WIP - Aronbor... or Perdon

[Gandwarf]

Hey Gandwarf...
Do we have a "publishing maps" useful links thread?
Something that would contain "Things the Printer Will Ask You", "Here are good people to try", "Laminating Bedsheets 101", etc

No, we don't have such a thread I think (specific to publishing maps).

[Immolate]

Even now that I understand your maps better, I still like this as much. This one is brilliant!

[Ramah]

Thank you very kindly, Immolate.

Right, I will definitely be posting this map up in the finished section tomorrow afternoon. I won't get a chance to work on it tomorrow night as it's my daughter's birthday/halloween party and Sunday marks the start of NaNoWriMo so... tomorrow afternoon it is.

Since my last post I've added a bunch more labels. I still have quite a few more to do but it won't kill me to let it go as it is now on this front. Some of the forests and out of the way rivers will probably remain unnamed but meh.
I've added a marker for a church/abbey and one for the ruins. I've also added a few more ruins up in the north.
I've reapplied the coastal details after the grunging as they were kinda getting lost under everything else and the land edge was losing definition.
Added a few more bits of Marginalia.

Edit: Heh.. I hit submit before I had done. Ah well... not a lot more to say really. All that I have left to do is a little more of what I've done since last update and maybe add one more small forest in an area where it's bugging me.
Thanks for anyone and everyone who has given C&C in this thread and sorry for my numerous updates as I've been going along - as I said in the Vaniya thread... it really helps me feel like I've reached a milestone when I post a new image and it kinda keeps me motivated.

See you all tomorrow in the finished maps section.

[Steel General]

I don't think so either...maybe worth creating a 'Stickey-d' post somewhere.

[pengod]

Really impressive map Ramah, would love to know how you created some of the 'visuals', by which I mean not the symbols and graphics of the map but more things like the aged an blurry stains the layering of composite depth is fantastic and gives it a real sense of age and use.

[Ramah]

Thank you Pengod.

There isn't really a lot of skill involved in mucking a map up in this way. A lot of the dark stuff is just some random markings gaussian blurred and on low opac. I have several layers of a clouds filter, adjusted through curves and again, really low opac. I also usually stroke these clouds with a 1px brush on another layer so I can have a slight edge on some.
The large stains I just drew in a random shaped stain, mirrored it over the fold and then copied this around the map where it would be because of the folding and placed them at varying levels of opacity. I drew around the stain with a small brush to create an edge to it and blurred/copied/sharpened etc. in different places. Because of the dirtiness I'd already got into the image this stain looks more varied than it is.
Lastly, I've given the stain an extra layer of the crumple texture to make them show up more over it.

Changing the subject somewhat... I was happily checking out the news online this morning when my screen went blank. Using my daughters old analogue monitor I found that my own monitor had decided to kick the bucket. As it was pretty old I decided to bite the bullet and go get a new one. So now I have a brand new, widescreen monitor which I have to say... I don't like. The colours are all wrong. It's too bright and I don't just mean the image brightness... the backlight seems brighter than my old one. It's glaring. I do wonder if this will impact on any map I decide to do from now on. :S

[Gidde]

I noticed the same thing with my shiny sorta-new monitor. I had to turn the brightness way down in order to see what everyone else seems to see.

[Gandwarf]

Looks good as always. Glad you posted an update!
Is the Sleeping Lady a vulcano?

[Ascension]

Looks good to me. Some of the labels have a nice kind of gray look and others are black...I'm assuming that's the thing you were talking about. Other than that lil thing it looks almost done to me.

[Ramah]

Gandwarf: No, it's not a volcano. It is the tallest mountain in the range and it is rumoured there is a cave near the summit where Harmoline waits the time when she is needed once again. Harmoline is one of the two powers (the other being a man named Quin) who were tasked with guarding the seven stones resulatant from the sundering of the World's Heart. She, like the stones, hasn't been seen in centuries and has fallen into the status of myth.

Ascension: Hehe. I wish it was nearly done but I still have a lot more to do on it yet.

Rdanhenry: Yes, thank you I mean exactly that. It shows that you are paying attention.

Davros01: I'll find out the tutorials I used for you later when I have a little more time on here.

Thanks for the comments guys. The feedback and encouragement on here plays a huge part in dragging me through the tough times when I don't want to see another tree or hill for as long as I live.