Chasing realistic topography: Brywaeo

[Caenwyr]

Hey all,

For the past two weeks I've been working on a map in an entirely new style (well, new to me!) in order to get the hang of it. The style I was going after is that daydream-inducing, soft-coloured look of old school atlases. I was never very good at paying attention in class, but boy did I spend a lot of time staring at those maps! They're not as fantasy-esque as many book maps (which I really loved as well), but they have the magnificent benefit of reality: all those places depicted actually exist. Which is a fantastic element all of its own.

While the map I created obviously doesn't have that benefit, I hope I still managed to emulate the dreamy-yet-factual style of the atlases of my youth.

Brywaeo (FINAL 2).jpg

Since this map was made to actually learn something, I'm inviting all of you to be as critical as possible. Like something? Don't like something? Let me know!

[- JO -]

You nailed it !
that looks exactly as the maps I was staring too in class ! Very well done !
If I had to do some remarks, I would say that the only thing that disturb me are the names of the regions (Safryn).
It might be due to the font, the color or the size of the label. I don't know exactly, but my eyes were disturbed by those labels, during the travel through my school years.
Otherwise, it's just like those big map, that were displayed in the classrooms !
Another point of discussion could be the "old" aspect : the map is made in the old style, but it looks new.
I don't know how far you wanted to go for the "old "style, but you could go a little further, in choosing an old "paper" and faint a bit the colors ?
Anyway, thanks a lot for this journey in the highlights of those tidious long days in school !

[Caenwyr]

If I had to do some remarks, I would say that the only thing that disturb me are the names of the regions (Safryn).
It might be due to the font, the color or the size of the label. I don't know exactly, but my eyes were disturbed by those labels, during the travel through my school years.

Well, I got a similar remark elsewhere to be honest. Maybe it's the fact that they're curved, whereas all the other labels are either horizontal or rotated? Shouldn't take me too long to get that fixed. Also, I might size them down a notch - it's true that they're pretty large. In fact, they're already substantially smaller than in the real map that I used as an inspiration, but I might have to tweak that a little more.

Another point of discussion could be the "old" aspect : the map is made in the old style, but it looks new.
I don't know how far you wanted to go for the "old "style, but you could go a little further, in choosing an old "paper" and faint a bit the colors?

Good idea! Hadn't thought of that. Overlaying a parchment texture should be even less work than changing the region labels, and I'll definitely try that out. Thanks!

As a rule I try not to upload any changes in the "finished" section, but I guess in this case (the changing being rather minor) I could make an exception. Keep your eyes peeled for the update!

[Caenwyr]

Updated in the original post

[QED42]

Really impressive. This map has turned out excellently and certainly captures the style you were going for.

[DanielHasenbos]

Great map Caenwyr. As Jo already pointed out, the only thing that really stands out to me is the province labels. I think it is because they are curved, even where they don't necessarily need to be. If you look at this map you'll see that every label is horizontal, expect the ocean, river and mountain labels, and even those are only arched and tilted when it's absolutely necessary. Otherwise I really don't have anything to add to this map. I personally don't find the lack of paper texture disturbing. It kind of makes the map look like on of the map on those glossy pages.

Great work!

[Voolf]

The map itself looks very good. I can't find any particular bad things about it.

I do however don't like 2 other things in the map. One is the font (sorry, i read you spend lot of time choosing them). I don't like the big grey Arial. It somehow does not mach for me and its too big (or thick?). I would go with some serif font and also place names on little curve.

Second thing is the top 2 scales. In my eyes they would look much better with some space between them.

Overall great map !

[Caenwyr]

The map itself looks very good. I can't find any particular bad things about it.

I do however don't like 2 other things in the map. One is the font (sorry, i read you spend lot of time choosing them). I don't like the big grey Arial. It somehow does not mach for me and its too big (or thick?). I would go with some serif font and also place names on little curve.

Second thing is the top 2 scales. In my eyes they would look much better with some space between them.

Overall great map !

Thanks for the feedback Voolf! I mostly agree with you! Arial is a dull font, it's not exciting at all... but it is identical to what the old topographic-map-masters used, so I decided to go for it anyway. I like Anson a lot, and both Fabrica and Nauman are pretty cool too, but you gotta do what you gotta do. This first map was mainly an attempt to get used to this style - I assume I can start improvising once I really know where I want to take it. About the curve your proposed: they were there in all of the WIP updates, but I decided to get rid of the curves precisely because they weren't how the old masters did it.

About the scales: they're a bit funny, granted, but they too are close to the original. Same goes here: I first need to learn how they usually do it, and then I can go and change it to the better (hopefully).

But all in all I can't say I disagree with either of your points, although I guess you should take it up with the original masters instead of this poor little student

[Mouse]

I agree entirely with Voolf. An exceptional piece of mapping work

Maybe if the original masters chose badly for the regional name font, you could improve on it? Its a little distracting - so large and grey like that. Maybe not so bold, and perhaps even a little paler and half transparent? I don't know. I would be tempted to try mostly transparent with a slightly less transparent outline - and again, not so bold.

[lastofthemany]

Good map. Great colors.
Some suggestions.
1 Your color ramp seems a bit off. Dark green should be the lowest land elevation fading up into yellows. This does two things, one it creates better contrast with the blues of the oceans and two, it grades better into yellows and browns.
2 Also since you're map occurs at high latitudes, maybe you could top off the highest elevations in white to simulate the tree line. This may require you to trim out some greens, but in the end your tinting will represent both elevation and vegetation cover. Some research here as to the tree line at 65 degrees might be helpful.
3 try italics with serifs for water, sans serifs for land and boundary features with no italics. Maybe blacks for man made and brown for natural. To distinguish between the features since you're using different languages that aren't obvious to everyone. You could also try lightening your province names. Try a 50% black or around there.