(WIP) A modern atlas map of Acur Eastern Coast

[Pixie]

Hi folks

I've been lurking for a while and not so much mapping, but I've got this piece that is coming of age and wanted to share. Both for a personal Ego trip and to get some comments and ideas for improvent.

The map aims for a modern Atlas look. There's still labels to add, as well as other graphical add-ons, such as scale, graticule degrees, legend, etc. I appreciate any suggestions concerning those.
For reference, this belongs (as always) to the Maward series.



I shall provide climate and historical content when I find the time..

[Straf]

You scanned this from an atlas didn't you?

When I was a young'un I used to spend hours with my nose in an atlas. This looks just like a page from one of those atlases. For me this is flawless. Well except for the river that passes through Kima Obi not quite having the legs to reach the sea. I'm sure someone with a shovel will be along to dig it a channel shortly though

Can I be cheeky and ask if I can steal the colour pallette from this map for my own use?

Oh and have some rep

[Tiluchi]

Holy cats Pixie, this is beautiful. Not that I expected anything less :-) The color scheme in particular is wonderful, and I like the naming scheme you have- it's refreshing to see place names not clearly derived from Western Europe (or England in particular). Overall it looks very professionally done

If I have to be really nitpicky here, it seems that you're working with layers done in a couple of different resolutions- your elevation markers on land and (especially) on sea are somewhat pixellated, which is sort of distracting when viewed at full size. I think if the final version of this map were about 80% of the size you have here, those would be basically unnoticeable, however. Another vert nitpicky comment is that your coastline doesn't always match 100% where you have land colored in- the peninsula north of Obdarxik and the coastline south of Poun and Dargo in particular. Although again, this is really only a problem at 100%.

I look forward to following this more!

[kacey]

Very nice Pixie, you replicated this style beautifully, and I really like the font choices. If you don't mind my asking, what font did you use for the big labels? It looks really good.

[Caenwyr]

Hey Pixie, looking really good here! I'm with Tiluchi however on the blurriness of the terrain layer (both land and sea). It looks like it got scaled up from something a little sharper - rather like clouds than actual terrain features. I'm not sure, but maybe you could pass a sharpen filter over it a bit? Or....

For the landmass, you could consider:

• making a greyscale version of the terrain (maybe you already have one which you applied a gradient to?);
• adding a little noise;
• exporting it to Wilbur (seriously, if you don't have this free gem, go and download it right now!);
• running a few erosion cycles on it; and
• turning the resulting greyscale into a lovely green-to-yellow again by applying a gradient.

That should get the terrain in gorgeous sharp detail. You're an absolute pro cartographer so I hope you don't take this as an affront, but, if you need any help with that, just yell and I'll be happy to jump in!

[Pixie]

Thank you all for the comments.

Color palette isn't something one can own, so feel free to use. I copied it from this map...

The blurryness of the background image is an issue I am still contending with. A sharpening filter might be a good idea to try - thanks for that Caenwyr. I should post a second version, but alaa... time! I'm not on my laptop, so will address other questions (font, for example) later on.

[Ilanthar]

Excellent work Pixie! The blurryness is only an issue at full size. I'm sure a few tricks (like the sharpening filter) will fix that. The sense of topography is already present and really well done.

[Pixie]

Here's a second version, probably with all the labeling it will get. There's not much still missing, but I think I'll add a text box or two - flags and demographics maybe, and surely a title. I'm also not so sure about the huge gray "border" - it started as a mere canvas expansion, then I got used to it, now I don't know. Another detail I am not at all satisfied with is the placement of the "Danip Ocean" label(s), I just don't seem find its "natural" position.

I addressed the blurryness issue. It was mainly created by g.projector, as I transformed my equiretangular map with relief shading into this projection and resized it a fair bit. Gladly, the sharpening filter did a much better job than I antecipated, so thank you so much for the tip, Caenwyr and Ilanthar.
As for the font choice. It is all written with the same font, called Constantia.




And now some extra info, Lore, Context, whatever...

The East Coast of Acur ranks amongst the most fertile climates on the planet, and as early as 2000 BCE it was already supporting agricultural communities, which had developed independently from the early civilizations to the West. Yet, throughout history, the story of the people of Dirama and Garayda is one of subjugation to external kingdoms and of frequent invasions and migrations.
The region is dominated by a few geographical areas - the valleys of the Yappaw and Withok rivers, crossing steppe and savannah lands, the huge Dira Massif, and the string of deserts: the Great Acurian, the Onkoni, the Zelandyi plateau and the Awanti. While the rivers favor North-South trade, the deserts create a formidable barrier between the Yappaw Basin, closer to Western peoples, and the Withok Basin, which links to everywhere north up to ice covered lands. The only road between then, apart the lenghty and often dangerous trip following the coast, follows the border between Dira's rugged terrain and the deserts of Onkoni and Awanti. This route is known as the Amber Road and for millenia, it was the nearly single source of the precious good.

The southeastern coast is warm and sufficiently wet to grow rice and every other foodstuff one can think of. If it isn't more densely populated and home to powerful kingdoms throughout history it is only because of the high level of internal conflict and the drain of people to other regions, including a healthy slave economy for much of recorded history. The old powerhouses where those that controled trade with the outside - the region around the Gad and Jawa rivers, the ancient city of Adeyed, the fortified centers of trade in the Withok river, but these fell to colonization. Modern nation borders reflect colonial empires more than cultural and ethnic divides, mainly in the south.

[Warlin]

The map is beautifull and quite well as we imagine find a map in a world atlas. Hope to see more of this in future, and I think i'll will refer to this thread if I want to emulate this kind of map. Really rep worthy.

[snodsy]

Maybe place the ocean text with much less leading, pushed straight up and centered between the top two area names, push the scale over to the right with a compass rose above, this will balance the upper top placement of the ocean text

Really beautiful work,