Community Atlas - North Central Alarius

Shessar

This is just my beginning layout. As usual, all things subject to change and input always welcome.

Loopysue

That's beautiful, Shessar!

I had wondered what all the arctic stuff looked like when it was put together in a large area, but hadn't had time to try it out for myself.

Shessar

Thanks Sue, both for the compliment and for the annual! When I saw your art for this annual I knew that I had to use it for this section of Alarius.

Shessar

A little added to the southwest quadrant of the map. Still lots to do overall on this project.

Loopysue

Ah, but the style is only a relatively small part of it all. It takes a great mapper to make a great map

I am surprised by how well structure symbols from other styles go with this one. It wasn't a design thing - just a happy accident.

I will be making quite a few more structure symbols for part 2.

[Deleted User]

Guess who'll be putting in a bid for the village (?) of Quent!

Wyvern

Might be a rendering artefact, but I'm not sure what's happened to the "Monestary of Destiny" label (Monastery?); there seem to be a couple of odd breaks in the letters - the "E" in "Monestary" especially, but also the "D" in "Destiny".

Map's looking great so far regardless!

Loopysue

It may be that the colour of the font is interfering with the way the glow is funcitoning. I'm afraid it might tend to be a recurring issue with the arctic mountains. I did try to make them more blue than white for that very reason, but I seem to have failed in places.

Shessar

It is indeed caused by the same color pixels on top of each other with text, usually either pure black or white. I hadn't noticed it, so will fix it in my fcw. Thanks!

Quenten, the village is yours to do (it IS named after you, after all). I also noticed that the scale of the village symbol is wrong so have to fix that too.

Thanks so much for the comments everyone! Onward!!!

Lorelei

As usual, coming along nicely, Shessar! Sue's style really is lovely....i'm looking forward to some recreational mapping time and dig my teeth into it. Looking forward to the finished map

Shessar

Thanks Lorelei. Sue's style is indeed lovely and so easy to work with. Everything just blends together so perfectly.

Here's a simple update. I've expanded the map just a bit and have been adding more locations.Still a lot to add.

I've also spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to get the text to be readable yet still look good. I'm open to any suggestions on the text. Bigger? Different color? Different glow? Ahhhh! Help me!

[Deleted User]

I think the text is about right - though some may dislike the colour, I like it a lot.

Loopysue

The text itself is perfectly legible. Maybe swap the Glow for an Outer Glow and make it more defined - less blurry at the edges?

Wyvern

I don't know whether it's just me or not, but I've found increasingly over the years that sans-serif fonts seem to be easier to read than serif ones as diagram or map labels. And yet I've long preferred the look of serif fonts overall! Contradiction wrapped in an enigma...

Not sure that digression helps here. However, given the nature of the river names - and they can't really be made larger and still label as they do - does the text actually need to be more legible than it is at this level of view? The current "mistiness", and colouring, look right to me, and sufficiently legible.

"Frost Giant's Tower" seems to be in a larger font size; deliberate, or an experimental option? To my eye, the smaller font size seems to work better.

Loopysue

Serifed always look better. If you use one with thicker stalks (pardon me for not knowing the right name for the thin bits between the thicker bits), they can be just as readable as serif - sometimes better.

Shessar

Great suggestions, thanks! I think I'll go with this version of text glow(unless someone convinces me that the prior one looks better.

Loopysue

It looks a lot better - more even and easier to read

Shessar

I think this is my final version. I'll leave it for any new suggestions while I comb through to make sure everything ended up on the sheet and layer that I had intended. Sometimes when I'm in a mapping frenzy I don't always notice where things end up. Hehe.

Edited to add: I forgot to add shading and such to the ocean. Will do that too before submitting to the Atlas.

Lorelei

Lovely

[Deleted User]

Once you do, I'll follow with the village of Quent.

Shessar

Finished and handed in to the Atlas!

Monsen

The map is now in the atlas. Great map, I really like this style.

Alarius North Central