WIP - Tirwen

[NymTevlyn]

You might try putting a relief on the river. I don't know how to do that, but it might solidify the rivers as part of the land.

[RobA]

You might try putting a relief on the river. I don't know how to do that, but it might solidify the rivers as part of the land.

Good idea- here is a quick mock up putting a relief on the river and removing the land border then smudging the river colour into the sea a bit:



What do you think of that?

Alternately (and possibly more in line with the map style) is just to stroke the river outline with dark:


-Rob A>

[waverlyt]

I like this map a lot. The colours of the land and the sea are great and fit very nicely into the style of the map. I've a few comments to make. Firstly, I think the over-colourful aspects of the map are the text. I'd take that coloured background away. I'd also suggest reducing the saturation on the rivers and lakes - I think they are good, but a little over coloured for the map. Compare the colour of lake Feydusk to the colour of your ocean. I'd also suggest outlining the rivers - all the other elements of the map have clear outlines so it is a little odd that the rivers don't, especially as the lakes have an outline that makes them look separate from the rivers!

I'd also suggest not italicising Tirwen - you've got a nice font that looks great everywhere else - no need to italic it for the title.

I love the border and the worn paper. The care and attention to detail you've put into this really shows and is a testament to a great map. Excellent first map to post here. Repped!

Thank you! I left the WIP file on my work machine, so I won't be able to edit anything tonight (need to set up a subversion server...). Your advice is wonderful, and I'll get to making those changes tomorrow.

As far as the colored text goes -- do you think the labels are clear enough without the color-coding? The reason I went with the different colored glows in the first place was because I was afraid it wouldn't be clear what the labels were ... well, labeling.

You might try putting a relief on the river. I don't know how to do that, but it might solidify the rivers as part of the land.

Thanks for the advice! In fact...

...just to stroke the river outline with dark:

...thank you RobA for the visual -- I definitely think that's what I'm going to go with! Could you tell me a bit more about what it is that you did? Will a dark-colored stroke layer effect work on the layer I have the rivers on?

As an aside; how should I go about posting updates? Do I edit the first post with the new version, or do I put the new version in a whole new post in the same thread?

Thanks again, everyone!

[RobA]

...thank you RobA for the visual -- I definitely think that's what I'm going to go with! Could you tell me a bit more about what it is that you did? Will a dark-colored stroke layer effect work on the layer I have the rivers on?

As an aside; how should I go about posting updates? Do I edit the first post with the new version, or do I put the new version in a whole new post in the same thread?

A stroke layer effect will also cause strokes to appear at the end of the rivers. I just made a black outline stroke on its own layer , reduced the opacity, and erased it at the river mouth.

...And in the WIP threads just keep appending posts. It is nice for people to see the development as it progresses.

-Rob A>

[waverlyt]

Thanks to the suggestions, here's the current version:


Changes:

• Rivers outlined, desaturated, and blurred slightly.
• Lake outline partially erased and blurred, lake colors desaturated and made slightly more transparent.
• Desert coloring made less transparent.
• Continent outline changed to a dark brown.
• Size of town markers reduced to be closer to village/site markers.
• Removed the different label colors; everything uses the same glow now (except for the rivers).
• Svesssiir moved slightly NE.
• The Smoking Peak now has a reason to smoke.
• Shading added to the inner rim of the crater.

Things to do:

• Fixes
• Remove the lake borders where the rivers enter and leave.
• Fix the easternmost peak of the Viridian Mountains where it looks like the continent border is showing through the mountain itself.
• Come up with a noun I like for the "sites" and add their symbol to the legend.
• Make the distance scale slightly more transparent so that it blends better with the other legend text.
• Make the southwestern border of the Pag Mell swamp share the same border as the Pag Ora river.
• After making the desert coloring less transparent, I'm not happy with how the "dune lines" look.
• Dalmere forest should have a part in the trees where the Moritu river exits it, instead of having a tree growing out of the water.
• Maybe redo the mountains. I've seen several examples of truly excellent mountains, and Elderbean's mountain redo has inspired me.

• Additions
• The area between Dalmere forest and the Dunefields, west of the Ironpith, is dotted with large, sakura-like trees -- roughly one tree per square mile. I'm not sure how to show this and still have it look nice; my previous attempts have been unsatisfactory.
• A bamboo-like plant grows all over the place in Pag Mell, but I've run into the same problem as above -- I'm not sure how to make stands of bamboo look nice on the map.
• A few more coastal labels need to be added.

[torstan]

Looks great. think the labels are very clear as to what they label.

I'd erase the lake boundary where the rivers enter and leave - it still looks like there are damns across the river entrances. Otherwise I'd leave it as is - it looks good to me. Nonetheless, your improvements sound interesting. I look forward to seeing the way this develops.

[waverlyt]

Looks great. think the labels are very clear as to what they label.

I'd erase the lake boundary where the rivers enter and leave - it still looks like there are damns across the river entrances. Otherwise I'd leave it as is - it looks good to me. Nonetheless, your improvements sound interesting. I look forward to seeing the way this develops.

I knew there was something else; thanks much -- I've added it to the list. Hopefully I'll be able to work on this a bit tonight.