Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 13

Thread: The Continent of Essaria - First map, and with some backstory!

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1

    Map The Continent of Essaria - First map, and with some backstory!

    Hi guys! I have been writing a novel and I wanted to create a map of the portion of the world it is based in. I drew a crappy version in MS Paint, double sized it, redid the coasts and added islands and lakes, and then followed Diamond's Smooth Coastlines and Concentric Coasts tutorial to make the coastal rings. After that, I overlaid a political map (and managed to make it thirty times harder than it had to be) and used the stroke tool to draw the borders.

    Finally I dropped the names down and used the select, inverse, expand method of doing things that I learned in the tutorial to create a nice white backdrop.

    I hope you guys like the map! I would appreciate criticism for when I do the next continent in the world.

    dc4DtS.png


    And here is where I've been dumping backstory on my novel if anyone is interested in learning of some of the countries: A Land of Wind and Ash

  2. #2
    Guild Expert Guild Supporter Lingon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    1,212

    Default

    Looking good, I really like the continent shape an the coasts! The labeling could use some work though, you have lots of fonts which doesn't look very good, and the black and white is far too strong in my opinion. Since you're only naming countries here, one font would be enough, and setting the opacity of the text to around 80% would make it much easier on the eyes.

    Still, great job for your first map! I'll give you some rep

  3. #3

    Default

    That linework looks really detailed--the islands are eye candy.

    Great first map imo :]

  4. #4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by arishok View Post
    That linework looks really detailed--the islands are eye candy.

    Great first map imo :]
    Thanks a lot! I've always had a shaky hand and I like to try and use that to my advantage when I make coasts.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lingon View Post
    Looking good, I really like the continent shape an the coasts! The labeling could use some work though, you have lots of fonts which doesn't look very good, and the black and white is far too strong in my opinion. Since you're only naming countries here, one font would be enough, and setting the opacity of the text to around 80% would make it much easier on the eyes.

    Still, great job for your first map! I'll give you some rep
    I tested with the transparencies but wasn't too sure so I decided to stick with the full colors. The fonts are meant to reflect the culture, though I agree that some of them should be changed out. Thank you!

  5. #5
    Guild Novice
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Nashville, TN
    Posts
    19
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Looking great. Way better looking than my first map. I am also a writer. From what I can tell by looking at your map, I am already interested in seeing what your novel will be about. Great Job!

  6. #6
    Guild Adept
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    The world inside my head.
    Posts
    250

    Default

    Although I understand the temptation for different fonts to help set apart cultures, if its for public consumption I would reconsider. For personal use, fine, but out in the greater world, probably not the best idea.

    Otherwise, a nice first take from a visual standpoint.
    Upon the Creation of the World the First Dragons cast their seed in the light of a Sun and a Thousand Suns, beneath the Moon and a Thousand Moons, on a World and a Thousand Worlds.

    www.sistercontinents.com

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Veldehar View Post
    Although I understand the temptation for different fonts to help set apart cultures, if its for public consumption I would reconsider. For personal use, fine, but out in the greater world, probably not the best idea.

    Otherwise, a nice first take from a visual standpoint.

    And the color choice for the empire, not fond of that blending so closely with the water, but that's me.
    Thank you! Point taken on the Empire, I'll definitely change it. They were originally much more dark but when I lowered the transparency of the nation layer to make it look better, I failed to notice the Empire had blended with the ocean. Woops!

    Quote Originally Posted by jbgibson View Post
    Regardless of whether you use an array of fonts or not, fraktur in small sizes gets pretty illegible. That might wind up a deciding factor in whether you use font as culture symbology - if one can't read what the name of the country is, then which culture it belongs to may be moot.

    But I like it. Nice job!
    I figured that if I could read it others could, but I'm realizing now that it's probably just because I typed it and know what should be there. I'll change it now, thank you!

    Quote Originally Posted by Stevena37 View Post
    Looking great. Way better looking than my first map. I am also a writer. From what I can tell by looking at your map, I am already interested in seeing what your novel will be about. Great Job!
    Thank you so much! I'm happy you like it.

    So far my plan is:
    -Redo country names with a single font
    -Make the word backing transparent
    -Change or darken the color of The Empire

    I'll post V2 when it's done! Question though, should that be in a new thread or just in this one? I'm foggy on the rules.

  8. #8
    Guild Adept
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    The world inside my head.
    Posts
    250

    Default

    And the color choice for the empire, not fond of that blending so closely with the water, but that's me.
    Upon the Creation of the World the First Dragons cast their seed in the light of a Sun and a Thousand Suns, beneath the Moon and a Thousand Moons, on a World and a Thousand Worlds.

    www.sistercontinents.com

  9. #9
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor - Max -'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    France
    Posts
    4,220

    Default

    Veldehar you can avoid double posts by editing posts (edit button just bottom right of the post scrern)

  10. #10
    Guild Expert jbgibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Alabama, USA
    Posts
    1,429

    Default

    Regardless of whether you use an array of fonts or not, fraktur in small sizes gets pretty illegible. That might wind up a deciding factor in whether you use font as culture symbology - if one can't read what the name of the country is, then which culture it belongs to may be moot.

    But I like it. Nice job!

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
  •