An area almost surrounded by cliffs, with top leveled off by the monastery builders. I intend to have some ruined bits at the bottom of the cliffs (which I may redo later). The village is in the process of extending their palisade - again! some remnants of the previous palisade are yet to be added, along with a few details to be rejigged. i am not so happy with the background, and will also add more interst to the river. I have also taken advice about putting the authorship on the map, in a way it cannot be easily excised from a png.
Other critical comments please. Please. Please.
I also have another village in mind, to be done in a completely different style for me. BTW, this is the first time i have used Bitmap B. I will submit the one I feel happier about to the competition, though of course, both will be offered to the Atlas.
I don't know the backstory of the village, but it could be that the market is large as it is the regional market for many other small hamlets and villages in the area. From the size of some of the buildings, this appears to be a wealthy area. There appears to be a walled compound that houses the local Noble?? and in the NE of the town there appears to be a large religions structure?
and I agree with Sue, that the floating Mesa is an issue. perhaps a series of decreasing under layments of brown to give it sume "support?" Something like this .. ..
Here is the latest version of my village - labelling to be done(probably as a side or bottom legend). perhaps a frame, but nothing fancy. Comments please. The village is indeed a regional agricultural centre, with a small fishing industry. Walls have been formed, and reformed, and are in the process of extending further - Runcibor has become quite prosperous. The ruined Monastery is on the top of a cliff like hill which was flattened at the top to build the buildings there - it was monastery of Holy Spiros, but the doctrines of that rather bizarre sect led to an overthrow of their rule, destruction of the monastery, and the village coming under the protection of Dunor - the manor house (walled) and barrack fort are relatively recent. The stockade is mainly to keep animals (and werewolves) out rather than serious protection against any humanoid enemies (of which there really are very few in this district).
I like it, what I like most is the background story with the monastery and why it got destroyed. It‘s an authentic market village/market town. I don‘t know if the houses are enough for a pop of 712, but maybe they are along the road to the north.
It‘s so nice, you spent a lot of thought for this small village. If it is some kind of regional administration centre I expect it to have this guy collecting taxes for the king, exploiting the farmers (like the sheriff from Notingham)...
WRTD! wanna role the dice ;)
I really like the map, though I think it might be better to use a rocky texture for those cliffs? If you have used Solid White, a blend mode and a bevel, then you could just plop the rock texture on a sheet underneath it with a nice EFI effect to soften the join between rock and grass?
As for the population - I have to agree with Jensen, since a rough count showed less than 100 buildings on the map, which would mean at least 7 people in each dwelling, no matter how small, or whether it was a barn or not.
I suppose you could claim that 50-100 live in the larger houses as servants/slaves in very cramped quarters, but maybe it would be better to halve that number?
Your map is coming along nicely, Quenten. I am seeing water in some gaps on your bridge. You may want to tighten your spacing a bit to avoid that. I know that sometimes symbols appear to be butted up against each other at one zoom level, but are not at another. For bridges and walls I like a little overlap of symbols to avoid showing gaps at changed resolutions.
I have reduced population by 100; and will fix that water thing - thanks, Texas. The great thing about posting here is new eyes pick up what I may have missed. All my maps are better for the comments given.
It is always good to have another set of eyes. I know there are mistakes I have made that I never would have caught if not for someone else pointing it out. Keep up the mapping, Quenten.
Apart from finishing the Legend on the left, and the story on the right, the map is finished. BUT... I would love critical comments, esp from Texas Jake, jensen, wyvern and LoopySue, plus any others of course. And please, make them with a view to improving the map.
Very nice changes in color, Jensen. One thing that you may try is putting some green on a layer beneath the fields that extends just a bit beyond their perimeter. Add some transparency to that layer so it is subtle and not overpowering. I think the shadow on the east side of the plateau in the SW corner could be a bit less intense and allow a little more of the cliff face detail to show through. All that said, this is coming along splendidly. You are doing a masterful job.
Edit: just reread my post. I meant to say Very nice changes in color, Quenten.
lol, you ask for critical comments from the guy, who never finished a city map (me). I actually read these city maps posts as I hope one day I will and until that day I hope to learn as much as possible.
With this in mind just one comment from me: In the city maps I started, but also in overland maps I’ve made, I found that the bevel effect not really fits very well with the use of handdrawn symbols. The exception is a very careful usage (e.g. a tiny inver bevel for valeys). But I have no real solution for that except investing a relatively high amount of time placing cliffs etc. from symbol set.
