[WIP] my first map

[Dn'k]

Hello,

I worked a few hours on my newbie's map.

I blurred the shading strokes, set a scale and got rid of the villages stamps. I worked a bit on the forests too, leaving only a few patches as the map was getting crowded.



I have a question about forest : should the roads and rivers be hidden by the forest ? or is it better to open a path in the forest for roads and rivers ?

[J.Edward]

There are differing opinions on that point.
Some like the effect of things being hidden by the trees and others don't.
I've done it both ways for differing reasons.
I would say it depends on your preferences and how important that information is to the map.
One options for the roads - when they go under trees you could switch to a dotted line.
For rivers going through trees - you can add a line where they go through trees.
Here's how I dealt with that on one map

Sapiento tried some different things related to this in his wip thread for the Hyborian Age map.
Might be worth taking a look.
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...light=hyborian

[Ilanthar]

Well, I completely agree with J. Edward. It depends greatly of the purpose of the map, the "style" of the map and your own preferences. Good job so far, btw .

[Dn'k]

Thanks

I educated my eye on several maps from this board, and i'm afraid i have a scale issue with de mountains. They seem soooo big... And the ridge seems too thick too. What do you think ? (i hope i wont have to redraw the whole shading stuff
And which brush do you use to make the ridges ? yesterday i gave a shot to a close up of the extreme south village, i reshaped some ridges with a very thin brush (1-3pix) and it seems better :


it's far from finished though...

[johnvanvliet]

Am i right in guessing that the area is comparable to say Italy

a bit tall and wide for a peninsula the size of Italy

more to wide that anything

[Ilanthar]

By Dn'k
i'm afraid i have a scale issue with de mountains. They seem soooo big... And the ridge seems too thick too. What do you think ?

It depends. You've got to consider that most large area maps have oversized mountains or shadings, to emphasize on it. It would look very flat otherwise (Everest is "only" 9km, and after all, it's not a big deal on an horizontal way).

[J.Edward]

It may be a bit of a problem with the scale you chose. If the scale were 15 miles rather than 30 miles it might be okay.
Many of us have learned from things like this that setting the scale first and sticking to it accurately is important with regional maps.
If you remove the scale no one will be the wiser though.