WIP – some land and a bit of sea

[Lingon]

Looking really good. Yeah, I think with the paper texture in there, the seas look great.

Thanks! Glad to hear that!

Wow, that's excellent Lingon. Lovely paper style. How did you do those excellent height shadowing?

Cheers Ilanthar! The shading is painted in PS with big soft brushes, white for the highlights and a dark khaki for shadows, that I darkened further at the steepest sides with the burn tool. Set to low opacity, et voila Glad you like them!

This map looks great, Lingon! The contours are insane but turned out really good! Can't wait to see the final map (:

-Dan

Thanks Dan! That's nice to hear

I do realy dislike how the whiteshading is "on top" of teh red lines and distressing them. Also I do think the font size is way to big for this map, which suggest a larger area. I would reduce it at least by half size.

Thanks, good points! I actually put the white below the contours at first, then moved them on top because I felt it made the mountains too dark. I've moved it back to below the lines now though, what do you think about this version? I think this one is better when viewed full size, the other (distressed, as you described it) wins when zoomed out to look at the map in its entirety... Regarding the fonts, that may be because I just had put in the biggest ones then. Now there are more small labels too. I like when there's a big size difference in the labels, but do you still think they are too big?

[Diamond]

I wouldn't change the font sizes - they look good as is (to me, anyway). I'm also liking the shading moved underneath like that.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Nice looking map! The contour lines are a little loud for me, and I think they would still be very readable if they were thinner and/or a color that matches the basemap color or gives a hint to their natural origin. Just my opinion of course, but I think some shade of brown would be a good choice for them on this map.

[vorropohaiah]

That looks amazing. Puts my stuff to shame! Love the shading but I agree with Schwarzkreuz about the highlights. Also is it just a soft black/white brush with low opacity?

[jshoer]

I like the shading under the contour lines, too. But I would also tone down the contours in combination with that. I think you're zeroing in on the right answer here!

[Lingon]

I wouldn't change the font sizes - they look good as is (to me, anyway). I'm also liking the shading moved underneath like that.

Awesome, glad to hear it. Really appreciate your support, Diamond ^^

Nice looking map! The contour lines are a little loud for me, and I think they would still be very readable if they were thinner and/or a color that matches the basemap color or gives a hint to their natural origin. Just my opinion of course, but I think some shade of brown would be a good choice for them on this map.

Thank you! I want to keep them red, but I toned down the intensity a bit, maybe looks better in the new version below?

That looks amazing. Puts my stuff to shame! Love the shading but I agree with Schwarzkreuz about the highlights. Also is it just a soft black/white brush with low opacity?

Wow, thank you, I kinda don't know what to say to be honest because I continually go to your threads for inspiration and to motivate myself to get better It's pretty much like that, not pure black but a dark brown though. Here's what it look like without all the other stuff on top:

I like the shading under the contour lines, too. But I would also tone down the contours in combination with that. I think you're zeroing in on the right answer here!

Cheers! Contours have been toned down, hope you'll like this version


So aside from making the contours less loud, I've finished the labeling and swapped the capital cities for a leaf symbol, just for some variation, and with the overall red decreased, I felt the icons could use a dark red as a spot color. Also put a little bit of texture on the biggest text.

[- Max -]

That looks awesome Lingon

[Diamond]

'Warships Grave': one of THE best names I've ever seen on a map.

[Caenwyr]

maple leaf city icons - that's something you don't see every day . I like it! The changes you did since the last update are definitely for the better. You look very close to a final version now. All that's left is some cleaning up (such as the border beneath the Warship's Grave label) and I think you can call it finished!

[Lingon]

Haha, always fun to add something unusual Thank you, glad you think so! I believe the cleanup is done, fixed that border overlap, did a tiny change to the cartouche shape, some manual neatening up of the contour lines in a few spots, some other small things no-one except me will notice… So I'm feeling satisfied with this one. Here's the final version, also coming up in the Finished section. Thanks everyone for the help and support!