@Coyote: I experimented with the opacity on the red lettering, and at smaller font sizes (and different fonts), it was impossible to read if I raised the opacity above 25%; the red seemed to bleed too much into the stroke outline. I suppose I could've gone with another color besides red, but red just seemed to 'click' for me with this map.
@Aslan: thanks! And thank you Vandy for the mountain symbols!
Fair enough. Are all the text sizes using the exact same style, or are you able to individualize for the smaller ones?
All in all though, it's a very nice map, and gives me some ideasI find I've been cluttering up my maps a bit (with good results, but still..) A cleaner style like this is something i should try
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
The font is all Roman Antique (from www.dafont.com), just in differing sizes, italics, and color(s). I experimented with leaving the stroke off completely and changing the font color to something less... red, but it just didn't look right over the mountains (and it tended to overwhelm the other text and terrain), so I settled for what you see here. It's not perfect, but I better quit now. The main goal for me is to finish the book, not obsess unduly over the map. I am planning to do close-ups of some of the individual states, so I'll play around some more then and see if I can't come up with something better.
No no, entirely cool, if you have other more pressing issues, by all means attend to them. I was just offering observations based on personal experience, there's been a few spots where I've had to give a completely different layer style to keep the look readable
I still say that I like the style in this one though.
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
I like this map a lot! The waterways are nice and believable. I love the names of the countries, and don't mind the red font. The only thing that I am not too excited about is the city symbols. I would have liked to see a different symbol for capitols, and for regular cities.
One thing I noticed, and this may be intentional, there is a country/region named "City of Sano", but the only city I see there is "Carpi"
That's actually the County of Sano, abbreviated as 'Cty.' Gah. I knew that was gonna be hard to read... Okay, I'll have to redo at least that part of it. Thanks for pointing that out.Originally Posted by landorl
I like the overall style. The rivers really look good. I like the older style looks. With those early style maps, i think will look much better once you put the names in.
Ah, that makes sense.That's actually the County of Sano
Outstanding work! This one is gonna go in my list of favorites.
Although others have already commented on the font coloring and what not, I just have to say that something about those larger labels just screams at me that they should be done in dark grey with a "cracked" or "stone" look. Not that I'm suggesting you change anything about the map at all because it looks just fine to me as it is.
GW
GW
One's worth is not measured by stature, alone. By heart and honor is One's true value weighed.
Current Non-challenge WIP : Beyond Sosnasib
Current Lite Challenge WIP : None
Current Main Challenge WIP : None
Completed Maps : Various Challenges
Here's an superlative example of how limiting one's color palette can add elegance to a map. Beauty can be more penetrating when presented with restraint. Thanks for posting this. Inspiring!
Last edited by Ashenvale; 08-21-2009 at 07:42 AM.
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