Infis - World Map! First of many!

[TK.]

Hello, everyone!

I first started a thread here http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29335 , looking for some guidance and tips, since I never even opened a raster before.

After some hammering with GIMP and with the feedback given, I decided to do a completely new run from scratch and came up with a somewhat presentable version.

I'd like further comments and feeback so I can improve my technique, so if you good ladies and gentleman could take a bit of your time, I'd be amazed!

Some info:

++ The World >>> Infis, a high fantasy scenario world, created by myself and still on continued iteration. There're some main fantastic races besides humans.
While It follow most of our "nature rules", I decided to tilt it a bit, transfering what would be the cold polar regions to northwest-ish, the area that diagonally cross the "Frozen Barrens" continent.
The Sea area is extremely hazardous and dangerous, since due to the clash of 2 Gods, they made the Sea become a vortex of pure primordial energy, so navigation straying from the coast is almost suicide, even with the help of magic.
The forest in the northen area of the south continent, Gadash, called "Prunus Forest" has such color in the map due to its very singular color in the world. Its comprised entirely of sakura-type trees.

++ Map changes >>> You'll notice from the other thread to the map I'm posting here, there're some changes in the coasts, names of cities and placement and that's due to the fact that I was still deciding things around at the time, but this version should be the currently correct representation.

++ Readability >>> Since feedback was that it was hard to read and understand stuff on my first try, I tried to improve it with many steps:
- Switched font
- Diminished Blur/Grain effects
- Kept consistency of size/font for cities
- Better Opacity ratio to make the whole map less "tense"

++ Map Ojects >>> I also thought my map was too dark all around, so this time I tried making it clearer using a lighter opacity and effects and dished my attempts to make "aging effects" in the paper for a later time when my skills can deliver.
I also did a lot more of shading "by hand" this time, trying to fine-tune it a tad. Also tried putting trees behind the volcano, lol

++ Color >>> Tried to maintain all the colors in harmony and better use effects like "Hard Light", so everything was balanced.

Anyway, I'm excited to get better and hopefully someday I can get close to some masterpieces I've seen here!

So, for easy of comparison, here is my first try that I post in the other thread:




Here's a texturized, uncolored-continent version that I like because it's...charming




And here's the currently colored version:



Thanks!

[Carl Taylor]

I like it, especially the archipelago in the middle. What's the scale of the map? Global? Continental? Large Country? Medium Country? Small Country?

[- Max -]

For the sake of legibility, I would avoid too fancy fonts like the celtic one, transparency on fonts and bad curves. Use path tool to make smoother curves rather than using the curved text effects of your software. ABout the smaller labels, since you have room for that I would increase size a bit and add some light outer glow to make them more legible aswell.

[Wingshaw]

These pics are improvements over the original, TK.

For the latest images:
--I disagree with Max about the Celtic font; I prefer it to the original. I agree with him about text transparency and curves, though.
--I think Max is also right about the smallest labels. I know I was the one who originally said your labels were a bit too big, but I guess this goes to show that making a map is about constantly try, check, adjust, repeat.
--one thing I have noticed now is that the label for the Cupolla Mountains actually seems to be bigger than the mountains themselves.
--the light colouring you have under trees, swamps, and mountains is much better with the new paper texture. Visible, but subtle. I would advise just blurring the edges of each of those colour layers, though. Especially around the Caboolture Swamp, the edges of the grey and green are quite obvious.
--the additional trees scattered around the northern continent are a big improvement. I think you could add some to the southern continent, also, and, since Cootamundra is meant to be wild, you could also increase the number of trees even more.
--again, this might have occurred because of what I said previously, but I think Pepego Mountain is maybe a bit too small, now. It disappears rather easily. You could make it bigger, and/or, if it is meant to be a volcano, add a red colouring around the rim.
--compass rose still looks too crisp for the style of the map.
--the island just north of Blueport: is it deliberately meant to resemble an atoll?
--and, speaking of islands: a common mistake is to make islands in an archipelago very constant in size, and the channels between islands very constant in width. Look at some real archipelagoes (Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Caribbean, Pacific Islands are good example) and you'll see that islands range from tiny dots, to large landmasses, and they often appear to form lines (underwater mountain ranges) or similar forms, based on geological processes.
--icon sizes are much better, now. Don't forget to add the Legend.

Anyway, the latest pictures are huge improvements on what you had before. Keep it up.

THW

[TK.]

For the sake of legibility, I would avoid too fancy fonts like the celtic one, transparency on fonts and bad curves. Use path tool to make smoother curves rather than using the curved text effects of your software. ABout the smaller labels, since you have room for that I would increase size a bit and add some light outer glow to make them more legible aswell.

Hello there, Max! I've seen some of your work and I like it a lot, specially your color compositions!

I'm kinda struggling with fonts and labeling overall, it seems. I don't like using "plain" fonts but every font I like gets in the way of readability and normally "brakes" when I need to curve them around :-/

I used Path Tool for the labels in my map and tried following Ed. Imhof (read a bit of his book about labeling to try to get some more knowledge) convention to labels.

I'll tinker a bit more with GIMP and see if I can grab a photshop version to start using that as well, since it seems to produce better results even with less talented users like me ^_^

These pics are improvements over the original, TK.

