Map of the Twin Kingdoms of Aran and Ilan - Handdrawn

[flocko]

Good stuff! I just wanted to say I appreciate the way the borders color the sides of the mountain ranges.

[Caenwyr]

Hi all!

I'm back from a short holiday trip, alive, kicking and what's more important: with another update of the map. I managed to do the following:

• write and insert the necessary text bits (demography, history, ...);
• add another minimap (upper right corner), showing the distribution of the clans and alliances;
• redraw the shields so they better fit the style of the map. Yes, the somewhat shaky lines are on purpose!
• tons of tiny tweaks and corrections.

Still to be added:

• list of important places in my novel;
• sea, ocean and lake names (the latter probably with a lookup list);
• mountain names (hate it hate it hate it).

I don't know about you guys, but I kinda feel this map is nearing completion. That would be my first actually finished map! Yee-haw! Of course, this all depends on your comments, so please fire away.

[Carbus]

Hey ther Caenwyr! Great map, very complete with the mini maps, regions, shield and etc! I specially love the landmass, the isles and everything are all well draw. Since I`m a graphic designer I`ll give some layout tips for this maps, something that you can apply for your next maps!

1. The space between the shields, texts and the borders is too narrow, this creates a claustrophobic feel to the text! Make the space between the text and borders wider in order to get a nicer feel to the map!
2. I think its mentioned before that some elements of the map seems blury, like you raised their size inside the software you using. It detracts a bit from the overall nice feeling of the map.
3. The color of the stroke of the rivers are different from the coasts and lakes! IMHO the color of the rivers are more natural than the black stroke of the coast and lakes.
4. I see that you are using the same font for almost everything! For labelling this font works well, but when used on great blocks of text it gets repetitive! Consider changing the font from the left box (with the shields and text), one that is more pleasant to read!
5. I might be wrong, but I think you resized the texture to fit the whole map, right? That makes the texture blurry, try to get a different texture, or depending on the software you use, replicate the textures so that they are not stretched!

Sorry If I said too much! I think the map is awesome, it justs needs some tweeks to be perfect!

[Caenwyr]

Thanks for your comments, Carbus! They helped me along quite a bit! I tackled points 1 and 3 (see map below). With regards to your other points:

2. I think its mentioned before that some elements of the map seems blury, like you raised their size inside the software you using. It detracts a bit from the overall nice feeling of the map.

Strange that you'd say that. While some elements are indeed blurry on purpose (faded borders etc), I can't think of any other elements that come across as blurry to me. Could you give some examples?

4. I see that you are using the same font for almost everything! For labelling this font works well, but when used on great blocks of text it gets repetitive! Consider changing the font from the left box (with the shields and text), one that is more pleasant to read!

Another font? I thought the two I use are already driving people crazy . Any suggestions which one I could use? I want to keep it oldschool, like a nice serif etc.

5. I might be wrong, but I think you resized the texture to fit the whole map, right? That makes the texture blurry, try to get a different texture, or depending on the software you use, replicate the textures so that they are not stretched!

Well, no, they're not stretched at all actually! When I decided to add the left sidebar (or whatever it's called), I carefully copied a part of the texture I already had, exactly so I wouldn't have to size it up. Funny the effect is ultimately the same, I could have spared the trouble .

All in all, thanks for your feedback, Carbus!








Below is a fairly small update, where I addressed Carbus' points 1 (by downsizing the shields) and 3 (changed the color of the coastline stroke) and also added a list of notable locations (fairly small now, will grow as I reread the novel) and the names of the seas with their English translations. Still to do: mountain and river labels.

[- Max -]

I agree with Carbus that the background texture looks a bit poor quality and cheesy.

[Caenwyr]

Okay, so here's the map with another parchment texture, which I shamelessly stole from Schwartzkreuz's Wretched Realms map (don't worry, it's free for use). I'm not very fond of using stuff that I didn't create myself, but hey, I didn't make the fonts either, did I? However, if I have some spare time, I might decide to redo the parchment texture, 'cause I'm a purist. Oh well, maybe when I have truckloads of time. You know how it goes.



So tell me: is this a bit better?

[Carbus]

Glad I could help with something!
Now answering you back.
2. I think the roads are the ones that need rework, the way they are now doen'st quite match the quality of the map, they are blurry and sometimes even squared!
4. You have to search for some yourself, I would go with a sans serif, but since its my taste, follow your hearth! I would go with a Dominion, Caslon, etc.
5. I think the texture are better now, don't worry about "stealing", when I began mapping I had the same concern as you, trying to do everything by myself. Altough it's rewarding, sometimes a nice free vector, texture, font and stuff can turn an apparently boring map into something real nice! The thing is to work with the tools and what you got and can get!

This week I read a great quote from a map the resumes everything about art.
"Originality is undetected plagiarism." - William Ralph Inge

Keep up the good work!

[Lingon]

yeah, that parchment is better It makes the whole map feel more… mature… or something. The heraldry is really good too!
But I have to ask, where did that cool homebrew script go? I didn't have time to comment when I saw it, and now I can't find it… Did you remove it or did I dream?

[Caenwyr]

Homebrew Script? Here? Are you sure you... Naah, I'm kidding . I did I deed remove it. After I finished that post I thought I shouldn't distract my loyal commenters with things that won't make it to the final version of this map anyway... but secretly (shh, don't tell!) I'm still working on it, so I just might post an on that update in the future. Mysterious, right?

[Caenwyr]

OK guys, how about these roads? Did them way finer than previously, and without the blur.