[WIP] Continent of Atya, questions on labeling

[DanielHasenbos]

Hello,

I've been working on this map for some time, basically just for trying out new styles. It's the same map that I'm working on is this thread >http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=30454 The style that I'm trying out is influenced by many maps I found on here, especially Max's, but others too.

On the north-western part of the map I've started trying out some different things, such as coloring the mountains and adding labels. Now I would like to think I've done a decent job on the labels but something is just odd or unnatural about them and I can't seem to quite find out what it is.

Any suggestions on this or the map in general are much appreciated!

-Dan

[arsheesh]

This looks really nice so far Daniel. I don't have nay criticism to offer.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Pixie]

I like this style much more than the previous (but that's a personal taste...).

I think the labelling feels odd because you are departing too much from a "handdrawn" style with them. Try to make them more in tune with the linework of the mountains, where you neither have opacity variation or outer glow. The labels could also be more curved and I think the font does not suit the style you are emulating.

Another issue you may want to look into is the coastline - it's pixelated.

[snodsy]

One of the issues with the font seems to be with the First letter cap, which seems to be bolder than the rest, a well designed font would have it's Small Caps in proportion with the Cap letter, this seems like the 1st letter cap is just larger (hence bolder too). I would try a few other fonts.

I think the cities in red work well, the white on the mountains not so much, especially when they are extremely letterspaced. I would try to make the "United Iscander Republics" to either be on land or in the water only, not both. "The Seven Duchies" I'd close up the leading - the space between lines of type.

Venetian Renaissance Fonts work well with older style maps, they have a rougher hand drawn character to them - try Adobe Jenson, Arno Pro, Bembo, Centaur, Dante, Kennerley, Schnidler, Mantinia. Palatino might work as well. Adobe Garamond, ITC Legacy are a few other possibilities, just a thought.

[DanielHasenbos]

Thanks for the replies, there were very helpful!

I took some of your suggestions in account and did some work on the map as it was. here I have two new versions.

In the first one I simply replaced some labels as you suggested, such as the 'United Islander Republics' and changed the labels from small caps to normal, so there shouldn't be a problem with bold caps anymore.



In the second one I changed the font to a more fitting one (I hope), and moved and added some regions around.



Please let me hear what you think of these changes and which one you like better!

-Dan

[Eilathen]

That is a very cool style you have here! Are those StarRaven's brushes? If so, you might want to give credit.
I am not sure i like the second font version better, by the way. I found the first version to be very fitting.
Oh, as a question : Are there no forests in that part of the world? Or did you decide to not show them on the map?

[Sarithus]

Second font is much better than the first. I must admit I'm not a fan of the texture of the sea. Firstly because it looks like a rock texture and secondly because of the layer type you used. It looks like a linear burn or darker colour layer. It just looks a bit odd.

[Kellerica]

I like the color scheme you're using. And the new font is a lot more fitting! What is it, by the way?

Pixie is right, though - the coastlines are really pixelated, and that looks kinda distracting to me. I do like the overall shapes of the coastlines, though. And I agree with Sarithus about the texture, you might want to play around with that a little more.

Other than that, looks pretty good to me!

[DanielHasenbos]

Thanks for the comments everyone, they are all very helpful and well appreciated!

@Eilathen Yes, those are StarRaven's brushes and credit is indeed in place so here goes
The brush sets I used are:
Sketchy Cartography Brushes by StarRaven
http://starraven.deviantart.com/art/...shes-198264358
and Nautical Brushes by BehemianRecources
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Nautic...shes-176274141
There are forests in the land that I'm mapping here, quite some big ones actually, I just haven't started working on them yet but they will be on the map.

@Pixie @Kelleri Do you have any suggestions on how to fix the coastline? I think I can do some work on the texture and have some ideas that might work, but for the coastline I really have know idea what I should do or ways to fix it (pretty new to photoshop)

The font that I'm using is 1543HumaneJenson
http://www.dafont.com/1543humanejenson.font

Thanks again for the feedback!

-Dan

[Pixie]

Suggestion for fixing the coastline: redo the land mask at your present resolution. There isn't really any other way that I know of.