WIP - New style / Border problem

[TK.]

Hello there, good folks!

Been a while since I had time to learn a bit more of photoshop and mapmaking!

I'm trying a new style and would like to know what you guys think of it. The mountains and trees were hand-drawn by me and transformed into a brush that I used over the whole map.

I'm also not sure the color balance of the map is good. Tried tweaking some but I still don't think its what I'm looking for...

And the biggest "problem" right now and what I'm stuck with is: BORDERS! Don't know what type of border would be good for this map and how to make it. Tried looking for some tuts and tips around the forum but nothing that exactly matched what I want.

Any tips on what borders and techniques used to make em?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Barek333]

Well I can say that I like the effort you have taken to make the rivers. Even though they seem out of proportion(width) they look awesome. The tree brush looks nice but I'm not a fan of the forest filling you did. Also the mountains seem too uniform. As for the color I think it is generally ok, maybe a bit darker mountains/forests and I would add a layer of very light grey/blue color around the coastline to symbolize the water (there is I think a short picture tutorial by -Max- in his workshop thread that uses that style of water layer around the coastline). About the borders..uff..I also had/have a trouble finding out something good. Probably since it differs a lot from map to map. I would try making a pattern in some LOTR style and then make a rectangle path around to use as a border. But as I said borders are also my weak point so take this with a grain of salt.

Cheers,
Barek

[TK.]

Rivers - Indeed the width is exaggerated but the reason for that is since it's supposed to be an old historical map, drawn by an explorer-scribe from a society that heavily depends and uses the river for transportation, harvest and overall survival, I tend to believe that his view would skew his perceptions on what % of the continent the rivers indeed take or at least to emphasize the representation of rivers due to their importance.

I made a subtle version of rivers as well, because I was unsure if it was waay too much.

What you think?

[Barek333]

Both are fine in my opinion. I would lean towards the first one as I said that they look awesome, and your explanation is really good

[TK.]

here's a version with new landmark icons... I think I like these ones better.

Also new trees...

[Barek333]

Trees look better, landmark icons are too differing in size for my taste, but most of them do fit to the map.

[Pixie]

So, first of, I'll say your map seems to be a reasonably large island, maybe something the size of the Ireland or Britain. Geographically, it looks balanced and believable and I like the choice of font. It's quite nice in these aspects, but here's what I think you could improve.. To my eyes, there is some mismatch between the "ancient" look and composition of the map and obvious "digital" effects. This kind of suspends the old map effect. Maybe if you play a little more with placing of labels and fiddle less with transparency the outcome could result more "natural"... (I hope I'm explaining myself clearly)

As for the wide rivers - that is a very common trait of ancient maps, keep it.

[TK.]

So...I guess I went full ahead...the opposite way O.o

Tweaking with the map some and tried a coloring pass. Aside from the clear fantasy stuff (like rose Prunus Forest) what you think of this version?

P.S. Can't get a decent setup for mountains coloring >.>

[Pixie]

Turn back, turn back!

(In my humble opinion, you are heading in the wrong direction. But it's your map...)

[TK.]

Turn back, turn back!

(In my humble opinion, you are heading in the wrong direction. But it's your map...)

Well...yeah. I went a bit further with the coloring madness and got something that looks like "Carnival meets Electric Boogaloo!". Made me wonder if I should delete all my color palettes forever.


Trying to get back to the style I was looking for I redid the labeling some to try to get a more "organic feeling" to what someone would do with ink and removed the fading/transparency to keep it down.

Whatcha say?