Here is map showing the area in the immediate vicinity of a village that I'm detailing. (I'm creating a customized write up of a Forgotten Realms area.) The area is not very interesting geographically, being primarily grasslands. I tried to give the map more visual interest by using the grasslands fill instead of just a solid color. I did the same with the cultivated areas to add contrast.
A month ago I would have been pretty happy with it, but since coming on here and seeing what the experts are doing, I'm a lot less satisfied with my maps. Any suggestions?
El Hakim, the Wandering Dwarf
"El Hakim--the Learned One--the other slaves called him, because at night, when they were allowed to rest for a few hours upon the rowers' benches and lie looking up at the skies, he would sometimes talk of the fabulous lands that lay to the east." --Frank Slaughter, The Mapmaker
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
I agree with Gandwarf... you are definitely suffering from a severe case of Softwarus Insufficientus, a somewhat common and fairly virulent malady.
Upgrade to CC3 (if you can), or give something like GIMP a try and see what you can come up with.
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Don't sell yourself short my man, this is a solid start upon which you can go pretty far. The layout is quite pleasing with the placement of the cities and such. This is a map screaming for RobA's regional style using GIMP. But, the bottom line is that any map is supposed to convey information easily and this does so. It's the aesthetics people get hung up on and it's not always necessary.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
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Thanks for the encouragement, guys. As soon as the Christmas bills are paid off, I'm going to invest in an upgrade to CC3.
(I don't even know what GIMP is.)
I did something different here, and I think I like it better. The whole reason for sectioning off the grass fill was because the roads were getting lost in the fill. I changed the spacing on it to make it less busy, and went across the whole map with it, pushing it behind everything except the green background, which I lightened a couple of shades.
I think I need to improve the look of the farmland now, though, and I may have gone too light with the background.
El Hakim, the Wandering Dwarf
"El Hakim--the Learned One--the other slaves called him, because at night, when they were allowed to rest for a few hours upon the rowers' benches and lie looking up at the skies, he would sometimes talk of the fabulous lands that lay to the east." --Frank Slaughter, The Mapmaker
Much, MUCH better. CC2Pro is not an old workhorse yet, and can turn out some brilliant maps in the hands of a master!
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I actually like this newer version a lot more than the first attempt. I think the color change and the spacing brings everything more "harmony" style-wise.
A little bit of randomness to the cultivated area would go a long way to completing this, I think.
Heh. I was thinking they needed more logic. For example, I'm thinking the area around Longsaddle might be too wide. A peasant who lived in Longsaddle would waste half his morning getting to the far edge of the fields. I think I need to cut a notch into it from the east so that it's stretched along the roads, but not too deep.
Can you give an example of what you mean?
El Hakim, the Wandering Dwarf
"El Hakim--the Learned One--the other slaves called him, because at night, when they were allowed to rest for a few hours upon the rowers' benches and lie looking up at the skies, he would sometimes talk of the fabulous lands that lay to the east." --Frank Slaughter, The Mapmaker
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
Here's another edit. I've gone to a slightly brighter green for the background, and changed the farmland a little. I'm uncertain about the cutouts I've done around some of the villages. Should they be on top of the farmland, or would it be too busy? Same with the roads. Maybe I could add the farm background underneath them, but not the fill.
El Hakim, the Wandering Dwarf
"El Hakim--the Learned One--the other slaves called him, because at night, when they were allowed to rest for a few hours upon the rowers' benches and lie looking up at the skies, he would sometimes talk of the fabulous lands that lay to the east." --Frank Slaughter, The Mapmaker