Besides this fine-tuning thing I love your village and again I learned worthwhile things!
Yeah, bevel has to be used in moderation. The color change to the plateau in the SW makes the bevel look much more natural and I like the result. If you could fade the edges on the terrain on top of that plateau to soften the edge a bit would look better.
Here is the map updated. Labelling of roads out of town, river and swamp to go, and rest of legend and story. More critical comments please (unless you think it is OK as is)
A lovely little village. Looking at the complete map, I have to admit I am not sold on the cobblestone fill in the market square though. It just feels to "busy" compared to the rest of the map.
Oh I love the name of the Baron, Felix Schultz, it is very well picked!
For those who don’t know: Schultz is the shortform of Schultheiß, which was a job title for a local administrator and judge of the king (or whatever). This function was very old, going back to the tribal times of the Germans. The etymological background of this name „der, der Schuld heißt“, means ‚he, who bid to duty‘ (I hope the translation makes sense, I mean someone who calls people to fullfill their duty).
The first name Felix means ‚the lucky one‘.
So we have the lucky local tax collector, which brings me back to the sheriff of Nottingham.
Let‘s go and help the village people fight exploitation!
Thanks for this, Quenten ;)
Definitely like the first example better than this. One the first example you could try adding some transparency to tone it down and add a bit more fade on the edges.
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Comments
The village is in the process of extending their palisade - again! some remnants of the previous palisade are yet to be added, along with a few details to be rejigged. i am not so happy with the background, and will also add more interst to the river.
I have also taken advice about putting the authorship on the map, in a way it cannot be easily excised from a png.
Other critical comments please. Please. Please.
I also have another village in mind, to be done in a completely different style for me. BTW, this is the first time i have used Bitmap B. I will submit the one I feel happier about to the competition, though of course, both will be offered to the Atlas.
and I agree with Sue, that the floating Mesa is an issue. perhaps a series of decreasing under layments of brown to give it sume "support?" Something like this .. ..
The village is indeed a regional agricultural centre, with a small fishing industry.
Walls have been formed, and reformed, and are in the process of extending further - Runcibor has become quite prosperous.
The ruined Monastery is on the top of a cliff like hill which was flattened at the top to build the buildings there - it was monastery of Holy Spiros, but the doctrines of that rather bizarre sect led to an overthrow of their rule, destruction of the monastery, and the village coming under the protection of Dunor - the manor house (walled) and barrack fort are relatively recent. The stockade is mainly to keep animals (and werewolves) out rather than serious protection against any humanoid enemies (of which there really are very few in this district).
It‘s so nice, you spent a lot of thought for this small village. If it is some kind of regional administration centre I expect it to have this guy collecting taxes for the king, exploiting the farmers (like the sheriff from Notingham)...
WRTD! wanna role the dice ;)
As for the population - I have to agree with Jensen, since a rough count showed less than 100 buildings on the map, which would mean at least 7 people in each dwelling, no matter how small, or whether it was a barn or not.
I suppose you could claim that 50-100 live in the larger houses as servants/slaves in very cramped quarters, but maybe it would be better to halve that number?
But if you're happy with it...
Edit: just reread my post. I meant to say Very nice changes in color, Quenten.
With this in mind just one comment from me: In the city maps I started, but also in overland maps I’ve made, I found that the bevel effect not really fits very well with the use of handdrawn symbols. The exception is a very careful usage (e.g. a tiny inver bevel for valeys). But I have no real solution for that except investing a relatively high amount of time placing cliffs etc. from symbol set.
Besides this fine-tuning thing I love your village and again I learned worthwhile things!
The rock texture on that hill is a good improvement. I'm still slightly obsessed by it though. Its the sharp edge of the flat topped bit this time.
Do you think it might look slightly more natural if you put an EFI on that flat top so that its not so much like a knife edge?
The rest is just right
Sorry - I missed reading that comment before I made my own.
The numbering is an improvement over the lettering. Less obtrusive, yet still clear.
For those who don’t know: Schultz is the shortform of Schultheiß, which was a job title for a local administrator and judge of the king (or whatever). This function was very old, going back to the tribal times of the Germans. The etymological background of this name „der, der Schuld heißt“, means ‚he, who bid to duty‘ (I hope the translation makes sense, I mean someone who calls people to fullfill their duty).
The first name Felix means ‚the lucky one‘.
So we have the lucky local tax collector, which brings me back to the sheriff of Nottingham.
Let‘s go and help the village people fight exploitation!
Thanks for this, Quenten ;)