Tundra & Frozen Sea

[Leland]

So, needing some practice on glaciers and frozen seas, I put together a quick map.

I'll be touching it up and adding more detail to it, including a hex set for use. Let me know thoughts, things that can be done for improvements and the like.

[Leland]

And here is the parchment stylized map...

[Josiah VE]

Looks nice. I've never made an ice map, how did you do it?
One thing I would say is you can hardly make out some of the landmarks, and the islands. I'm sure that is how it would be in reality, and that might be how you want it, but I wonder if there's something you can do to make them more visible.
Great job!

[Leland]

Thanks Josh, I agree with you on the 'getting lost' on the ice. I added symbols to the map and highlighted the islands more distinctively.

As for how I made, I'd say I might try to make a tutorial for it but my work really isn't up to par with the great stuff on here. It's primarily made in Photoshop. I painted up the hills as two and three dimensional items and then mixed them together. Instead of traditional black and white, I used a blue and white color scheme. A few layers of beveling until I got the right shape and feel for the snow... finally I got to use the 'Plastic Wrap' filter in Photoshop. I can't remember the last time I actually used it for anything at all and this turned out very neat with it.

[Leland]

And the original recolored version. I'm actually quite pleased with how this is shaping up. Thanks for your advice.

[Josiah VE]

Looks much better now!
That's quite a clever process, I should try it sometime.

[Caenwyr]

Apart from everything else, I also like the icons you used! Do these belong to a fantasy script or something? They look very intriguing!

The font is weird, but I think you can make it work. It would require some effort though. To get all the characters in the right spot, you'll probably have to play around with kerning a bit. The F especially seems to take up a lotta place, which doesn't always work. in "City of Frozen Steam", for example, the capital F seems to cross over into "of", which doesn't look good. And the words "Graves" and "River" seem to be squeezed into too narrow a space altogether. Examples of the opposite are the W in "Barrow" (which seems to be placed quite far away from the O), and the N in "Uln" (which would probably look better if you positioned it above the horizontal stroke of the L).

But that's just the labeling. The image itself is magnificent. Minimalistic, sure, but it conveys the right message.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Try to give it a nice border maybe?

[Leland]

Thanks. For what it is worth, I personally HATE the font. This is part of my learning and experimenting process for that Bloodstone Lands map that a friend is having me do. So, I'm trying to learning how to use it. Honestly, I really am hoping to convince him not to use it, so I can not dissect a font to make it work. I might just try to sneak in a different font as I'm the one doing the work on it.

As for the symbols, they brushes from StarRaven's Sketchy Cartography set. Here is a link to them on DeviantArt.

[Leland]

Try to give it a nice border maybe?

Something along these lines Schwarzkreuz?