Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 32

Thread: The Arconian Peninsula

  1. #1
    Administrator Facebook Connected Diamond's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Stafford, VA, USA
    Posts
    7,454

    Wip The Arconian Peninsula

    I'm putting my other map work on hold for a while so I can play with this. Those mountain & tree symbols that Vandy scanned from old maps are just fantastic, and I had to find an excuse to use them.

    So this is a Italian-esque peninsula on the world of Terramunda, the setting for a book I'm in the planning stages of writing. A lot of the names will be recycled from my other maps (I tend to do that a lot). There's going to be scattered republics, duchies, counties etc on the peninsula itself, with a couple of large pseudo-French nations in the north. The jut of land sticking up from the south is the tip of the Ashkarene Empire, the baddies of the story.

    What I'm going for here is a plain look, but with a lot of detail, if that makes sense. I'm not going to use natural looking features; instead, everything's going to be icons. And with StarRaven's symbol set working now, I finally will have some good city/town icons. I'm going for minimal use of color here; the most I'll have will probably be a faint stroke around the city icons and the text. I plan to overlay everything with a sepia/parchment-y filter.

    Here's where I am so far; I'm especially happy with the way the rivers look.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Arconia5a.jpg 
Views:	185 
Size:	589.9 KB 
ID:	15606  

  2. #2

    Default

    Your rivers look otherwise good, but they do not taper at all. The tributaries appear narrower but the main river courses are wide all the way from where they begin. It would give a more natural appearance to have your rivers start narrow and gradually gain width as more tributaries join them along the way.

  3. #3
    Community Leader Gandwarf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    3,012

    Default

    It's certainly a good start. No river violations that I can see
    I do agree with Ghostman concerning the tapering, but it doesn't bother me.
    Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.

    Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...

  4. #4
    Guild Expert Eilathen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Kurald Liosan
    Posts
    1,334

    Post

    Very nice. I really like those mountains!

    And now for the obligatory question: Is there a worldmap you can show us? I'd like to see Terramunda in all its glory
    I'm trapped in Darkness,
    Still I reach out for the Stars

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ft. Wayne, IN
    Posts
    9,530

    Default

    Great start! Looking forward to seeing more.
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  6. #6
    Administrator Facebook Connected Diamond's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Stafford, VA, USA
    Posts
    7,454

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by Ghostman View Post
    Your rivers look otherwise good, but they do not taper at all. The tributaries appear narrower but the main river courses are wide all the way from where they begin. It would give a more natural appearance to have your rivers start narrow and gradually gain width as more tributaries join them along the way.
    That's a good point; I hadn't even thought of that. Alrighty then, I'll redo 'em a bit tonight.
    Quote Originally Posted by Eilathen View Post
    Very nice. I really like those mountains!

    And now for the obligatory question: Is there a worldmap you can show us? I'd like to see Terramunda in all its glory
    No world map yet, thought I know how everything is laid out. I suppose I can throw together a smallish rough map though.

  7. #7
    Guild Journeyer msa's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    249

    Post

    I really like the shape of the landmass in this map, and the way you scaled the map to encompass it. I would have never thought to make such a tall, skinny map but I really like the way it looks.

  8. #8
    Professional Artist cereth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    499

    Post

    Very nice start. I love those mountains and the landmass seems very organic and realistic. I agree with the previous comments regarding the rivers. Not sure about the "cloud" texture in the water, but it might look cool when everything else gets added.
    "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."

    My Albums - My Portfolio

  9. #9
    Administrator Facebook Connected Diamond's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Stafford, VA, USA
    Posts
    7,454

    Post

    Thanks for all the compliments and suggestions, guys. I really appreciate the warm welcome. I'm one of those dudes who doesn't often join new forums once I've found one I really like, so I'm glad I can 'branch out' here too.

    Quote Originally Posted by cereth View Post
    Not sure about the "cloud" texture in the water, but it might look cool when everything else gets added.
    That's my hope. Everything is going to have a sepia-parchment look overlaid on it, so hopefully that'll bring everything together a little more cohesively.

    I've decided to use 'blobs' (for lack of a better term) for forests, with a light pattern overlaid on them. I tried actual tree icons, but it quickly made the map far, far too cluttered, and it was impossible to see the rivers clearly. Also tapered the river heads.

    I decided to go with a bit more traditional city icon too; the big ones are very large cities (100K+ populations); the smaller ones represent lesser cities.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Arconia5b.jpg 
Views:	125 
Size:	663.8 KB 
ID:	15694  

  10. #10
    Administrator Facebook Connected Diamond's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Stafford, VA, USA
    Posts
    7,454

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by msa View Post
    I really like the shape of the landmass in this map, and the way you scaled the map to encompass it. I would have never thought to make such a tall, skinny map but I really like the way it looks.
    Thanks, man. I did the same thing on this map as well, thought it turned out pretty decent.

Page 1 of 4 1234 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
  •