Consoldea Map WIP

[MatthewJMimnaugh]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been working on a map for my book that’s coming out this summer and wanted to start a WIP thread for it. I am working from a previous work I started a while ago which is satellite imagery photo manipulation; just for reference, the un-scaled file is 20k X 20k pixels. Seeing http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...y-Schwarzkreuz however, I decided to go along with a drawn map, as my book is fantasy and that style is more fitting I think.

Right now, all I have in the new map is borderlines, but I plan on uploading some snapshots as I go. Wish me luck!

:Edit: Here's the latest:



~Matthew J. Mimnaugh

[Lukc]

Good luck!

[MatthewJMimnaugh]

Good luck!

Thanks so much!

BTW, here's the original sat/image manipulation I am using for my reference:

[MatthewJMimnaugh]

Hey guys, I have an update. Here it is:



I could use some advice on the mountains; it looks great on my screen before I shrink it but the export seems a little wonky. Any advice?

[Gidde]

I think it's just a function of working on it at a different scale than what you're exporting it to. Is there a reason you're working on it at such a large resolution? 20k square is roughly mural-sized; "good" printing resolution is around 300px per inch. So even a huge poster map (24"x36") only needs 7200px x 10800px. You mention that it's for a novel; if so, the maps are routinely printed at about 4x6 inches for a paperback, giving you 1200x1800px. So I'd suggest starting with a smaller size, which would have added benefits of not bogging down your computer (unless it's a lot more powerful than mine!) and being able to post it up at full size. Give yourself some ability to print largish (if it were me I'd go with 4800-6000k or so), but 20k is almost guaranteed to be overkill (and make all of your symbols look really really tiny for all practical purposes).

Unless you want a mural or tapestry for your wall, in which case I pronounce your mountains just fine