Amateur Fantasy's novel need some amateur's map

[Semrodia]

Greetings everyone !

I contact you since I have a awesome world in my head and I would need your help in creating the map of this world... living through my role playing stories and now in the novel I am currently writing.

I will not ask you something too hard, too technical (I guess). I am looking for a beatiful map, I do not care about everything... I would if I gonna be edited.

I am very sorry not being able to pay this since I am a poor jobless person. I can only thank you and let you tuned about how things go with the novel. If I would be edited, I would lovely pay this help.

I also hope it could improve the portfolio of the members who need it.


Subject

You will find the drawn map enclosed. Sorry if everything is in french... if anyone would be interested, I would translate it with pleasure.

As you may see, there are a lot of mountains in a very large continent. There is one important island on South West and some small ones on some Gulfs...
The scale is quite hard since I do not use inches usually but from the West to the East side of the "Empire du Lion", there is approximatively 4.000 kilometers.

Style

I do not care if it is a greyscale, photorealistic etc... map. If possible, I would require some beautiful geological stuff such mountains or hills and a good font for the texts. Everything would be quite free.

Quality & Size

The quality depends on you, amateur / semi professional is cool !
I will print it and share it to my beta-readers by email.

Time Constraints

Within 6 months. Take your time in creating the map as I am taking the time to write the novel.

Copyright

I would like the reproduction rights to the map. If I love it so much, we could negotiate about the right to use the image for further purpose.

Contact Details

We can start discussing here... Then my PM box will be opened for further private discussions.

I hope it will lead to your interest.
I will stay around to answer any question you would have.

Cheers,
Alban / Semrodia

[octopod]

This sounds fun. I'm going to trace it into a vector program and post a rough version here so that you can see if you like it.

Questions:

• Do you want the map to be in French or English?
• What does the label "Mer de ..." at the bottom say? It looks like it got cut off in the scan.
• Also, do you have an example of the kind of style in which you want the geological stuff?

[Semrodia]

Hello Octopod !

Many thanks for your reply... Your work looks amazing ! The scale and the borders looks very exact ! Congratulations to you ! I can tell you I like it, it is very promising !

Concerning your questions...

Do you want the map to be in French or English?

I would prefer the map in French since it's for french beta-readers and myself. Naturally it could be translated into English if I would be edited.

What does the label "Mer de ..." at the bottom say? It looks like it got cut off in the scan.

Indeed, I did not see it has be cutted off in the scan. The label is "Mer des Marchands"

Also, do you have an example of the kind of style in which you want the geological stuff?

I could show you several things...
It could be very basic : http://www.jamiemaltman.com/wp-conte...es-for-web.jpg
Or more artistic (like Chick's map => Member here)... I love the maps produced by Chicks, unfortunately for me its above my financial ability.

Moreover, the bordures of the countries would be very important.

PS : If you need translation of the labels, feel free to ask... I guess it would help a lot to know what is situated where...

[octopod]

Wonderful. I don't need translation, but many of the smaller words are hard to read in the scan (I think your pen was probably skipping). In fact, if I didn't label a feature in the image above, it means I couldn't read it on your original image. Could you write the names out in a list and post them? If you do that, I think I will be able to match the name to the map location.

[Semrodia]

Hello Octopod !

Thanks for your reply. Here are the asked information :

From West To East : (geology)
Côte des Nains
Côte des Orks
Golfe des Cendres
Péninsule de Gnorr
Would you mind changing « Grande Baie des Iles » into « Grande Baie des Isles”?
Would you mind changing “Monts Morda” into “Les Monts Morda” ?
Would you mind changing “Forêt des Ancien” into “Forêt des Anciens”

From West to East (rivers) :
- Ramontek
-Ri-bok
- Le romps
- Aiglar
- Bas Orénoc
- Orinal
-Orinol
- Haut Orénoc
- Le Rapt-Ilde
- La Moll

If you need any help, I am entirely yours.

[octopod]

Updated version:
[removed to keep thread small]

[Semrodia]

Hello Octopod !

How amazing you are ! Wow ! Looks greater and greater !

Except the rivers would it be possible to remove the red color (I know it was red on the previous map) : I used it only for marking the bordures. Looks a bit agressive to my eyes.

Should you need any detail, feel free to ask !

[octopod]

The colors are certainly not final! These lines are all still in a vector graphics program, so it's very easy to re-color them. I think the blue and red are both too strong.

When I get all the borders traced and all the mountains drawn, I will post the image again; at that point I will probably ask you about what kind of colors you want it to have.

I'm glad to hear you like the way it's turning out. This is a new style for me and I'm enjoying exploring it, as well as using it as an opportunity to learn how to use Inkscape better.

[Semrodia]

I stay around if you need any assistance and / or information !

[octopod]

OK, finally done with mountains! I added a couple of base colors to make it easier to look at; please let me know what you think of the progress. I also got rid of that awful hypersaturated red in favor of a more subdued purple for the borders. Forests are not in the image yet; neither are background colors. That's because I didn't know what you wanted me to do there. Do you want me to color the provinces separately, the way you did in the original image? Or would you rather have more "natural" colors, filled in by terrain type, and only distinguish the provinces by the borders and labels?