(WIP) Arch City of Nessa'Mor

[Mouse]

Oh my! There are literally THOUSANDS of fonts out there on sites like Dafont.com (which is the one I tend to trawl) and you can get really bogged down or even fall asleep choosing one, there are just so many.

Google 'free fonts' and you'll pretty quickly discover most of the main sites.

Font choice is such a very personal thing, a bit like your favourite colour or taste, that it would be impossible for me to guess what the ideal font would be for you. I would suggest that the best and only way is to go looking at what there is for yourself.

Guidelines - try not to fall in love with anything that is grossly ornate or distorted. Those kinds of fonts look great on a poster ad, but they're pretty much rubbish in a map because they are hard to read, and map labels are meant at the very least to be legible. The other one you already know - a graceful font might look very nice, but they tend to have lots of thin bits in the individual letters that disappear if they are used at a small scale.

Before you go racing off to google everything, though, just check out what you've already got available on your system by flipping open that font box in GIMP, as the last thing you want to do is bog down your PC with a thousand different new fonts, if you already have the one you like right there.

One rule: Never use Papyrus!!! Its got a really bad name around here because it was totally overused to death in the early days of fantasy cartography

[XCali]

Oh my! There are literally THOUSANDS of fonts out there on sites like Dafont.com (which is the one I tend to trawl) and you can get really bogged down or even fall asleep choosing one, there are just so many.

Google 'free fonts' and you'll pretty quickly discover most of the main sites.

Font choice is such a very personal thing, a bit like your favourite colour or taste, that it would be impossible for me to guess what the ideal font would be for you. I would suggest that the best and only way is to go looking at what there is for yourself.

Guidelines - try not to fall in love with anything that is grossly ornate or distorted. Those kinds of fonts look great on a poster ad, but they're pretty much rubbish in a map because they are hard to read, and map labels are meant at the very least to be legible. The other one you already know - a graceful font might look very nice, but they tend to have lots of thin bits in the individual letters that disappear if they are used at a small scale.

Before you go racing off to google everything, though, just check out what you've already got available on your system by flipping open that font box in GIMP, as the last thing you want to do is bog down your PC with a thousand different new fonts, if you already have the one you like right there.

One rule: Never use Papyrus!!! Its got a really bad name around here because it was totally overused to death in the early days of fantasy cartography

Hehe, I've been on Dafont. It is quite a VAST library. Got a few there. Like the Endor one I'm using for the title so far.
Though. let's give a quote from on stranger tides. "I find myself in a bewilderment."

It is not as much having a personal taste in this as it is for that I would like to find a font that would fit great on a fantasy map AND would be easy to read by other people. But as you well know, finding that for a map is not an easy search. So, any hints in the right direction would be much appreciated.

(And don't worry about Papyrus, I don't like the font anyway. )

[Mouse]

Here is a list of some I have downloaded over the last year, each for a hugely different maps, and most of them rejected.



I end up using only about 1 in every ten, since its impossible to know exactly what font will work, and what won't. what looks nice on the font site isn't necessarily ideal for a map.

There is one here that came from a site that DanielHasenbos recommended when I asked him what font he was using in one of his maps:

http://iginomarini.com/fell/the-revival-fonts/

I like the classical flavour of that one, but I wouldn't use it in a map like Scribble Rock, for instance. I used Tolkien in that one (another font that's rapidly becoming rather over-used).

Thinking about it now - that's probably the best way to develop your own collection - by looking around and asking other cartographers what that font is in their map

[XCali]

Here is a list of some I have downloaded over the last year, each for a hugely different maps, and most of them rejected.



I end up using only about 1 in every ten, since its impossible to know exactly what font will work, and what won't. what looks nice on the font site isn't necessarily ideal for a map.

There is one here that came from a site that DanielHasenbos recommended when I asked him what font he was using in one of his maps:

http://iginomarini.com/fell/the-revival-fonts/

I like the classical flavour of that one, but I wouldn't use it in a map like Scribble Rock, for instance. I used Tolkien in that one (another font that's rapidly becoming rather over-used).

Thinking about it now - that's probably the best way to develop your own collection - by looking around and asking other cartographers what that font is in their map

Rejected?

Thank you. Hehe, every little feedback helps. Just thinking about how far I've come in the short time I've been on this site... Really thank you for taking the time. Your feedback has been really inspiring so far, to say the very least.

Have a nice day further, and goodluck with your mapping projects. (And writing? What do you write if I may be so bold to ask?)

