World Map (Unnamed world)

[ironmetal250]

(editing post)
These are the maps that I have been working on lately... in this first post, I have attached computer-drawn versions of the map, in my next post I will attach a hand-drawn map that I have scanned into my computer (and probably, severely butchered).

[ironmetal250]

Attached is a hand-drawn map of Theirnor, a world that I have been working on for a while. I used the same general map design that Naeddyr used in his "Ysi Earth II" map, azimuthal hemispheres. I drew it on eight separate pieces of paper, and when I scanned it in, my scanner apparently did not get all of the lines from the pieces. So, I fixed it up a little bit (making the borders black, etc), but I would like some help on a few specific aspects of the map:

The circles I drew around the hemispheres as well as the hemispheres themselves (less noticeably) are not perfect circles as I drew them using a frying pan lid (lol). Also, when I was penning it, I tried to make 'coastlines' around the landmasses, which worked out terribly (see southern part of eastern hemisphere continent), so I was wondering if there was any way to remove it. Finally, I would like to increase the quality of the map so it isn't painful to look at... such as making the borders more constant/defined, making it smaller without losing quality, etc.

If anyone has any advice for me I'd love to hear it... thank you very much.

[Gandwarf]

I like the handdrawn map, repped you for it. It must have taken quite some time to get where you are now. Can't really offer you advice, as I don't do handdrawn stuff (I am really bad at it!).

[Ascension]

Personally, I wouldn't change a thing. Love the frying pan thing. If you really want to remove the rings around the landmasses then it's probably best to do that on the computerized image with a white. Tedious to be sure but much better than using white out on the paper images.

[Steel General]

The hand-drawn map is quite nice - maybe you should consider "re-doing" it digitally.

BTW: Love the avatar

[ironmetal250]

Hahaha, thanks.
I'm going to use Paint.NET or GIMP to retrace the map digitally (I would use a vector program like inkscape but jesus christ that thing is hard to use with a tablet). Since I drew the continents how they would appear on a 'rectangular' projection of the map, I will copy/paste them into a 2:1 document and trace them that way, and attempt to project them in a way that looks the best after that.

I might add textures and I plan to make some standard characters for both Tsiarah (the language almost all of the words on the map are in now) and Tlantec (a language originating in a loosley Aztec/Mongol based civilization in the southeast continent of the western hemisphere, that I've only started creating... there will be hundreds of characters as each pictogram represents a syllable instead of a phonetic sound. Each character will basically be a different design inside a rounded square, with vowels being amended to the syllables with markings outside of the squares, but that's going into way too much detail for now, lulz) and annotating places, oceans, and stuff in that instead of variable handdrawn script (if anyone has advice about doing this/creating a font... I'm failing horribly at Inkscape... go ahead and give it to me, lol). I will also create brushes in GIMP for different trees, villages, cities, fortresses, other various structures (if you notice, in the southwestern continent in the western hemisphere, a large amount of the continent is sunken, splitting it into two landmasses, there are some cities underwater, with only few people living in them).

I don't want to use any photorealistic textures in the final result, so we'll see how this turns out, as I will color it. Not sure how, or if, I'm going to do national borders without disrupting the look of the map.

Anyway, I'll be starting this on Friday, so expect some progression images then. Thanks for the critique =)

Also, yeah, the avatar is awesome stuff

[overlordchuck]

Trippy dancing dinosaurs are awesome indeed. Nice maps!

[Ascension]

Barney Rave

[ironmetal250]

Using RobA's wonderful tutorial, I made a physical map of the archipelago where the Arrhenian Empire, one of the industrialized powers of the world, is based. I didn't really understand how to get rivers in there, so it is what it is...

The land is basically a giant mountain range jutting up from the ocean. It is extremely cold on all of the main islands, and most of the land itself is perpetually covered in ice (I'll work on that later, I mostly did this as a practice map).

I'll post another map as soon as I have time to make one =)