Map of The Eastern Kingdoms

[dmk]

Map I used in the final paperback and kindle editions of my fantasy series The Chronicles of the Dark Sword. It was hand drawn in pencil with paint shop pro used for lettering. After seeing the other works here I may be updating it. I've also included an ad banner that was done using the map as background.

[Domino44]

Welcome to the Guild! I love your map, the mountains are cool, your landmass shape is nice, and the forest are done well. I don't like what you added in paint shop, it doesn't fit with the style of the rest of your map.

[jbgibson]

Nice work - you've got no reason to feel intimidated by other CG work. The mountains and hills are particularly nice. I agree the crisp typeset lettering is a mismatch with the softer handdrawn landforms, but for small-format publication you want clarity above all, so maybe it's an okay compromise. If you still have it in layer form, you could try very slightly irregular fonts, and/or drop their opacity or blackness slightly.

Inkscape is another free drawing package, and does text-along-curve without a huge learning curve. You might see if a bit of curvature makes the labeling look less typeset/mechanical.

Welcome to the Guild, and thank you for jumping right in with nice content - that'd be worth rep even if the map weren't as nice as it honestly is.

[dmk]

Thank you for the compliments and advice. I did go for clarity with the lettering, one limitation of paperback size formats. After drawing the map for the books I became hooked on sketching them. I'm constantly doodling on one when I have free time.

[Lingon]

Awesome work, I love those mountains! I think the map is harmed by being shown this large, though. If it was drawn for paperback, showing it at poster size makes it look messy, when it's actually a really beautiful job for the paperback size. If that makes sense