Adapting an 1848 pictorial map of Europe

[ravells]

Hi colin, the font choice looks good but you may need to distress it a bit. At the moment, it looks too much like the map has been drawn by hand and the text is computer generated.

Try this:
Using your graphic editing software make the map very faint and print it out on normal photocopying grade paper.
Use a black ink pen to trace over the text by hand. The text should bleed a bit into the paper.
Scan the result and superimpose it using a multiply blend layer on top of a version of the map without the labels.

Obviously run some tests with just a few labels before committing the time to doing the whole lot!

Sometimes the best way to get a 'hand drawn' look is to actually hand draw things!

[colin smith]

Thanks Ravells.

I agree, the text is a little too perfect compared to the image, especially at 100%. I'm trying to avoid hand-drawing as my handwriting is crap - odd that for a writer! - but, I can remove the image and do some distressing to the text as a separate operation. Bottom line is, it has to be legible at A4 size as that is roughly a double page spread in a novel. One way round it might be to reduce the map size so that 100% isn't much more than what would appear in print. That way the text just doesn't get big enough for the quality difference to really show. Another solution might be to have different versions of the map, one for paper and one for the screen, with the version for the screen having a higher degree of distressing.

But, on the positive side, you haven't commented on my additions to the map so i assume they work reasonably well and don't look 'helicoptered' in to the image.

Many thanks for feedback.
Colin.