My 1st map.

[MadCartographer]

Hi all,

This is my 1st map, not the best, but not bad for my 1st try at it.
Comments / Suggestions welcome. (Be gentle on me, it's my 1st time)

[rdanhenry]

It's quite charming. However, I do believe you mean "Manor" and "Scarfaced", not "Mannor" and "Scarefaced". Although, given the nature of the map, it may be meant to be the work of a poor-spelling pirate or explorer, in which case leave as is.

[Ascension]

I dig it. I think the squid and ship kind of detract from it cuz they look a bit cartoony.

[MadCartographer]

It's quite charming. However, I do believe you mean "Manor" and "Scarfaced", not "Mannor" and "Scarefaced". Although, given the nature of the map, it may be meant to be the work of a poor-spelling pirate or explorer, in which case leave as is.

Yes that was done deliberately, after all, pirates did make the map.

Thanks!

[MadCartographer]

I dig it. I think the squid and ship kind of detract from it cuz they look a bit cartoony.

Thank you, and of course, your right. I'll remove them.

Thanks for the input.

[ravells]

My advice, FWIW is that getting good, rather than passable results with CC is hard. It's just too tempting to throw in lots of symbols which are not quite consistent in colour or theme, or line strength etc. CC has a real danger of making one not see these things because it's just a little too easy to pop a symbol in which doesn't quite fit.

Don't get me wrong, CC is a great piece of software and I've seen some maps done in CC2 (let alone CC3) which are real stunners, but those have been by people who have had a good idea of the end result they wanted to achieve, knew the limitations of the software they were using and worked hard to create the results they wanted.

I love the 'Skull Island' theme of your map, but the colours and symbols used don't tell the story to me that it has been drawn by pirates (although the labels do). All this doesn't matter if you are happy with it of course and it serves the purposes you want it to. For me a pirate map, drawn by pirates would have a much more handdrawn feel, ink bleeding into parchment, stains etc.

Just my 2p, and it IS possible (I believe) to get the feel you want in CC3 much more so than CC2 (which is what I used many moons ago). My only advice with CC is don't get seduced by the easy option and consider making your own symbols. You can always re-use them, but most of all...try to make the map consistent in feel and to tell a story - and try to get the feel and story of the map to mesh together. Get those two things right and you're well on the way to making great fantasy maps.

It's a really hard trick to pull off but if you can do it, you've made it!

best

Ravs

[MadCartographer]

My advice, FWIW is that getting good, rather than passable results with CC is hard. It's just too tempting to throw in lots of symbols which are not quite consistent in colour or theme, or line strength etc. CC has a real danger of making one not see these things because it's just a little too easy to pop a symbol in which doesn't quite fit.

Don't get me wrong, CC is a great piece of software and I've seen some maps done in CC2 (let alone CC3) which are real stunners, but those have been by people who have had a good idea of the end result they wanted to achieve, knew the limitations of the software they were using and worked hard to create the results they wanted.

I love the 'Skull Island' theme of your map, but the colours and symbols used don't tell the story to me that it has been drawn by pirates (although the labels do). All this doesn't matter if you are happy with it of course and it serves the purposes you want it to. For me a pirate map, drawn by pirates would have a much more handdrawn feel, ink bleeding into parchment, stains etc.

Just my 2p, and it IS possible (I believe) to get the feel you want in CC3 much more so than CC2 (which is what I used many moons ago). My only advice with CC is don't get seduced by the easy option and consider making your own symbols. You can always re-use them, but most of all...try to make the map consistent in feel and to tell a story - and try to get the feel and story of the map to mesh together. Get those two things right and you're well on the way to making great fantasy maps.

It's a really hard trick to pull off but if you can do it, you've made it!

best

Ravs

Ravs,
Thank you for your comments etc... I really do appreaciate them.
For someone that cant draw alick, CC2 or 3 is perfect for me. I'm not aiming to be a pro at this, I just want to draw a map and use it in my D&D games.

I also do understand what you said about the symbols. And yes, it's easy to just "plop" them in. I'll keep an eye out on the colors and line sharpness you mentioned.

Thank you
MadCartographer

[ravells]

Phew, glad you didn't take my comments as too brutal. It's not just about the colou rand line strength...it's about developing an eye for which elements work together and which don't. (I don't have this ability of discrimination, but when you see it done right it's just so obvious. - Ramah's maps are a case in point).

[MadCartographer]

Ravells,

I see you play Traveller. I have a few deckplans I made for that game as well.

The Manta - is from the Classic Traveller Adventure 10 Safari Ship.
Newton - was a design I saw online someplace, and decided to put it in CC2.

Enjoy!

[ravells]

Ah yes, I noticed you were a traveller player! Nice deckplans. Cosmographer is one of the better add-ons to CC2 and it works particularly well for Traveller.

I've got a deckplan knocking around somewhere on this site from a long time ago..here it is.