Atlas Elyden

[Lingon]

I thought of two things just now:
1. I haven't said how much I like this style, I think. The light blue and the red, the subtle paper texture, the borders and cartouches, everything fits together in a very beautiful and unexpected way. It feels sci-fi, fantasy and historical at the same time, without any clichés. Which, I realized as I typed it, is quite the accomplishment.
2. Since they are all going to be in an atlas and show the same time period, maybe the cartouches don't have to say "A map of" and "In the age of the Reaffirmation Wars"? Unless there's a point to the repetition, it feels mostly like… repetition

[Llannagh]

Howly cow, you're productive! Unfortunately I haven't been able to read much further on your blog, but that last update inspired me just by skimming through it.

Lingon seems to be right though. If those maps do appear in an atlas, wouldn't the book/tome/book-thingy give information about the map's background? On the other hand, though, if it's going to be in a way as the David Rumsey Collection, those maps might as well be from different time periods. Hm...

Anyway, I like the style and look forward to the complete collection!

[vorropohaiah]

I love these maps. Are you planning to have a similar level of detail to the Korachan one (posted on page 2) on all the maps eventually? Looks like an insane amount of work, but it's definitely worth it!

They should do, though as you say it's a lot of detail and it probably won't be coming any time soon! Also, I'm still at odds as to how to represent some features like woodlands, mountains, quarries etc.

2. Since they are all going to be in an atlas and show the same time period, maybe the cartouches don't have to say "A map of" and "In the age of the Reaffirmation Wars"? Unless there's a point to the repetition, it feels mostly like… repetition

Lingon seems to be right though. If those maps do appear in an atlas, wouldn't the book/tome/book-thingy give information about the map's background? On the other hand, though, if it's going to be in a way as the David Rumsey Collection, those maps might as well be from different time periods. Hm...

I see your point - so a generic title bar with the name and none of that reaffirmation war nonsense, and a cartouched farther down with key and scale details etc. That will also free up more room in the map itself

[Lingon]

Yay, I'm helping! *Zoidberg voice*

[Raptori]

They should do, though as you say it's a lot of detail and it probably won't be coming any time soon! Also, I'm still at odds as to how to represent some features like woodlands, mountains, quarries etc.

Haha yeah, looks like years worth of work to me!

I think it'd take more work to put all that info into one map and make it work than it would be to separate them out into different maps. Judging by that Korachan one they're spot on for displaying political information, and adding more detail might end up making them less effective. Mountains (and some other features like lakes) are definitely important enough in politics for them to be included, but they can be nice and subtle, like in this map. Most other physical features like different biomes would be better represented in their own maps, and important features like quarries I guess could be represented pretty easily by different icons?

However, if you can work out a way to do it all in one map then that'd be impressive!

[Pixie]

Your whole world building is an inspiration, vorropohaiah. Congrats on all the work you've been doing.

If you want more ideas for maps, here are some:
land use
relief
population density

check this webpage where you can find some of them for a country (Haiti, random choice):
NationMaster - Maps of Haiti (11 in total)

Your atlas style looks pretty modern, so I am wondering if your world is already deep into industrial era or beyond. If so, natural resources is a matter of key importance and it would be normal to see continental maps charting coal, oil and other mineral rich regions.

Again, huge and impressive work!

[vorropohaiah]

Haha yeah, looks like years worth of work to me!

I think it'd take more work to put all that info into one map and make it work than it would be to separate them out into different maps. Judging by that Korachan one they're spot on for displaying political information, and adding more detail might end up making them less effective. Mountains (and some other features like lakes) are definitely important enough in politics for them to be included, but they can be nice and subtle, like in this map. Most other physical features like different biomes would be better represented in their own maps, and important features like quarries I guess could be represented pretty easily by different icons?

That's a cool map and mucha s i like those mountains and think theyll be so much easier toget done than the marching caterpillars i dont think theyll fit in - they seem a bit too modern. though it might be worth it to try a mock up, as i really am not looking forward to doing those marching caterpillars...

Your whole world building is an inspiration, vorropohaiah. Congrats on all the work you've been doing.
Your atlas style looks pretty modern, so I am wondering if your world is already deep into industrial era or beyond. If so, natural resources is a matter of key importance and it would be normal to see continental maps charting coal, oil and other mineral rich regions.

Again, huge and impressive work!

the world is at best post industrial age, so resources would be a great feature i idnt even think of!

[Raptori]

That's a cool map and mucha s i like those mountains and think theyll be so much easier toget done than the marching caterpillars i dont think theyll fit in - they seem a bit too modern. though it might be worth it to try a mock up, as i really am not looking forward to doing those marching caterpillars...

Yeah I get what you mean, they do look a bit too modern when you compare them to the rest of the map.

Something that might match your style a bit better could be this:



I love that style, but it might take a similar amount of work to the marching caterpillars, so really that'd just be a stylistic thing. It'd save you from having to work out what to make the icons look like to match the maps though, so that's one plus at least!

[Lingon]

Here's another idea for the mountains:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...arine-1851.jpg

It probably shows much more mountain detail than you need in these maps, but I think a similar style could work if you only draw the relevant ranges.

[vorropohaiah]

Yeah I get what you mean, they do look a bit too modern when you compare them to the rest of the map.

Something that might match your style a bit better could be this:


I love that style, but it might take a similar amount of work to the marching caterpillars, so really that'd just be a stylistic thing. It'd save you from having to work out what to make the icons look like to match the maps though, so that's one plus at least!

I'm a big fan of that map actually and i was considering that style of mountqain ut its actually a lot more work than the marching caterpillars, which can be achieved relatively easily by stroking a line with a wedge shape (in theory). these dinotopia ones are much more attractive though far more time consuming to get done. A dilemma, for sure!

Here's another idea for the mountains:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...arine-1851.jpg

It probably shows much more mountain detail than you need in these maps, but I think a similar style could work if you only draw the relevant ranges.

gorgeous! but far beyond the scope what these maps want or need to convey, also im not sure i'd even be able to convincingly recreate such contours, in a timel fashion, at least! thanks for the suggestion, though