Map Making Map discussion

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head
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Holy cartographers, Batman!

That is insanely good and from an artistic perspective I have no critique whatsoever. The only thing that caught my eye is your mountains. It looks like there's shadows on both sides, and typically only one side (usually the one that gets less sun) would be the darker shaded side per what I'd seen from the original thread where the guy was giving youtube tutorials on it.

I guess it's possible, so doesn't really bother me per se, but maybe someone who's more versed than I could chime in here.

My only other thought is:Bravo!
 

WriteMinded

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I've seen maps in books that look a lot like yours. As a reader, I like to be oriented, and that's all I ask of a map. Only once or twice have I stopped to oooh and ahhh over the artwork. Of course, I'm ooohing and ahhhing over Patty's.

A little cartography looms in my near future, but I plan on it being as simple as I can get away with.
 

Kjbartolotta

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Woollybear

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Two years later...

Here's the updated map for the second book. Does anything puzzle you or stick out (in the wrong/bad way)? Critique welcome. This is similar to the map I made two years ago (post #25), but covers more land area and has a few new features.

EljNJvy.jpg
 
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AlanHeise

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I am trying to get a way to put on an image but I do not have the ability to get text. So I can not use Imgur. Any ideas?
 
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Woollybear

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Sorry, no help from me. I ended up using Imgur but recall the difficulty in figuring out how to make it all work.

I'm still working on this map, and today will need to find a way to move the label "The Great Gorge" so it isn't sliced in half when the map is printed across two pages in the print copy. I spent an hour on it yesterday, and in the end the approach I tried then didn't work. But, it's almost done.
 

AlanHeise

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I am trying to send this via hushapp, but still do not know how to do this. I am trying to send to absolutewrite.com is this right?
 

Unimportant

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Woollybear

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I use the insert image button, next to the hyperlink button, but the photo (map/jpg) has to be uploaded first to a photo sharing site or some such. Does not have to be Imgur, I believe.
 
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MaeZe

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I’m not going to post anymore - clearly I can neither write nor draw very well...at least comparatively speaking.

*sigh*
Goodness, your maps were getting the lay of the land quite well. I don't think one needs to start with perfection. I like maps in novels where the characters travel a bit. Maps help to make the picture of their journeys more clear.

I drew some maps for my world but they were for me. I don't intend to put them in the book. I needed to be clear where the rivers ran. The villagers follow the riverbed to the grazing lands where they hunt. And my characters went river rafting and I needed the river to flatten out to warm up a bit before narrowing to the rapids.

It helped me keep things straight.
 

MaeZe

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Two years later...

Here's the updated map for the second book. Does anything puzzle you or stick out (in the wrong/bad way)? Critique welcome. This is similar to the map I made two years ago (post #25), but covers more land area and has a few new features.

EljNJvy.jpg
OMG, once again I didn't realize I was posting in a necro thread. That makes two or three in the last two weeks. But it still seemed quite relevant. (y)
 

WriteMinded

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OMG, once again I didn't realize I was posting in a necro thread. That makes two or three in the last two weeks. But it still seemed quite relevant. (y)
Remember the site was down for . . . almost forever. So there are some threads being reincarnated.
 

TStarnes

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Okay. I'm taking/soliciting critique feedback. I've tweaked a bunch of stuff... Which you may or may not see... and this feels very close to done. Definitely a 'product' compared to the blank sheet of paper I had six weeks ago.... I still want to clean up shadows in the foreground and make the city buildings sharper, but this version is essentially as far as I can go on my own.

If this was in the front pages of a self published book, or else on a website associated with to a book series, which parts of the map would you think should have been done better? (My answer is the buildings.)

Any changes you'd suggest? The main plot locations for book one are Sangal, Mount Tura, Collimais, and the Belt. And Narona. Those are mostly in the northern part of the map... the other parts of the map get referred to in the text but we don't go there in the story until book two.

3pmejuI.png
This is really good and looks very professional. The only thing that jumps right out at me is the font choice for cities. The font/color of the sea/bay, the province fonts are all good, but the cities stand out, like they were added in by someone else later. Some of it is the color, some the font, and some the placement (the text sometimes runs over the buildings)
 
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Woollybear

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Interesting--Looks like I didn't italicize those. Thanks!
 

Woollybear

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Doing something related to writing but which is not writing is a good palate cleanser. :)

Map making in particular can highlight areas of a story that are told 'wrong' (if that makes sense). Knowing where things are relative to one another can uncover mistakes made while writing.

There's a youtube channel WASD with Nate (someone) which has lots of resources for making maps.
 

frimble3

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Well, since no one else is going - attempt #2 which I am liking a bit more. It's super busy, but I am ok with that - though my printing still kind of sucks (I've gotten way to lazy with my penmanship LOL):

corcora_island_sm.png


As always, be brutal - I can take it, thick skin here :)

I've been working with a mechanical pencil only thus far, so think I am going to invest in some of the pens and pencils that Nathan links to in his tutorials - the erasing of goofs will likely be cleaner and I am willing to bet I'll get sharper details with better utensils - less than $20, so getting those likely later today! :)
I like the style of the mountains. If you're going to be buying things for lettering, perhaps an all-caps stencil in the appropriate size? Or, those lettering-transfers?
If you're only doing the sort of lettering shown on your map, it might be simpler to use technical assistance than to try to teach yourself fancier lettering for a dozen words.