Abred (Cad Goleor WIP)

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

Here is an attempt at a colored, realistic map of Abred, the world for my Cad Goleor Setting.

This is very much a work in progress. Here is both the draft, and the parchment version of the map, for reference.

Abred1.jpg Cad_Goleor6.jpg

I used GIMP, along with RobA's Artistic Regional Map Tutorial for the bulk of the map, supplemented with Arsheesh's Photo-Realistic Forest Tutorial, and kjdavies' mountains tutorial.

Seeing it in color, the forests look really sparse, so I think I will have to add some more, or make some of them bigger.

Not sure if there is a better way to do glaciers. Are there any tutorials on that? I haven't found any so far.

I also have some spots where I want to add in some bogs, but don't know how would be a good way to depict them. Right now the best idea I have is to just add in a bunch of little "mini-lakes" interspersed between trees in those areas. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Gidde]

Bogs on a photorealistic map are my bane. If you find a good way, I'd love to see it!

Looking good so far, the only thing I'd suggest is to add some texture to the grasslands. A bump map using a noise/clouds/etc. bump source would do wonders, I think.

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

The grasslands actually DO have that, but the scale of the bump map texture relative to the map isn't displaying well. So I may have to either re-do it or make it more intense so it shows.

[Gidde]

Yeah, sometimes all it takes is to duplicate the bumps layer.

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

The grass bumps still aren't very visible, so I will most likely have to try something else to give the plains texture. I fiddled with a few things, and added in some bogs, though, so there's some progress. And I have pretty much decided to scrap and redo the forests. I want to add more, and the ones that are there aren't looking quite how I'd like them to. I think I have gained some more proficiency in the technique involved, so they will look better the second time around.

Abred2.jpg

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

Ok, so check this out: The water is wavier, the forests are tree-ier, and I am trying to work my labels for towns, castles, and whatnot. While I like the icons I am using in this update, I don't think they fit with the style of the map. They are isometric, when everything else is top down, and lighting is on the wrong side.

I could go the more abstract route, and just use shapes to represent my towns and castles. A top down representational icon would be pretty cool, but I don't know if those even exist, and creating them myself would be pretty daunting.

Anyway, here is the map, latest iteration.
Abred3.jpg

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

Here it is with some labels and new icons for cities and whatnot. Tell me what you think. The glow in different colors is meant to show political groupings, but I am unsure if it looks good. I'd like some feedback.

I started by making one symbol for forts and otherwise "fortified" settlements, but I thought the icon was a bit to tall, so you can see a smaller one at Dun Gorm. I also edited the base icon to make a tower at Torcnoc. What do you think of this? Should there be just one icon? A short one and a tall one? Or should I keep all three?

Abred4.jpg

[Freodin]

The coloured glow for political identifications is a great idea... I like it.

The tower/fort icon though does not really work. First, it is a different perspective from all the other icons, second, it is to massive compared to the rest of the icons. My idea would be: change the regular settlement icons to a round shape, and use the rectangular shapes for fortified positions.

[Seraphine_Harmonium]

The coloured glow for political identifications is a great idea... I like it.

The tower/fort icon though does not really work. First, it is a different perspective from all the other icons, second, it is to massive compared to the rest of the icons. My idea would be: change the regular settlement icons to a round shape, and use the rectangular shapes for fortified positions.

So ditch the idea of a representational "castle" icon completely?

I changed it from the isometric symbol to the flat icon, because the perspective and shading on the isometric was all wrong. I guess the "four diamond" symbol would work for a fortified settlement. Ok. I might do that.

[Megahercio]

Hello Seraphine_Harmonium

I like this map. It have for me very good achievement. In special the mountain range and the first forest layer´.
Maybe, the forest colour is too strong and the river finish too suddenly. Maybe I said.

Regards