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Thread: W.I.P - The Known World

  1. #1

    Wip W.I.P - The Known World

    Hello,
    In the past week or so I have been quite bored, so I decided to give cartography with Adobe a try (especially after seeing some interesting tutorials). Consider that this is my very first map and that 99% of it was done using the mouse, so I am aware that there are some mistakes.

    Anyway, critique is more than appreciated.

    This map obviously is open ended (it's for an exploration campaign), but I haven't worked out the scale yet. I have been trying to replicate the "old map" feel to it, but I will probably have to scrap the yellow base.. or maybe not, I don't know.

    Oh, I used some brushes I got from here. I think they were from RPGmapmaker (thanks for those)? I probably used a couple of more from other people from this forum, so all the credit goes to you for those brushes.

    I made a couple myself, and I guess you can probably tell which ones


  2. #2
    Guild Member Tancread's Avatar
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    I like it. The blue rivers running into seas that are the same color of the land is a bit distracting but I am sure you will get to shading the seas. It is a very neat map, it reminds me more of an old established kingdom rather than a wild land to be explored, but that is just me.

  3. #3
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Love the font, very stylish and also very readable. The yellow background is fine, in my opinion.

    I agree with Tancread about the color of the coastline being the same as the rivers, it is rather distracting, you might want to change that.

    I am far from any kind of expert (especially with 'hand-drawn' maps), but you may want to vary the shape of your mountains some.

    For me the scroll underath the cities is a little overwhelming, but again that's just my opinion.

    Nice start, keep the updates coming.
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  4. #4

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    I don't know what is wrong but i see no links to any maps and no attachments either.

    Pat
    The truth detective
    www.patoumonde.com

  5. #5
    Guild Artisan landorl's Avatar
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    Is the blue rivers or is it borders? If it is rivers, then there are some major river infractions, but it sort of looks to me like they are borders rather than rivers.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrakis View Post
    I don't know what is wrong but i see no links to any maps and no attachments either.

    Pat
    It is a direct image link to photobucket. could be they are blocked for you...

    -Rob A>

  7. #7

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    Thanks for the feedback. The blue things are rivers (I know, they move around oddly, but hey, this is a WIP). For now I just traced them quickly to have also an idea of the borders. If worst come to worst, I can just make them black, call them borders, and then add rivers.

    The scrolls for the city names are maybe a bit distracting, but I don't know how else to fix it. I like the scrolls, but I will see how it looks without.

    About the mountains (and all the other similar brushes, like trees, hills, and whatnot) I want them to be quite similar with just a tiny bit of variation in size. Why? Well, just a quick glance to the backstory, this known world is based around a Dwarven Empire (the huge thing in the middle) and this map was the first map to be crudely printed with a machine. The dwarves will have access to some little bit of technology (in this world, they created the warforged), but it is far from perfect.

    I will work on it a bit more in the next week or so and post an update.

  8. #8
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Here's a few things that I might suggest, although this is a pretty good start, these are just some things to mull over. Make your rivers black, if they don't look like real rivers it doesn't matter if they're black, they will tend to blend in if black. With black rivers ya gotta make your borders thicker. As for the scrolls for the town names, dump the brown coloring and dump the curly bits...just make them flat slabs. They tend to dominate the picture.

    My 2 cents
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  9. #9

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    To be honest, the rivers were mostly made blue as an afterthought (that's how I always made them when hand drawing), so I can just scratch the layer. I will work on the borders then. I like the scroll, but you may be right about the curly bits, so I will check.
    I am going to work on it probably between today and tomorrow and I may even get my hands on a tablet. Huzzah!

  10. #10

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    Here you go. I made the rivers borders (since it works better, you people were right) and I changed the scrolls with the city names.

    I will work on it a bit more and make the mountains and hills a bit more varied.

    Suggestions for rivers and lakes?

    (I attached the WIP since some people couldn't see the photobucket image)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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