Alu'kesh Dragonlands

[Neyjour]

A guide to the Alu'kesh Dragonlands.
(translation has not yet been scribed. )



Just a new map I'm working on, for myself (for fun).

To-do list:
* Title and some descriptive text
* Maybe add some more land (and ocean) labels
* Replace dragon icons with better ones
* Replace compass with a better one
* Add another ocean texture
* Clean up where rhumb lines intersect with coast lines
* Add mountains, and maybe some other land/vegetation details

[Neyjour]

* Added another ocean texture
* Added mountains (still more to add...)
* Added mudflat craters
* Cleaned up where rhumb lines intersect coast lines
* Cleaned up where text intersects coast lines

[Neyjour]

Last update for today:

* Added a grunge border
* Added ocean labels
* Added the title
* Changed colours on border and rhumb stars
* Changed the compass

[Freodin]

Very appealing colour scheme. Invokes a kind of arctic feeling... I don't know if that was your intent, seems to conflict with "mudflats" a little.
Nice setting for the dragons. I like the way you placed the description(?) texts for them. You might consider changing the polygon border of these texts to a circle though... might fit with the circular text better.

The mountain brushes do not quite fit with the rest of your linework... they are to fine and crisp, contrasting with your rather bold and soft lines.

But the one thing that personally... irritates... me the most is the "gap" in the triangle lines of the map border. A matter of taste, surely.

[Mark Oliva]

You might consider changing the polygon border of these texts to a circle though... might fit with the circular text better.

Interesting. I think the polygons are just right, making a very good transition between the jagged land mass seacoasts and the rounded lettering.

[Neyjour]

Very appealing colour scheme. Invokes a kind of arctic feeling... I don't know if that was your intent, seems to conflict with "mudflats" a little.
Nice setting for the dragons. I like the way you placed the description(?) texts for them. You might consider changing the polygon border of these texts to a circle though... might fit with the circular text better.

The mountain brushes do not quite fit with the rest of your linework... they are to fine and crisp, contrasting with your rather bold and soft lines.

But the one thing that personally... irritates... me the most is the "gap" in the triangle lines of the map border. A matter of taste, surely.

Thanks for the feedback.

I haven't decided whether to make the whole thing arctic, or have monochromatic forests/swamps/plains/etc. But... I think I'm leaning more towards arctic. In which case, the mudflats/craters will go, or I may keep the craters and try turning that area into cracked ice flats.

I definitely agree that the mountains don't look right at the moment. Hopefully when I re-texture the ground (once I've decided on climate/s), they'll mesh better.

For the dragon/area descriptions I tried both circles and polygons, and decided to go with the polygons. They looked a bit more interesting, and I liked how the straight edges intersect with the rhumb lines.

Errr... the little gaps in the border? They'll probably stay (I like them! ), unless I decide to completely re-do/replace the whole border.

Interesting. I think the polygons are just right, making a very good transition between the jagged land mass seacoasts and the rounded lettering.

Thanks Mark.

Yeah, I tried both circles and polygons, and definitely preferred the polygons.

[gtwucla]

The general shape of the landmass is really cool and I like the color scheme. It makes me think of Svalbard. I just wanted to note that I think the coastline of all the landmasses has a bit too much of a uniform bumpiness. What do you think about having some smoother coastline (or segments of coastline) with jagged inlets cutting inland?

[Neyjour]

The general shape of the landmass is really cool and I like the color scheme. It makes me think of Svalbard. I just wanted to note that I think the coastline of all the landmasses has a bit too much of a uniform bumpiness. What do you think about having some smoother coastline (or segments of coastline) with jagged inlets cutting inland?

Thanks gtwucla.

The landmasses were made using the Polygon Map Generation demo, which is why the coastline has that uniform "bumpy" style.

I don't have a tablet, and hand-drawing coastlines with a mouse is impossible for me, so I've been experimenting with other ways to create continent shapes (land brushes, macro textures, generators, etc.). The coastlines with this generator aren't realistic, but I liked the style anyway, and used it to make a few Base Map resources for free download. This map was one of them, and I wanted to see what I could personally do with it.


Worked on it a bit more this morning:

* Added a snow/ice texture to the terrain
* Added an under-layer of shading/texturing to the mountains
* Changed the dragon icons
* Changed the ocean labels, rhumb stars, and compass colours (I can't make up my mind on those...)

[Neyjour]

* Added more mountains (all done with those)
* Added a couple more craters on the larger continent
* Added some ridgelines to the terrain
* Changed the border and title colours to white

[Josiah VE]

This is awesome!! I haven't really looked at it since now.

Love the composition and all the extra flares to it, the circle thingies with that script, the border, rhumb lines....