The land of Andoria & Realm of Telrith - [unpaid] commission (WIP)

[Crudus]

I really like the little bridges over the rivers at various points!

Perhaps one way to improve the forests would be to break up the uniformity of the trees? You could do it only slightly, but I think it would help with the hand drawn effect. I find it hard to believe that one person could draw the same little oval on top of the tree thousands of times... maybe make some of them a couple pixels wider, or taller, or having a bit shorter trunk? Just minute variations.

Edit: It also occured to me that the shading on your trees is not as complex as that on the hills or mountains - just a little line off the trunk. Maybe a very slight shade on the right side of the leaves could make them fit the rest of the symbols better?

[rpgmapmaker]

I really like the little bridges over the rivers at various points!

Perhaps one way to improve the forests would be to break up the uniformity of the trees? You could do it only slightly, but I think it would help with the hand drawn effect. I find it hard to believe that one person could draw the same little oval on top of the tree thousands of times... maybe make some of them a couple pixels wider, or taller, or having a bit shorter trunk? Just minute variations.

Edit: It also occured to me that the shading on your trees is not as complex as that on the hills or mountains - just a little line off the trunk. Maybe a very slight shade on the right side of the leaves could make them fit the rest of the symbols better?

Yes, you are right. Making several trees (icons) and getting them to look good together is hard... I am not sure if what I am doing this time will work. I guess I will let you all be the judge

The trees are still not as detailed as the mountains but adding some shading did help.

Some difference in the trees would definitly help. Have you tried to place them more sparsely?

The mountains are great though, looks like the classic copperplate engraving style of the 17th and 18th century. Maybe you should look towards these maps for some inspirations for the trees?

I did look at many 17th century maps and you are right that is where I found that mountain style... I went back and look at all of those maps again for trees and did not like much of what I found... most of the time there are little to no trees and most are spread way thin... i guess that was not that important back then... But it did make me realize that with this style less is more.

I really like the new trees. The only critique I would have about them is that the brush stroke you've used for them is pretty thick, so that when you combine them into forests the forests turn out really dark. If you used a thinner brush stroke for the trees this might help. Course, that would mean going back and redoing a bunch of work. So you have to decide for yourself how cost effective that would be.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

You have a good eye... I forgot to paste the layer style I was useing for the mountains on to the trees layer so they were still dark. it does not matter now as I did redo everything... but it ended up not being as much work as I thought. I mad a seamless texture of the tree icons 200 X 200 pix and then just cut that into the shapes for the forests... and cut some here are there from the inside too. Quite a time saver.


© C. M. Perry 2012

I hate to be a downer, but based on your previous statements, I don't know how well the trees will work. First, if he is drawing as he goes over time, you would have to almost certainly have to draw many many trees to account for uniqueness. On top of that since it appears he is doing this as he goes, he would likely be using different quills so slightly different line thicknesses as things fill in over months. Unless he is the super meticulous sort, he won't hand drawn several hundred trees when a general shape outline of the forest would let him keep track of the same information in a fraction of the time. Don't get me wrong, your last post is very pretty, but your second last likely is more like what an adventurer might do "in the field".


Just something to think about and perhaps ask the author more information about the character motives and patience level.

You are not a downer! You are correct that keeping in mind that before the great Photoshop when the pen was still mightier than the sward... it would have been a nightmare to do trees like that! I am still thinking about the Mass Forests vs. Tree Icons... no winner yet but for now I will stick to trying to make the icons work. I had not given that much thought to the number of quills a mapmaker would have used... but now that you say that... I also wonder if I should make more little mistakes, or should I say not correct some of the ones I already make to give the map a more "one try to get it right" look.

... I love your rivers. I think they're gorgeous. In the last post. One thing you should think about is painting over the coastline, so the river seems to flow into the Ocean.

Also, if I'm picking trees: I love the big fat pine trees.

I added some triangle trees just for you! Thanks for the tip on the river meets coastline... it looks much better now.

Here is the new test:

© C. M. Perry 2012

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to post and help me! The map is already moving in a better direction.

-RPGMM