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Thread: Edaerna

  1. #1
    Guild Expert Wingshaw's Avatar
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    Default Edaerna

    Howdy folks.

    I don't know whether this map should be placed in the Finished Maps section or here in the WIPs. It is a map of the continent of Edaerna, in my world Khethon, which I had been working on for nearly a decade. The project has been abandoned for several years now, but I might get back to it one day (hence my uncertainty about which forum to post in). This is, in my opinion, one of the best maps I've ever made (it was certainly the most time consuming)--drawing each of the furry caterpillar mountain ranges by hand took weeks.

    The labels as you can see, are very patchy, but I did them today, and I had forgotten most of the placenames I had come up with.

    Anyway, I'm posting this here to get peoples' opinions, comments and suggestions (and also see if people think I should persist with this map/world). So, what do people think?

    THW
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    Formerly TheHoarseWhisperer

  2. #2
    Guild Artisan madcowchef's Avatar
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    Beautiful map. Some projects are gripping enough that we keep coming back to them, other ones we are loath to drop just because we've already invested so much time in them. I can't tell you which sort this is, but either way looking at this map I suspect you've learned a lot in the process and it bore some lovely fruit. I don't think k anyone can look at those mountains and not be tempted to give the style a try for themselves.

  3. #3
    Guild Expert Guild Supporter Lingon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheHoarseWhisperer View Post
    (…) This is, in my opinion, one of the best maps I've ever made (…)
    Agreed It's fantastic. The mountains are amazing. I'm usually not a fan of caterpillars, but for some reason, I love these. As MCC says, it's very tempting to try the style. And I have to say, I'm impressed by the hand-drawn graticule; that is NOT easy!

    Like yourself, I think the labeling needs more work. It feels too digital to me. How would it look if you just removed the dark glow and changed the text color to a dark grey? Maybe add a small noisy blur as well, to make it fit with the pencil lines better. I would add that to the city dots as well, and shrink them and lower their opacity, so they are not so strong against the softer original drawing. And lastly, am I correct that the paper is a texture you added digitally? If so, I think one that doesn't have the orange blobs would be better, they are a bit distracting in the otherwise monochrome drawing. I like that the paper is mainly grey though, rather than yellow-ish. Grey is underrated

  4. #4
    Guild Artisan Freodin's Avatar
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    You open the file, see the coastlines and the rivers and the cartouche and the, oh my! the mountains, and it is all so awesomely amazingly gorgeously grandiose!

    And yeah, the labels could use a little more work. As could the settlement "icons".

    Do it! And if it takes another few weeks! This map really deserves it!
    Last edited by Freodin; 03-23-2014 at 06:47 AM.

  5. #5

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    Excellent map and gorgeous mountains! I'm not convinced with the labels, the "dropped shadow" is not fitting with the rest of the map, or is too strong imho.

  6. #6
    Guild Expert Wingshaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by madcowchef View Post
    Beautiful map. Some projects are gripping enough that we keep coming back to them, other ones we are loath to drop just because we've already invested so much time in them. I can't tell you which sort this is, but either way looking at this map I suspect you've learned a lot in the process and it bore some lovely fruit. I don't think k anyone can look at those mountains and not be tempted to give the style a try for themselves.
    Thanks MCC. You are absolutely right about how some projects never really end.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lingon View Post
    Agreed It's fantastic. The mountains are amazing. I'm usually not a fan of caterpillars, but for some reason, I love these. As MCC says, it's very tempting to try the style. And I have to say, I'm impressed by the hand-drawn graticule; that is NOT easy!

    Like yourself, I think the labeling needs more work. It feels too digital to me. How would it look if you just removed the dark glow and changed the text color to a dark grey? Maybe add a small noisy blur as well, to make it fit with the pencil lines better. I would add that to the city dots as well, and shrink them and lower their opacity, so they are not so strong against the softer original drawing. And lastly, am I correct that the paper is a texture you added digitally? If so, I think one that doesn't have the orange blobs would be better, they are a bit distracting in the otherwise monochrome drawing. I like that the paper is mainly grey though, rather than yellow-ish. Grey is underrated
    Thanks Lingon. I made the map before I had ever heard of Photoshop. Nowadays, I would definitely not try and too graticules by hand. Regarding the text, I'll try what you suggested, but I did have it as a semi-opaque black previously, and I thought the text just became too hard to see. In terms of texture, I did add one (with the blobs) but the grey is from the original paper drawing, which had aged over the years of neglect.

    Quote Originally Posted by Freodin View Post
    You open the file, see the coastlines and the rivers and the cartouche and the, oh my! the mountains, and it is all so awesomely amazingly gorgeously grandiose!

    And yeah, the labels could use a little more work. As could the settlement "icons".

    Do it! And if it takes another few weeks! This map really deserves it!
    Thanks Freodin. The labels and city icons appear to be the main problems, then.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ilanthar View Post
    Excellent map and gorgeous mountains! I'm not convinced with the labels, the "dropped shadow" is not fitting with the rest of the map, or is too strong imho.
    Thanks Ilanthar. Another vote for redoing the labels, it seems.


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  7. #7
    Guild Adept Slylok's Avatar
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    It looks great as it is, but it doesn't have a finished feel to it for me. I say keep refining it and add some color. A nice water color look would be great! just my opinion of course.
    Our sense of the stability of the earth is an illusion due to the shortness of our lives.
    - Neil deGrasse Tyson


  8. #8
    Guild Adept Facebook Connected Llannagh's Avatar
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    Man, that's just awesome!

    I was trying that mountainstyle myself for one of my projects, but it drove me nuts after 15 minutes so I dropped it. I guess the biggest problem is getting all those single caterpillar lines equidistant so it doesn't look crappy. That's what I couldn't get the hang of. So just for that I'll rep you if I can! Keep going with it, that's definitely a nice map!

  9. #9
    Guild Expert Wingshaw's Avatar
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    Slylok: colour? really? I'll give it a try, but my guess is the desaturated look is one of its strengths. Thanks for the suggestion, though. And yes, I would definitely agree that it looks unfinished.

    Llannagh: thanks for the praise (and the rep), but I have to disagree with you about what the 'biggest problem' is. I think if you look closely at any one of my mountain ranges above, you'll see that the caterpillar lines are not equidistant, or particularly straight or thin. The big problem is maintaining the motivation to keep making those mountains. If I've learned anything at the CG, it is that a single map element rarely looks good; that same element on a map filled with detail looks fantastic.

    THW


    Formerly TheHoarseWhisperer

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