[Mouse]

Please remember that what I find great for a particular map I'm doing at the time, might be of no use whatsoever for you, so by giving you this list I'm just showing you how many I've downloaded (each folder represents more than one font). Its not a definitive list of what you should have, or use, and I reject 9 out of 10 of them, because they don't look the way I thought they were going to look when I picked them on the font site.

You are very welcome to know what I use, but that doesn't mean they will necessarily be the right ones for your maps. In the end the only way to do this is to trawl the font sites for yourself and just look - look at everything there is. I think I must have spent over 100 hours doing exactly that, if I add all my 2-3 hour font hunting sessions together.

All that any of us can do is just look and experiment. And when we see a good one that someone else is currently using in a map in another thread, and we would like to have that font for ourselves, then we ask what it is - right there on the thread

EDIT: I enjoy helping people, so - no problem I write fantasy too, like just about everyone else on this site

[XCali]

Please remember that what I find great for a particular map I'm doing at the time, might be of no use whatsoever for you, so by giving you this list I'm just showing you how many I've downloaded (each folder represents more than one font). Its not a definitive list of what you should have, or use, and I reject 9 out of 10 of them, because they don't look the way I thought they were going to look when I picked them on the font site.

You are very welcome to know what I use, but that doesn't mean they will necessarily be the right ones for your maps. In the end the only way to do this is to trawl the font sites for yourself and just look - look at everything there is. I think I must have spent over 100 hours doing exactly that, if I add all my 2-3 hour font hunting sessions together.

All that any of us can do is just look and experiment. And when we see a good one that someone else is currently using in a map in another thread, and we would like to have that font for ourselves, then we ask what it is - right there on the thread

EDIT: I enjoy helping people, so - no problem I write fantasy too, like just about everyone else on this site

Hmm, true enough. This map is made of little and big experiments so far. Though the font and the buildings have been my bigger conundrums. Maybe what needs to go up top too.

I think I'll alter my question in regard to the font then. I'll try and add different fonts while I work on different sections of my maps and maybe ask a 1-100 on the different types as I go. I do feel the creamy colour harkens towards the fantasy maps I know was significant. White looks out of place the map. So for now I'm sticking with the creamy color. Unless some colour is brought forward that FITS on fantasy maps used for adventures.

But really thank you for your feedback so far. It is amazing. It helped so much.

[XCali]

Hi,

I started with shadows with all the buildings. To maybe see if I can remove the cut-out look with some of them. The lighthouse would cast a bigger shadow, but something about that shadow feels off, so any ideas would be welcome.

And as a side, I'm going to add different fonts to the Dawnflare tower area as I go. To see if one would work best. A nice 1-100 with that feedback might help.
And really I have no clue HOW I should place the text on the forest up top
Top to bottom
Bookman old Bold (1px black border)
TexGyre Bonum Bold (1px black border)
Century Schoolbook Bold (1px black border)
Century Schoolbook Bold (2px black border) Original

[Mouse]

Given the examples you have shown I'd say Bookman Bold out of that lot. Its more clearly visible. I can't stress enough, though, that all these opinions I express are just that - my opinions, and nothing more

I like the cut-out look! Its part of the charm of the map for me

I also like the way you've done the top bit. If you want to change it you could try blending in a bit of similar but not the same grass texture here and there on a separate layer over the top of the existing, but under the trees?

The forest label looks fine.

[XCali]

Given the examples you have shown I'd say Bookman Bold out of that lot. Its more clearly visible. I can't stress enough, though, that all these opinions I express are just that - my opinions, and nothing more

I like the cut-out look! Its part of the charm of the map for me

I also like the way you've done the top bit. If you want to change it you could try blending in a bit of similar but not the same grass texture here and there on a separate layer over the top of the existing, but under the trees?

The forest label looks fine.

Fair enough. But thank you anyway for your opinion.

Yeah me too, but um I think what I meant was that some of them look really 2D. Hehe. The shadows help a bit with that. This map is going places, so I need to do it properly.

Hmm, it's a fair idea that. I'll try a bit of that up top. I like it the top too, but I think also it's maybe that I need to add a bit more in the line of features up top to even it out. Maybe add the second fort I was thinking about up top.

That forest label.... hehe, I'll let it simmer for now.

Do you like the Lighthouse shadow the way it is?

[XCali]

HI!

For this one, I tackled the rocky coast a bit, made it a bit more prominent with a speckled brush with black on low opacity.

AND

I added a harbour. It's the first attempt, so let me know how it looks.



P.S. Ignore the TEXT on the map for this one. I didn't go for new fonts today.