For the latest images:
--I disagree with Max about the Celtic font; I prefer it to the original. I agree with him about text transparency and curves, though.
--I think Max is also right about the smallest labels. I know I was the one who originally said your labels were a bit too big, but I guess this goes to show that making a map is about constantly try, check, adjust, repeat.
--one thing I have noticed now is that the label for the Cupolla Mountains actually seems to be bigger than the mountains themselves.
--the light colouring you have under trees, swamps, and mountains is much better with the new paper texture. Visible, but subtle. I would advise just blurring the edges of each of those colour layers, though. Especially around the Caboolture Swamp, the edges of the grey and green are quite obvious.
--the additional trees scattered around the northern continent are a big improvement. I think you could add some to the southern continent, also, and, since Cootamundra is meant to be wild, you could also increase the number of trees even more.
--again, this might have occurred because of what I said previously, but I think Pepego Mountain is maybe a bit too small, now. It disappears rather easily. You could make it bigger, and/or, if it is meant to be a volcano, add a red colouring around the rim.
--compass rose still looks too crisp for the style of the map.
--the island just north of Blueport: is it deliberately meant to resemble an atoll?
--and, speaking of islands: a common mistake is to make islands in an archipelago very constant in size, and the channels between islands very constant in width. Look at some real archipelagoes (Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Caribbean, Pacific Islands are good example) and you'll see that islands range from tiny dots, to large landmasses, and they often appear to form lines (underwater mountain ranges) or similar forms, based on geological processes.
--icon sizes are much better, now. Don't forget to add the Legend.

Anyway, the latest pictures are huge improvements on what you had before. Keep it up.

THW

Well, the font is a dilema, really...I don't like too plain fonts but I also think too curvy gets in the way of understanding and reading... sigh

Do you guys have some "go-to" fonts that you normally use that are not really too common but also don't brake when shaped around?

About the "Cupolla Mountains" I did want it to be readable easily and thus why it went in so big...I guess It's almost not showing the mountains at all, eh?

About the coloring...I did the coloring and than applied "Hard Light" which was what made it cut so abruptly like that, but it also provided the subtle feeling which I also like a lot....I assume applying a Blue before turning the Layer Mode to "Hard Light" could correct that?

Trees - I was concerned it could get too saturated if I kept adding more and more, but I also had the feeling it's still 2 shallow to represent a deep, thick, unscathed forest like Cootamundra is...I'll try adding some more until I don't see as much ground as it's currently shown... trying to strike the balance between "Oh, what a deep, dense forest there's up there" and "Gosh, did you throw a bucket of paint in this spot and allowed it to dry?!" will be the deal there...

Adding color to the volcano...how would I go about that? Ink Tool and manually doing it? Sorry, I'm such a noob with GIMP/Photoshop, I might be asking some stupid stuff :-/

Compass Rose - I'll admit...I was lazy with it. I did all the map and forgot I had to add a Compass, Legend, Scale and basically already merged all the layers by the point I remember about them, so I simply tweaked it a bit and applied the Layer Mode to it, so it didn't catch the texture, blur, "ink bleed effect" and all that jazz I used for the map... I have previous saves I did with different names to preserve the stages with unmerged layers...how would I do to get back there, put it the compass, legend, scale and title, apply effects again and then simply copy those specific layers and apply to the finished map? Or do I have to do it all over again from the early steps?

Island N of Blueport - Yes, glad it looked like that to you! It's supposed to be a coral atoll.

Islands - Yeah, my first sketch had islands more distinct in size, but when I started working on the map, I decided to leave the really small ones out, simply due to representation on map. The history background on "Titan's Berth" is that it was part of the south continent, Gadash, but was hazed down due to the fight of 2 god entities of the world, Dy'azztrazz and Haqam. After their match, the place consisted of almost infinite islands of greatly variable size, climate and terrain, since the area was transformed into a magical chaos nexus.
You can go from a tropical volcanic australia sized island to a less than kilometer arctic island, in a "straight" line. Navigation with instruments is almost impossible, due to the magical chatotic static in the area...

Thanks for the feedback, once again and sorry for the long time to reply. Not much free time lately!

[- Max -]

Hello there, Max! I've seen some of your work and I like it a lot, specially your color compositions!

I'm kinda struggling with fonts and labeling overall, it seems. I don't like using "plain" fonts but every font I like gets in the way of readability and normally "brakes" when I need to curve them around :-/

I used Path Tool for the labels in my map and tried following Ed. Imhof (read a bit of his book about labeling to try to get some more knowledge) convention to labels.

Hence I told that I would avoid too fancy fonts They usually don't work good with curves. You should also use simple curves and avoid S shapes curves, unless terrains force you to do that; Otherwise, that wouldn't make much sense on the map

[TK.]

Oh, THW...you didn't comment on the rivers...I redraw them using a 2px Ink with the mouse and than use the Eraser tool went back and erased the margins all along the rivers, trying not to make it too much similar to get a "rough" feeling for them. Applied a Light Mode to their layer, which resulted in a somewhat light blue color for them...but I did like it, so I left as is.