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Thread: Critique and advice please!

  1. #11
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    thanks for getting into it, the main reason i posted it was to get a feeling for whether people would accept the set up - i have questioned certain things about it a lot myself, but that's a common thing and why second opinions are so important!

    the fjord-like areas were originally supposed to show where rising sea levels had the least impact or drowned out river valleys, i was toying with the idea of these areas having land bridges subject to tides but pretty soon felt that going into that might be more complicated than just simply stating it - and given the analytical power of some people out there (those who attempted to work out how westeros' seasons were related to how it orbited its sun for example) i thought some would be able to figure out how tides would be different at different times and different locations and pretty much pull it apart and debunk it! at the moment they are simply "shallower areas" that "may be" subject to tides!

    i'm still kind of in practice mode with this map, it is the first attempt to visualise a land that has only ever existed in written form until now and may change quite a bit if i start over!

    i have an aquifer in the middle of the southern-middle landmass, it's supposed to be a kind of garden expanse sandwiched between dry, grassy land north of it and encroaching desert south!

  2. #12

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    I think the fjord-like structures work when the backstory is taken into consideration. They'll erode away quite rapidly now that they're subject to tides, but in the short-term they make sense to me.

    Speaking of that aquifer, I wonder how it will be affected by a sudden inrush of seawater? Obviously the freshwater will lay over the top of the salt, so after the seas begin to rise, it's entirely possible that the wells will start to overflow. Areas that were once semi-arid might suddenly become fruitful when the water table is temporarily supercharged by the saltwater being injected to the lowest levels. A bit like an oil well—pump water into the oil sands, and the lighter petroleum will be pushed upward.

    I have no idea what the long-term effects of saltwater in an aquifer would be. For that matter, this entire post is purely speculative. I have no particular expertise in geology. But maybe it gives a place to start asking questions of people who do know something about it.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
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  3. #13
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    Uh oh! now we're talking! how rapidly is quite rapidly? because we're talking roughly 2000+ years ago that the sea rose!! the first settlers don't know that the land was ever once one (maybe two) chunk(s)!

    maybe flooded aquifers could also be used to help explain some areas of land loss(?)
    Last edited by Timo; 08-12-2013 at 05:55 PM.

  4. #14

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    Ah... Yeah, I'd think 2000 years would be ample time for the rough coasts to erode to something more closely resembling the kinds of coast we're used to seeing and turning a lot of those peninsulas into archipelagos.

    I suppose if you're talking about a lot of rocky canyons, that time scale could work. I'm not really sure how long it would take for the ocean to break up something like the Colorado River basin, which is the sort of canyon I have in my mind: File:Lake Powell - Arizona.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  5. #15
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    Nice! that was the kind of terrain i had come to envision for the south of the middle island, but you got me thinking of erosion and i'm contemplating filling in the fjord-y bits somewhat when i get time!

    i also find myself second guessing a lot of what i have done so far...so maybe a tabula rasa moment is immanent!

    the story behind the map takes place over nine islands - there are more scattered around, but nine main ones which are singled out as kingdoms for religious resonance (the number nine is quite important and ten is bad!) In my mind i had always envisioned a collection of islands each roughly the size of the UK or slightly larger with an obvious "main" island and a chain of smaller islands that are just left wild and full of fugitives! this seemed fine to me! now though the sheer scale and distance seems a bit of a reach...i dunno, i'm slightly boggled and tired!

  6. #16
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    So i decreased some of the fjords slightly, except for the ones in the south - it'll be fine! and started plotting my locations!

    My place, region and island names are constantly changing (thank god word has a find and replace feature!) the island names have a caveat in that the names must also be applicable to ruling powers, so "the something isle" also goes into things like "the something king" and "the king of the something"!

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    i think there might be something to be said about my labelling, it gets quite tricky especially when there are many close together

    "Court Vestige" - HATE this name, i can't describe how much! the place has given me nothing but trouble since its birth! it was essentially established by the eastern invaders, once they took the east isle they went straight to the heart of things, built a fort and from there tore through everything else and it became their seat of power. It was later seized at the end of a (very) long and bloody rebellion and then became the centre of a maturing religion (think Rome, vatican, throne of st peter's), but was seized once more at the end of another rebellion after religious naughtiness occured and the centre of religion was moved back to First Resting (where it's argued it should've always been anyway) and it passed into the hands of a normal everyday king. The place is prone to metaphores of liberty, gain and victory (it briefly had the current times name of Third Victory but i kind of realised that going with this tradition by the end of the story it would called Fifth Victory and i can't keep chaning the gagnabbin name!!!) as well as names with a ring of oldness, overlordy historical-ness!

    another hinderence is the naming of a smaller city that has sprung up at the end of a bridge that crosses the river that i'm hoping to name after the capitol!

    i am open to suggestions, or maybe even just a list of words i may not have considered yet!

  7. #17
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    been playing with textures and layer styles, trying to get to a point where i can predict what colours will be affected by which layer styles!

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    someone had a nosebleed on it, just can't get the generals these days!

    I'm hoping to create some "themed" renditions, kind of like posters that will reflect war and strife and kind of just angry lands!

  8. #18
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    The blood is a bit much, and the land, or at least the coastlines, could be a bit darker perhaps, but... I like it. And I like your choice of label names.
    Kaitlin Gray - Art, Maps, Etc | Patreon | Instagram

  9. #19
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    I tried to make the stroke on the land stronger but for some reason it just wouldn't work, i duplicated the layer set it the stroke to multiply and all that, duplicated and duplicated, checked the opacity, nothing seemed to make it stand out! i didn't understand what was going on!!

  10. #20

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    Hey - I really like the shapes you drew - very evocative. Can I ask, was it all by hand/by eye, or was there some detail that was automatically generated somehow? The very many tiny specks of land in the north west look like a lot of trouble! I find the hint of 3D effect on all the coastlines very good - how is the bevelling done? And could you post a small portion of a coastline at full size/full quality?
    One comment, I'm not sure it's still in the most recent version (I'm looking at "56995d1376853759-critique-advice-please-5text.jpg"), but there is a small island that has been cut and pasted and appears identically in two locations. I noticed it because it looks like a little man waving... it appears once to the south east of the Narrow Gate, and again south west of the Rift Waters.
    Oh one other thing - at the mouths of rivers I'm pretty sure you should erase the dark line that is part of the coast line, crossing the mouth of the river. For example the two rivers that meet the sea at the inlets north of "The Rift Waters".
    I enjoyed this map!

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