors and layer modes to see if I can find something that looks a bit more natural. I observed the same phenomenon of the mountain/river names looking slightly more "natural" than the rest, and I'm gonna see what I can do there.
    "Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."

  2. #22
    Guild Adept Alfar's Avatar
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    I don't hate your ⌘s. I think they'd look better if they were smaller, that's all. Maybe that too is caused by them being printed on top of the parchment, so the straight lines (and blocky-ness) make them seem out of place.

  3. #23
    Guild Journeyer Alecthar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alfar View Post
    I don't hate your ⌘s. I think they'd look better if they were smaller, that's all. Maybe that too is caused by them being printed on top of the parchment, so the straight lines (and blocky-ness) make them seem out of place.
    Just joking. The main problem I'm encountering is that I do want to maintain readability, but the black doesn't really show texture. I'm thinking I might add a very small blur to the city names to blend them a bit better, maybe the same thing will work for the ⌘s.
    "Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."

  4. #24
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alecthar View Post
    Just joking. The main problem I'm encountering is that I do want to maintain readability, but the black doesn't really show texture. I'm thinking I might add a very small blur to the city names to blend them a bit better, maybe the same thing will work for the ⌘s.
    Use a displace, with the displacement map from the layer with the texture on it. This will give just a hint of fuzziness and warp to the letters. Of course, it will only affect the side of the letters where the underlying texture is light colored though.
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  5. #25
    Guild Journeyer Alecthar's Avatar
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    Alright, I tried a displacement map on the names, and I didn't really get the look I was aiming for. I'm going to play around with things a bit, but I'm probably going to blur things a bit and leave it at that. I'm considering this one "done" except for naming.

    But I'm working on my next idea related to this style. I'm finding that the "Grain Merge" Layer mode does a pretty good job of making things look a bit more painted/inked on, attached is a little test piece I put together to see how it would look with some hand-drawn elements. I think from now on I'll be doing more of the mountain/forest type stuff by hand.
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    Last edited by Alecthar; 06-15-2009 at 07:05 PM.
    "Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."

  6. #26
    Guild Journeyer msa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alecthar View Post
    Just joking. The main problem I'm encountering is that I do want to maintain readability, but the black doesn't really show texture. I'm thinking I might add a very small blur to the city names to blend them a bit better, maybe the same thing will work for the ⌘s.
    If you haven't already, you might want to watch these two tutorials from ZombieNirvana. He really goes into how he wraps the objects on his map around the folds and creases of the parchment texture. He talks specifically about text vs. map elements.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDtNQpxj3Iw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I4gcyjWDAQ

    It might be a little pedantic for you, but its probably worth watching since its what you are working on.

  7. #27
    Guild Journeyer Alecthar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by msa View Post
    If you haven't already, you might want to watch these two tutorials from ZombieNirvana. He really goes into how he wraps the objects on his map around the folds and creases of the parchment texture. He talks specifically about text vs. map elements.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDtNQpxj3Iw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I4gcyjWDAQ

    It might be a little pedantic for you, but its probably worth watching since its what you are working on.
    You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
    "Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."

  8. #28
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alecthar View Post
    Alright, I tried a displacement map on the names, and I didn't really get the look I was aiming for. I'm going to play around with things a bit, but I'm probably going to blur things a bit and leave it at that. I'm considering this one "done" except for naming.

    But I'm working on my next idea related to this style. I'm finding that the "Grain Merge" Layer mode does a pretty good job of making things look a bit more painted/inked on, attached is a little test piece I put together to see how it would look with some hand-drawn elements. I think from now on I'll be doing more of the mountain/forest type stuff by hand.
    You may also like to take a look at a parchment map I started (and will eventually get back to) back in Dec. Once I started making the mountains, I ended up making a short tutorial for it. It may give you some ideas(warning, lots of hard work involved, but it's worth it in the end result)
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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