Torentine: Satellite Image

[a2area]

This is going to be the facing page of a 2 page spread in the atlas project, the companion being a labeled ocean floor/topography map (coming soon). However, I will consider it a complete map in and of itself. The brief WIP thread is at http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=8406

Apparently Torentine is bracing for quite a storm! My goal here was realism from afar.... so this might not stand up under intense scrutiny but I am pretty happy with the results without going overboard into crazy detail.

This entire map is made in Photoshop, first by creating a collage from NASA satellite images and then the water is mostly done using the "twirl" effect (until carpal tunnel sets in) with multiple overlays of varying opacity and effect. The colors in the water don't really represent depth but rather sediment, pollution and organic plant/algae type "stuff". I added a sunglint across the center-right of the map.. i played around with it and decided to keep it subtle as it usually isn't that attractive on satellite pictures other than adding a little dimension.

The clouds were also taken from a NASA image, levels adjusted and then set to "lighten" plus a slightly offset shadow for them.

It matches the Political map that I did previously quite well but i will still have to make some minor revisions to fit the new "real" geography, most notably a little river re-routing and nudging some mountain peaks over a little... plus i have to name some new lakes that i picked up from the satellite images.