Horitea (Name may change in the future), my first map [WIP]

[Lucifer]

Alright, my first map on this forum. I don't really have any experience in mapping with GIMP except for a handful tutorials I've read yesterday.

I do, however, think that this is turning out decent so far. I'm not 100% sure if I have the right tool configurations for doing this style but so far it at least looks good from a distance. :D The map is supposed to be a fantasy map in a somewhat 19th-century inspired world. Low magic, decent technology.

Any feedback is welcome, but particularly the mountains are my big concern.

Thanks in advance :)
Lucifer

PS: So far I've only been using GIMP for this, for those interested.

[jfrazierjr]

nice start... one thing that's a bit out of place for me is the line styles variation is a bit jarring. IMHO, these style of mountains should have a consistent line weight UNLESS you are using a style where a singular line has starts with a thin bit and gets a bit thicker toward the other end. Much like the stylized exclamation point, such as the example at: https://www.vappingo.com/word-blog/w...ation_mark.png (but without the period of course, and likely not quite as large a change in weight from one end to the other).

of course... that's only my opinion..

[Lucifer]

nice start... one thing that's a bit out of place for me is the line styles variation is a bit jarring. IMHO, these style of mountains should have a consistent line weight UNLESS you are using a style where a singular line has starts with a thin bit and gets a bit thicker toward the other end. Much like the stylized exclamation point, such as the example at: https://www.vappingo.com/word-blog/w...ation_mark.png (but without the period of course, and likely not quite as large a change in weight from one end to the other).

of course... that's only my opinion..

Thanks for the feedback I actually am not sure what you mean with "line weight" but I'll look into it. I was thinking about maybe redoing the mountains and rivers once I have a little more practice on a test map. I really do love that style of mountains, and I'm somewhat looking to replicate the style of Warlin's Atlantide map (because it's gorgeous).

[Chris Lewis]

For not really having any experience with GIMP, I think this is a wonderful start! Particularly the work you did on your border. I just started using GIMP, too, and expect the time it will take me to create a border is way, way, way down the road. Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your updates.

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks for the feedback I actually am not sure what you mean with "line weight" but I'll look into it. I was thinking about maybe redoing the mountains and rivers once I have a little more practice on a test map. I really do love that style of mountains, and I'm somewhat looking to replicate the style of Warlin's Atlantide map (because it's gorgeous).

lines on the bottom right and around twice as thick as the lines on top right of the same "thing"(in this case, thing equals a representation of a mountain.) From the examples I have seen and ones I like best, having the line thickness be roughly equal looks best TO ME. I was not familiar with the map you referenced, so looked it up. I do see the difference between his lines all over his map having different weights(thickness), but if you look closely at full scale between yours and his, yours are really much more noticeable(and it's not noticable at all in his small scale view while it is in yours). Personally, I don't like that style much on his map either, but it's quite a bit of difference in how much it jars my brain even from his to yours. His is there and it's annoying, but it's more of a.... ummm subtle annoyance(if that makes any sense.)

Ultimately, if you are happy with what you are doing, then everyone else can just step off(including me)... I am just saying what I think of that style, so feel free to take or leave my comments...

[Lucifer]

lines on the bottom right and around twice as thick as the lines on top right of the same "thing"(in this case, thing equals a representation of a mountain.) From the examples I have seen and ones I like best, having the line thickness be roughly equal looks best TO ME. I was not familiar with the map you referenced, so looked it up. I do see the difference between his lines all over his map having different weights(thickness), but if you look closely at full scale between yours and his, yours are really much more noticeable(and it's not noticable at all in his small scale view while it is in yours). Personally, I don't like that style much on his map either, but it's quite a bit of difference in how much it jars my brain even from his to yours. His is there and it's annoying, but it's more of a.... ummm subtle annoyance(if that makes any sense.)

Ultimately, if you are happy with what you are doing, then everyone else can just step off(including me)... I am just saying what I think of that style, so feel free to take or leave my comments...

Oh, I really do appreciate the feedback and I will admit that I was having a problem with my mountains as well. I'm not 100% sure how to avoid it. Thing is, I want the "left side" of my mountains to be shaded. Now, I don't have any experience with this stuff so I decided to just use GIMPs ink tool at 1px to draw over the 1px lines I made with paintbrush, using the same color. Maybe the trick would be to simply start with ink for the "left side/eastern side" of the mountains to begin with and only do the other side(s) with paintbrush? If someone could help me out here I'd appreciate it In the meantime, I'm going to try and do some better mountains and compare them.

[Mornagest]

Hi Lucifer,

That is a nice start. So, you plan to make all your map in "airplane view" (as opposed as isometric view) ? That's quite a challenge, I think. Maybe because I think it's easier with an iso view...

You made your border early in your work. I hope you do not plan to enlarge the content of your map (with some title, legend, maybe waves around your coastline)... because it will be more difficult to modify the border subsequently.

Good luck !

[Ilanthar]

It looks like a good start. I'll keep an eye on this thread .

[Lucifer]

Alright, I reworked my mountains and I like them a lot more now. Also looked at some real mountains on maps to figure out how my mountains should spread over the map. Feedback is welcome

Also, thanks a lot to everyone for the kind words.

### Latest WIP ###

[Thordred]

Hey Lucifer, I really like the shape of the landmass.

Here are a couple of videos that could help with your mountain issue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcokgs7cEv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGQvsiDFrAU