Tillerz - first map try

[Tillerz]

Hello,

I am not the pro when it comes to drawing, so I started with a planet generator action for photoshop as a base, where you can select the texture being used for 4 different layers, and set something like a height limit/water level for each. This is a shrunk down version of the original 8000x8000 pixel surface (therefore a bit blurry):

See full map here: full map (3MB)

CURRENT MAP in each post is the link to the FULL map to see after each editing step I have done.

The part of the original map I chose for my editing is a bit smaller than 4K display size:

selection (4MB)

Detail:



This is the foundation for my changes, that part looked the most interesting to mee.

The tools I am using for editing:

• Base map generated with CosmicPack3 actions for PS
• Photoshop CC
• FilterForge 8 for PS
• Roll20 Marketplace Icon Sets

Backstory idea: as the base texture used for the land masses has those big round craters on it, my idea is that those are remnants from the "Clash of the Titans" or something, impact craters of horrible weapons. Also, the whole world has no magic by itself, the only regions where magic works are those craters... AND there's resources you can find in there which you can carry around, to be able to cast spells elsewhere. Finally the crystal balls ontop of wizards' staffs make sense!

[Tillerz]

So that's the basic map, unedited except setting some initial parameters.

Step 2:

• adding some landmarks
• adding trees
• adding a border
• adding a compass

See full map here: current map (5MB)

Detail:





Step 3:

• adjusting the map size to full 4K
• making the water more interesting
• making landmark labels better readable
• refining the white landmark ring markers into golden rings
• adjusting "land" to have a shadow drop and inner glow (darken the inside borders a bit)
• adding a handful of rivers to the map

See full map here: current map (6MB)

Detail:





Step 4:

• refining the trees
• adding some degree lines to the water
• adding some village markers
• adding even more things ot the water to make it look less flat
• replacing the golden landmark rigns with actual castles
• recoloring the mountains, we need a bit more of a reddish tone on the map, also add snow caps (bevel & imboss rocks!)
• recoloring the map border
• recoloring compass to make it more visible

See full map here: current map (7MB)

Detail:





Step 5:

• adding ice caps to north and south
• adding more water adjustments
• adding 2 volcanoes
• adding an 'alien' island (top north)
• adding a scale near the compass

WHOAH! The mountains went missing, need to fix this in the next step!

See full map here: current map (9MB)

Detail:





Step 6:

• fixing the mountains back into the map
• adding 4 REAL mountains!
• adding a magic shield around a small island (southeast)
• adding a maelstrom near the scale
• adding some swampy areas
• changing the icy bits so that they are actually covering water with a sheet of ice now, too
• adjusting the stretch of the icy covering
• moving some of the landmarks to have more "uncharted territory"
• centering all the landmark names
• modifying the scale and adjusted it from 100 to 250 miles

See full map here: current map (10MB)

Detail:



Mountain:



Ice:



Volcano + shielded island + swamps (the brown parts at the top of the map, see full sized map for more):



Scale + maelstrom:

[Tiana]

Interesting effect. Do you have a map of everything put together, or just the areas?

[Tillerz]

Step 7:

• replacing the degree lines with hex

See full map here: current map (10MB)

Detail:






That's the current version as of september 2nd.

Ideas, comments what to change/add?

The names of the cities are more or less random yet, I guess I need to find better ones and also group them up more so they represent the different cultures a bit better.

[Tillerz]

Interesting effect. Do you have a map of everything put together, or just the areas?

That's the links behind "generated map", that's the FULL map each time. Not in highest quality though cause those would be really big PNG files. I can post the PNG when I am finished with the map.

I highlighted the full map links in the previous posts, hope that helps.

[Tillerz]

..........

[Tiana]

Oh, that looks awesome all put together as one map. The mountains are a bit of a weird shape though, and not completely organic looking to my eye.

[Tillerz]

The brown ones with the snow on top or the 3 special ones? I am still fiddling with it, so can change it all.

[Tillerz]

Steps 8 to 13:

• added a map title
• changed the frame, compass rose and all the labels to metal
• changed the label font
• mountains are greyish now instead of brownish
• changed the scale to 500 miles
• moved around the major cities and villages, renamed/added some
• ice isn't stretching that far into the aequatorial area anymore
• redrew all the woods for a different distribution
• changed woods in the colder regions to have a less warm colour
• added more rivers
• some water/land changes so that some regions are better accessible by ship
• some color adjustments to the hex grid
• some adjustments to the mountain and volcano areas, making them less bulky

Thought about making the make more like a realistic view from above by making the water shiny. Is that any good or nah?



Player 'work' version will be slightly different, also will remove some of the details from it later:

[Tillerz]

Here's the link to the map on World Anvil, where I will add pins and stuff so that the map is explorable: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/alana/m...c-cd88753b432f