Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: Map Peeves and Common Errors

  1. #1

    Post Map Peeves and Common Errors

    What are some pet peeves about maps? Or maybe common mistakes?

    I think one of my peeves is when the book gives a world map, it is labelled as a world map, and yet there are only two and a half countries (if that) on this world map. And these countries have approximately two cities and three towns between them. Or there is a castle, a battle plain, and the den of the Evil Overlord, and nothing else. It's more a failure of world building than any fault of the mapmaker usually, but it still makes me not believe in the world a little less when I see a map like that at the front of the book.

    Another minor nitpick is when they show a map of the world and it is all terra firm with nowhere near enough water.

  2. #2
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    St. Charles, Missouri, United States
    Posts
    8,392

    Post

    For published maps I hate when they go with simple black and white and then the ink bleeds out (like in the Elizabeth Haydon "Rhapsody" series) but this is more of a printing problem so others might have a legible map where I don't. What irks me is all of these fancy illegible fonts that aren't kerned correctly or are just plain hard to read, although I'm quite guilty of committing that sin myself on numerous occasions Despite being a river cop that doesn't really bother me too much since we're all here to help but terrain that is not thought out kind of bugs me (like a mtn range that goes in a circle or a river that skims by a bay only to cross the entire continent and empty somewhere else).
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  3. #3

    Post

    The issue with most maps attached to novels is that they have to reproduce legibly at a very tiny scale for paperbacks, and they have to do so in black and white. There typically isn't even the option to make it grayscale, except by halftoning it. That's a significant technical challenge, so those maps are often simplified to the point of only showing locations mentioned in the text. Sure, there are likely hundreds more cities and towns than are shown, but if the characters never go to or mention any of those places, including them will merely crowd out information that might be more important.

    That said, there certainly are plenty of stinky maps in books I have read. I think some editors don't quite get how important the map can be for a fantasy reader, so they don't allocate the budget for a good one. Instead, we get a scan of a napkin where the author jotted something down intended as a guideline. (I don't know that that's actually ever happened—it was intended as hyperbole.)
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  4. #4

    Default

    I have my own reasons for regarding the Rhapsody books as notorious, but since this is a mapmaking forum, and not a book forum, I'll try not to digress.

    But yeah, I know what you mean, re: bad inks and bleeding contours.

    Typographic mistakes: using script fonts in all caps drives me insane. (Not regular serifed fonts, but the calligraphic kind. Calligraphic flourishes don't connect on capital letters usually.)

    Oh, another peeve: Indistinct legends. Particularly on maps that have a lot of borders and a lot of roads and a lot of trade routes. And something that was legible at the size it was drawn gets turned into a tiny dotted line when shrunk to paperback size. So the guy who thought he was being all clever with his -*- and his * * * and his === but drew it at a size that was 2 feet wide to start....it all turns into a hodgepodge of lines and you can't tell if that was the border between Astynonia and Zambolin or if it was the Great King's Road or if it was the Wall of EpicNameHere.

  5. #5
    Professional Artist Turgenev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    872

    Post

    Sigurd's signature covers one of my pet peeves.

    Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.
    Along the same vein, give me fonts that I can read. Fancy fonts might look nice but if they are hard to read then you are defeating the purpose (of passing info to the reader/viewer).
    Cheers,
    Tim

    Paratime Design Cartography

    "Do infants have as much fun in infancy as adults do in adultery?" - Groucho Marx

  6. #6
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    3,673

    Default

    @ Ascension: You made me run over to the bookshelf and grab Rhapsody, and the map looks excellent to me. Maybe you got unlucky?

  7. #7
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Surrey, Canada, EH!
    Posts
    5,051

    Post

    Well, I've said it before, but I'll mention it here.

    My biggest, BIGGEST pet peeve, that makes we wanna spit nails, is city maps with all buildings as separate entities. Think of it as the following:

    O O O O O

    The O's represent buildings and they all are separate. Like an entire city built on the suburb style. No city in history has looked like that. The look like:

    OOOOO OOO O OO OOO

    With the buildings in clusters, sharing common walls, etc.

    So, as said, I have seen a great many beautiful city maps (and a lot of them here in this forum), and then they lose that sense of verisimilitude (The quality of appearing to be true or real. / Something that has the appearance of being true or real.)

    And that is a crying shame
    Daniel the Neon Knight: Campaign Cartographer User

    Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice!

    Any questions on CC3? Post them with CC3 in the Subject Line!
    MY 'FAMOUS' CC3 MAPS: Thunderspire; Pyramid of Shadows; King of the Trollhaunt Warrens; Demon Queen's Enclave

  8. #8
    Guild Journeyer Ryan K's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Brisbane, QLD
    Posts
    221

    Default

    My pet peeves are quite the same to PixelFish's, in that you have what is supposedly a 'world map', but not only are there only two or three countries (at least one being a utopian paradise, and at least one a barren wasteland of ebilness), but those same countries apparently have areas the size of the former USSR, and of the whole world there is just one desert, and/or one jungle (or 'dark wood', if you prefer), one so on, and one so forth. Basically, maps that serve only to tick boxes - as long as you have one of everything (an ocean, a sea, a waterfall, a volcano, a canyon...), you've got yourself a world map. A world map.

    I think I would do well in future to point those people in the direction of this forum, to be honest.
    Regards,

    RK

  9. #9
    Guild Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    91

    Default

    I agree on the world map but one continent thingy. That's my main issue as well.

    On maps of settlements I find it annoying if there is no center like a market place or government building. Even small villages have a place for the people to meet and talk.

    On maps for buildings, it's the lack of a toilet, even in some modern settings. I can see why in some fantasy settings you'd have an outhouse, but otherwise it is just a silly oversight.

  10. #10
    Guild Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    91

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post
    Well, I've said it before, but I'll mention it here.

    My biggest, BIGGEST pet peeve, that makes we wanna spit nails, is city maps with all buildings as separate entities. Think of it as the following:

    O O O O O

    The O's represent buildings and they all are separate. Like an entire city built on the suburb style. No city in history has looked like that. The look like:

    OOOOO OOO O OO OOO

    With the buildings in clusters, sharing common walls, etc.

    So, as said, I have seen a great many beautiful city maps (and a lot of them here in this forum), and then they lose that sense of verisimilitude (The quality of appearing to be true or real. / Something that has the appearance of being true or real.)

    And that is a crying shame
    Generally, I agree, but in fantasy settings I've done this once or twice, because the culture it was set in was one of distance and privacy. They didn't even have many cities to begin with

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •