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Thread: Political Map - Thelonian Empire

  1. #1
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
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    Post Political Map - Thelonian Empire

    So here is a project I have been working on for awhile. This is a style that is a little different for me. I'm working on a series of maps with very distinct political borders and am trying for something very "atlas" like with clean lines that can be read easily.

    I'm pretty happy with how the coast has come out...the rivers seem a little rough to me and may take some post processing in another program other than cc3. To get the effect I want with the two tone political border I actually needed two different sheets for, and it looks "okay". The "edge fade" is a little strange in spots and may need some fixing too, but I like the colors.

    There is a lot more labeling to do yet. (seas, mountains, etc.)

    Anyways, anyone have any comments/suggestions?

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    Thanks.
    "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."

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  2. #2
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
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    Updated...

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Name:	thelonianempire042.JPG 
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    "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."

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  3. #3
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    Looks quite loveley. Needs some other nation colors to really make it POP! though
    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

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  4. #4
    Guild Journeyer Vandy's Avatar
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    Post Quite interesting...

    Hello, Cereth.

    You've a quite interesting map here, I must say. I like the clean lines of it. It has a very succinct set of data yet gives the view a good overview of the region.

    I do like your two-tone borders. They do a good job of delineating the area. The dotted lines for your main roads were an interesting choice, however; my eyes easily traveled over them from town to town as if being drawn by them.

    As to your rivers, you might try a one or two pixel blur or fade over each to soften them a bit.

    I am a bit confused on the political borders, though. Am I to assume that the entire cream-colored area is one political entity which will eventually be surrounded by others?

    This is a very nice start and I look forward to following your progress.

    Regards,

    Gary
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    © May 29, 1980

  5. #5
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

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  6. #6
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
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    Thanks for the suggestion on the rivers...I'll try a slight blur on them to see if it smooths them out some.

    There will be other highlighted areas surrounding this one...I just wanted to start of with this area first. I'm also planning of a series of maps based on this area that shows the expansion of the empire over a number of years as it has conquered/absorbed other kingdoms.

    This represents me really starting to get the hang of making political borders in cc3 (thanks to the guide by Neon).
    "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."

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  7. #7

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    Ooh! An expansimation!
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
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  8. #8
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
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    Here is a zoomed out view of what I have done so far, to put it into perspective.

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Name:	urthpolitical092.JPG 
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  9. #9
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cereth View Post
    Here is a zoomed out view of what I have done so far, to put it into perspective.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	urthpolitical092.JPG 
Views:	329 
Size:	403.9 KB 
ID:	8501

    Might as well export it at as high a resolution as you can get to upload to the site to allow for better zoom in. You may also want to play around with exporting it to png at the same size as I "think" png would have a smaller size for this type of map which has large blocks of solid colors(I could be wrong on this though....)
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  10. #10
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
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    Here is an updated version, larger resolution. The text came out a little screwed up in this one. I may redo all of the city/town labels in a more basic font like arial or verdana. I obviously added a bordering kingdom to the map.

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Name:	urthpolitical065.JPG 
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