That is freakin' fantastic. Everything is laid out so nicely and logically and clearly; text is readable and looks good, the detail work on the planets is gorgeous, and those banners just add a great touch.
My only nitpick (and it's a minor one) is that the background seems kind of... bleh. It looks pixellated and I don't care for the fade-out in color from right to left. But as I said, that's a pretty minor complaint. Have some rep!
I'm not usually fond of sci-fi map like this but it's very well done and pleasant to read. Nice job! My only critic would be the light reflect effect on the planets on the bottom frame, that give them a bit of a bowling ball look :p
Thanks a lot guys ! This one took me a long while...
@ Diamond : are you talking of the background in the middle or in the borders? The borders don't seems pixellated to me.
@ - Max - : the "bowling ball look" was kinda what I wanted. In fact, I wanted something close to the "marble" planets I have already seen on the net.
ah ok so that works pretty well :p)
I would manually adjust the letter spacing at some of the planet names - the kerning of the font is bad, regarding some of the letters ...
Other then that - really nice map ...
If you're using Photoshop, the kerning can be adjusted by placing the Text tool cursor in front of the letter you want to move and using alt-arrow keys to adjust the space.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
I'm working on PSP7 which doesn't have this kind of possibilities (sadly).
Otherwise, I would have used it gladly. Now you have pointed it Eric, those gaps between some letters disturbs me a little bit...
That is way cool! I'm a fantasy mapper so to see cartography in outter space? So cool! Well done.
@Ilanthar: I mean the starfield you're using for your main background; it just seems too grainy when compared to the rest of the awesomeness, but not to the point of making me hate it.