Looking to spruce up my map

I've been sitting on this map for some years now and started working on it again for a campaign.

It's intended to be for a set of tropical, volcanic islands with a nautical theme and I'm just not sure what I'm missing to make it really pop.

Originally I wanted to design this map to alter it into a 17th century europe style.

I plan to bring the map into GIMP without the ocean bitmap fill and replace with parchment texturing, then put on some wrinkled paper and water stain brushes.

I'd love any suggestions!

Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited July 2018
    Hello McQ :)

    I have broadband quota issues right now, so I'm not going to download anything I don't know the size of till after the 21st of the month when the clock is re-set.

    However, I can say that working with CC3 and GIMP in combination has allowed me to make award winning maps. I regularly use CC3 and GIMP in tandem, and have made ocean backgrounds before. I have also made parchment backgrounds in GIMP and imported them as bitmaps to CC3 files, or converted them to fills and imposed them in overlay or multiply mode, which makes the whole map look exactly like it was drawn on an actual piece of parchment. (To import an image as a fill and use it in overlay or multiply mode, the image must be saved as a png file)

    That way, I can make full use of the things CC3 makes easy, while gaining the freedom to shade and colour things in GIMP. But perhaps the best bit about using both apps together is that if you need to touch up the ocean, or change it, you can do that freely in GIMP, and as long as you save it over the original bitmap file it will automatically appear in the CC3 map next time you open it.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited July 2018
    Here is the best example I have of a CC3 map utilising a GIMP background. The ocean and the cliffs were done in GIMP - using CC3 and third party add on fills for the main part. The rest of it, including the labels scale bar and frame is a CC3 map, and nothing I could have done in GIMP all that easily.

    Scribble Rock

    And here is a CC3 map with a parchment overlay as described above

    [Image_11299]
  • I downloaded your fcw file. Ships, ocean currents, some different bitmap fills to show the different terrains. Like forests, marsh/swamp areas. I'm not sure what the The T..ee S ens are but the black background makes the black text hard to read.

    300 x 200 miles is a nice size.
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