Maps of Aquerra

[el-remmen]

What is the straight line crossing the continent on the left towards the bottom of that landmass? There's no clear indicator of what it represents and it doesn't exist on the largest scale map?

That's a border dividing that islands between the magocracy and the disputed territories with the Kingdom of the Red God of the West.

 

[el-remmen]

Hmm, I'd use a darker color for the various names of seas and oceans. Plus, the red text is hard to read. You might want to get it to "pop" more. Maybe try black with a thin red outline.

What program are you using?

KF72

Photoshop.

As for the labels, could it be local settings? Because everything looks really clear to me on my machine at home and at work. :\

 

[James Heard]

In general it's best to go with a setting when you're saving for the web or for other people which displays best to the most people, through many sizes and monitor sizes and local color settings (Mac/PC/Crystal Ball).

Personally I think I'd try just reducing the bevel and stroke settings on your text layers a little bit first, because the color scheme is pretty unique right now and that's sort of nice.

 

[Pbartender]

That's a border dividing that islands between the magocracy and the disputed territories with the Kingdom of the Red God of the West.

You might try using a dashed line -- especially if you can make it just a little less ruler-straight -- that might make it a little more obvious as a border.

As for the labels, could it be local settings? Because everything looks really clear to me on my machine at home and at work. :\

It could be... I know I've noticed variations in color between my monitor at home and my monitor at work. My home monitor is much darker.

Here's what I see from my monitor at work with regards to labels...

Map 1:

"Magocracy of Thricia" is hard for me to look at as orange and red. It hurts my eyes.

The city names are pretty good, though the vivid red in conjunction with the unalloyed black can be a bit tricky in spots. The same goes for "Kingdom of the Red God of the West", though that particular label is much more legible than in the first version.

The Sea Labels... There's too much bling on these. I see outlining, embossing and drop shadows. It clutters up the labels and makes them difficult to read. Try it without the embossing and the shadow.

Map 2:

The labels don't stand out... The grey tone you used for the sea labels on this one are fairly bland. I'm not hot on the magenta-pink title, but that's just my personal preference toward the title.



I'm not certain if it's the style you want, but here's something I've found that works very well for labels... Use a very dark -- almost black -- color for the actual text. Then, use the almost white version of that color as a very thin outer glow to highlight it. It works a little better if the contrast between text and outline is a contrast of intensity, rather than a contrast of color.

Also, don't be afraid to fill the map spaces with the labels. A lot of your non-city labels could easily be doubled or tripled in point-size. For multi-word labels, pop half the label down to a second line. Make them as big as possible, while still fitting into the territory that they represent.

Also, also, use the transform function to rotate your labels. Use the Text tool options to bend the text around obstacles. What you did with "The Kingdom of the Red God of the West" is a good example... but more.



By the by, I really like what you did with the water... I might have to try that next time I make a map. It's a nice effect.

 

[el-remmen]

Here are another two maps.

I am making my way eastward now across the world.

The second map just shows where the first in relation to the previously posted maps.

I am still not happy with the text labeling the sea - but that kind of thing can be easily changed. For now I just want to crank out some maps and not get bogged down in stuff that I can tweak forever.

 

[Meloncov]

They look nice, but I don't think the fonts for the labels work. The two-tone approach looks to computery for a fantasy map.

 

[Pbartender]

They look nice, but I don't think the fonts for the labels work. The two-tone approach looks to computery for a fantasy map.

Sure, but you still need to strike a compromise between computery and legible.

Get rid of the outline completely, and in some instances, you won't be able to read the labels at all.

 

[James Heard]

Not if you merely altered the color of the stroke. Right now it looks like default evil red.

 

[el-remmen]

Here is my latest map. So far, I am sticking with the light blue text for the sea names, as I still have not found something I like better and don't want them to stand out too much. I made the town/cities names bigger than on the other maps to make them clearer.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Hey, thats pretty neat!