My first try using the new Empire of the Sun Cartographer's Annual mapping style

So I spent some time at work today working on this map with the new mapping style, "Empire of the Sun". I was just trying to get used to the techniques I might have to use to make a good map so I came up with this for a first try after doing the tutorial. I probably won't actually use this map for anything but it was a nice starter practice map.

I hope you like it.

Comments

  • Thanks,

    I look forward to seeing what beautiful maps other people come up with for this style. These kind of maps have always drawn my attention and I've always wanted to be able to draw maps like this for my Dungeons and Dragons Oriental Adventures campaigns. Now that I can I am really going to surprise my players soon.
  • I was thinking this would be a great find for players in a Western medieval fantasy-style game, a strange map they come across as part of a treasure.
  • edited February 2016
    That's a great idea!...I think I'll keep it just for that.

    And on that note, I just added a bit more to the upper right corner to make it look much better.

    I think this really made the map look right.
  • Nice. Like a printer or mapmaker's mark.
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    Looks fantastic! I'm so jazzed about this style. I can't wait to redo one of my previous maps. It's too late for that adventure but will be great going forward.

    I really like the "seal" or signature you added. How did you do that, may I ask?

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • edited February 2016
    Thanks, I'm glad you like it:)

    First, I researched the internet for what those kind of marks actually look like in old prints and maps and such. I found that there really isn't just one style, there were many ways the mapmaker marked his work. I saw one that had a square that was red colored and on the inside it had old Sanskrit writings.

    I wanted to try to see how close to that one I could get so I started looking through all of the symbols in the new Empire of the Sun set to see if there were any. There are not.

    So I remembered that when I was labelling my places of interest on the map that some of the letters from the Far East font that come with this new symbol set were actually sort of square looking. So I looked through them all and settled on the letter "O".

    I enlarged it until it is at it's current size you see on my map, changed the font color to red, placed it, then filled in the spaces with the letters "E", "M", "k", and "A". I made those a bit smaller so they fit inside the "O".

    Then I looked through all of my old symbols that I downloaded when I first bought Campaign Cartographer and found that I had downloaded some Asian dragon art. I found a dragon that I liked, made it red, and put it above the letter "O". And this is the result.

    So the only part of this map that wasn't done using the Empire of the Sun style was the dragon. Everything else is directly from the style.

    I have been trying to do these kind of maps since I first got Campaign Cartographer but no style I used ever seemed to work right. I am SO glad that this style came out!
  • Well, this is a try at a coastal scene but I have to say I am definitely not completely happy with the final result. Getting the right shape of the coastline is what is turning out to be hard to do. I want it more crescent shaped with wavy lines on the parts of the crescent that extend down to the bottom of the map. That is at such a weird angle that it is hard to get my mouse to correspond to my vision of the way it should look. So this is a first practice piece for the coastal map.
  • Nice, I really like it ! Your coastline looks just fine to me. I'd remove the glow around the boats and the small islands, they flash a bit imo.
  • edited February 2016
    Thanks Svaala,

    I've fixed the map a bit. I didn't like the river extending out into the ocean in that weird way so I opened up the river a bit. I also moved the city in the upper right back a ways because something just didn't sit right with it. I think I may have made the symbol for the city too big. Anyway, I think moving the city back looks much better. I also toned down the glow on the islands and on the boats so that it is incredibly subtle.

    I think it looks much better now. Any thoughts?
  • Another great map in what is turning out to be a fantastic Annual Issue. Thanks Tonnichiwa
  • edited February 2016
    Your welcome. I'm glad I can make maps with this style that people enjoy. Now to practice that crescent edge that I want so bad...

    And hopefully some of you guys will actually post some of your own maps, Cmon, you know you want to!
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    I do want to! But first I have to make the time to make the map. *sigh*

    In the meantime, I really like your map, especially your use of the varicolor mountains/hills. It's a nice, balanced mix and good color choices.

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • Thanks Dogtag. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
  • 4 months later
  • This is nice work! I have been playing with this style a little bit myself recently and was wondering how you got the "glow" around the edges of the text??

    Also, how did you get the blossom or petal colours on some of the trees??

    Thanks in advance for your help! :-) I will post my efforts up here for you to view when it is done! :-)
  • edited June 2016
    Hi Pookey Penguin.

    Thanks.

    I got the glow around the text by putting the text on its own sheet, and then going into the effects of the sheet and putting an outer glow on the text. I messed around with the size of the glow until it got to a size I liked and then I kept it.

    If you take a look at my first map, you will see that I put some reeds down by the lake. I also used a trick with them that I am not sure anyone noticed. I took the varicolor version of those same reeds and changed the color to brown so they looked like tree branches instead of green reeds. Then I found some varicolor bushes with no stems attached to them, chose different colors for them, and put them on top of the brown colored reeds. The end effect was some very nice looking trees. I hope that I have explained the process good enough for you. (well, I think that is how I did it. It has been a few months so I may be wrong on this. I may have used something else for the branches)

    I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this style :)

    I'm also trying to make a new style of map with these symbols. Instead of a coastline, I'm trying to do an entire country. Way back in the late 80's TSR came out with the Oriental Adventures version of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They had some maps for it but they didn't look Asian at all so I decided I would make my own and use a more Japanese theme with them. Somewhere around here I made a thread about it but I haven't really been working on maps lately as my work has been keeping me extra busy of late.

    Anyway, good luck in your map making.
  • Posted By: tonnichiwaI also used a trick with them that I am not sure anyone noticed. I took the varicolor version of those same reeds and changed the color to brown so they looked like tree branches instead of green reeds. Then I found some varicolor bushes with no stems attached to them, chose different colors for them, and put them on top of the brown colored reeds. The end effect was some very nice looking trees. I hope that I have explained the process good enough for you. (well, I think that is how I did it. It has been a few months so I may be wrong on this. I may have used something else for the branches)
    Now that's clever. Good adaptation!
  • Thanks Barliman. Coming up with ways to make the map more colorful was challenging. I experimented quite a bit with different techniques. I was really happy when I stumbled upon that one.
  • improvisation! You can come up with some really interesting effects when you have to improvise!
  • Haha! I have done similar things with other map style symbols! Why I didn't think to do something like that on this one I don't know! :-S Nevermind, I shall try that. :-)

    Also, I have got the text working with the glow around it now. It has been a number of months since I used CC3+, so I have unfortunately got a bit rusty. I will get working and post up the results soon. Nice to find someone who enjoys this style as much as me. :-) Also, your idea sounds great! Good luck with it! I write in my spare time, so a lot of the maps I try and come up with are for various fantasy or science fiction stories. I am yet to come up with something "oriental" to write, but this map style is really inspiring me... Who knows...! ;-)
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