Vathica City Map

[Ian]

Hi there! I'm mostly a lurker, but I wanted to submit this and get some constructive criticism on it.



Some things I'm wondering about:

Colors: Should they be bolder? More subtle? Should I have some outside the main city and water areas?

The "Burned" effect of the ink lines: Should I remove it and just have nice clean black lines? Is it too much? Should I do it more?

The Red for the corners and the title: Is it too much? distracting?

The title itself (it's just strokes, should I put in an actual font?)

The legend areas. The locations A-J one specifically looks odd to me. Any thoughts on optimizing it? Should I omit the "grey" area and lines around it?

The letters on the actual city: Are they too intrusive? Are they easy enough to spot? Should the "B" be put in a box, or is it okay because of the empty space around it?

The Map style: The pretense is that this is a kind of steampunk world. People from all cultures mingle a bit on this island, so I was attempting to kind of fuse more standard city map styles with faux-Japanese style. I don't know if I did well. I'm not a very good artist, so I had to go for a more minimalist look for the mountains/trees/villages. Are there any sections that look out of place?

The Castle thingie in the center: I honestly had no real idea what I was doing, but I was trying to rationalize that the map maker hadn't actually been in that district, so he was speculating with more of an image. Should I take out the castle and just put in a few standard boxes and things so it goes with the rest of the map?

The docks/ those horizontal black lines in the river that leads into the sea at the bottom: Do they fit the style? Do they look a bit like docks?

Background of the map: It's a city map of "Vathica." The city is built in a caldera and the populace mine the geothermal heat to produce steam and mechanical energy, which they shift throughout the city as localized public utilities (steamworks/gearworks). They have 2 'steamroads' (railroads based on the atmospheric railway concept) which loop around the full outside (used for mostly cargo transport) and the richer inside districts (used for public transportation). The caldera itself rotates slowly with time, thus the 2 norths are there to keep with mapping tradition (the first north) and to signify real north (the second north).

[Domino44]

This map is fantastic! I really love the style, color, and feel for this whole map.

After you mentioned it I do think a little of color would work well outside of the city, I really like the red in the corners and the title. The left legend does look a bit odd I think it would look better if you made it thinner and longer and use two lines for the legend when you need to. I think you should have a box around the B in the city. The map didn't read all that steampunk to me but I still really love the style! I love the castle. I am not a big fan of how the rivers look and maybe that's because of the docks it might be because the changes in the thickness going up the river.

I really like this map and if you decide you keep it just the way it is, I will still be happy.

[Ian]

Thanks Domino44!

As far as color goes, I've considered doing more farmland outside the circle of the city (the kind of multi-colored green boxes in the lower right section of the city). Do you think a kind of watercolor in the mountains/trees area would help? Should I color the trees themselves? I've restricted color so far so that it only goes in areas which are fully bounded by black.

Thanks for the legend advise - I'll try making it thinner and longer and play around with it. I might need to shrink the text a bit. I think it's just too big. I'll put a box around the "B".

Do the other rivers seem okay? As far as the docs go, I might play with line thicknesses and depth. I might make the river thicken slightly as it comes to the sea, but then have the docs extend into it, rather than have them run away from it.

Thanks again for the help!

Edit: Oh, and I was just providing the steampunk/background stuff for some design information (why some buildings look strange, why there are mountains near the coast, why the train tracks look a certain way, some of my color choices.) I don't expect any of that to actually come through from the map.

[Domino44]

I think you should just play around with a few things, see what you like. Your choices so far have been great!

[jbgibson]

t's pretty! The palette's great, the layout intriguing. Nothing wrong with the sketchy/ stroked symbols, nor with the crisp city blocks and farm plots... but next to each other they clash a bit. Think about your in-character cartographer who drew this... is there a reason why he would use different styles for the two categories of features? I wonder if it would be possible to stroke all those building outlines, the rail lines, etc. with a less regular line? A careful slight drop shadow might could simulate the angled thin-thick pen nib of the countryside symbols.

Don't assume the mismatch is bad. It could be part of your story... Maybe there are literally two different mappers represented. But make it an intentional choice, since the viewer is likely to wonder why, or subconsciously be a little ill at ease.

I can't decide if roofs, conifers, and mountains having the same Lambda shape is good or bad ... but I definitely notice the echo. They definitely call to mind an oriental vibe; I assume you wanted to and are successful.

Not sure about the central castle as a drawing. I'd say box the B just so all match. The docks come across clearly. The smoothly curved rivers are a teensy bit implausible - as sketched/ loose style they're fine -- but right next to the precise city layout, I find my inner geographer complaining - are they REALLY so evenly swoopy, or should there be curves of different scale and occasional roughness?

Anyway - even with my questions, it's a great start, and you're working up an intriguing style, if you can make it all work together.