Reply With QuoteFor this kind of map, is it better to use monochrome names, or different colors for different classes (forests, rivers, cities etc)?
This is the full continent again, with some more post-processing and names thrown in to try a different font-style.
For this kind of map, is it better to use monochrome names, or different colors for different classes (forests, rivers, cities etc)?
In my Sayth challenge map I used different color text for different classes, and got at least one comment that it was a bit confusing without a legend of some sort.
My Finished Maps | My Planet Maps | My Challenge Entries | Album: Pre-generated Worlds
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Assuming I stick with fantasy cartography, I'd like to become a World Builder, laying out not only a realistic topography, but also the geopolitical boundaries and at least rough descriptions of the countries and societies.
Hate to say it, feanarro, as beautiful as the map is, the font choices don't work at all for me. I would go for something almost as boring as Helvetica or Calibri , with a dark fill and a light outline.
Do you include in this the simpler serif font in the regional map (which is Linux Libertine O C)? The other fonts don't work for me either, but that one I was going to keep.Originally Posted by ravells
Hate to say it, feanarro, as beautiful as the map is, the font choices don't work at all for me. I would go for something almost as boring as Helvetica or Calibri , with a dark fill and a light outline. Hope you don't mind, little example attached on your map.
It's a matter of personal taste. I like the Gothic lettering in the regional map too. It's just something which looks really informal and brush script (as in the world map), doesn't fit with style of map which is quite precise. Sans Serif fonts tend to look more modern and as the map has quite a modern feel, I'd go for sans, but as I said, it's a matter of taste.
Serif fonts might work better if you made the fill dark and the outline light (rather as than the other way round as you have it on your regional map). A light outline will make the serifs stand out more against the darker background. Worth a try.
The map would be for a fantasy world, so it is not a good thing if it has a modern feel, I would aim more at realistical and austere. On the other hand, I cannot change much of it without switching technique, i.e. relying less on FT and more on my drawing skills; unfortunately, those are non-existent at the moment.
Don't worry, a map can still have a 'modern feel' (it's just my term) and still be suited for fantasy. I don't know how to say this but I think that we expect fantasy maps to look a particular way, e.g. Tolkien maps, but that has changed so much with the advent of computer games/RPGs where we now also see fantasy maps drawn in a modern satellite style (see Ascenion's maps for example). So when I say say modern, I guess I mean fantasy but with modern vocabulary rather than say something you would have expected to have seen drawn in the nineteen sixties / seventies.
For me the important thing is to find your own style and develop it.
best
Ravs
The Decadence fonts over at dafont.com might be worth looking at. They're imitations of old printing press fonts. Very legible, but also very non-modern.
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