[WIP] Uncharted Isle

LadieStorm · April 2016

This is my second ever 'commissioned' map (My husband asked me to make it for him). He wanted an uncharted, undiscovered arctic island. He was very specific in what he wanted, hence only the one massive mountain, only one small river, and lots of hills.

I'm no where near finished with it... and it's going to be interesting. No towns, no roads... just endless wilderness. It's not a large island either... maybe 25-30 miles across.

As usual, comments and suggestions are welcome! I'm not quite liking the river... I'm going to have to go back in and redo it... looking for ideas there.

Barliman · April 2016

I like the overall layout, but the landmass gives me pause: it looks like your mountain, hills, and trees sit atop an ice floe, rather than solid ground. I don't know if that style has a better alternative, though.

LadieStorm · April 2016

lol... that's actually snowy terrain... I may work on the bitmap repitition a bit...

ArgoForg · April 2016

Agreed with Barliman, and that was a lot of the problem that I ran into with my snowy terrain, so I definitely would not suggest edge fade, lol! I think you're on the right track, in that expanding the bitmap scale to decrease repetition might help a little. I do like how pretty the Wielink symbols look close up, and you put them to good use here!

LadieStorm · April 2016

unfortunately, I can't go above about 150. with this fill, or it pixelates. I may have to restart this map... and go with a tundra land base, instead of a snowy one.. I'll have to see. And I wouldn't do an inner edge fade here, anyway... since I made that the landmass, NOT a terrain fill. I literally went in and changed the properties. Which is why I need to go back in and rethink it a bit.

LadieStorm · April 2016

So I completely remade this island. I'm not done, although it took me a lot less time to make the island the second time! I decided to go with the first snowy land terrain, as opposed to the second one. I moved some things around a bit... except for the river and the mountain (those are specifically requested items, and can't be changed). I hope this looks better....

Dogtag · April 2016

Nice.

You may want to consider adding some terrain fills under/around the forrests, and maybe even around the other landforms (hills, mt, canyon). Maybe along the banks of the river,too? When I look at the island, things kind of get lost due to the similar colors and textures.

I like this layout better than the first one. Out of curiosity, how do the trees get their water?

The map gives a sense of cold and desolation, which I'm guessing was the goal. Spot on.

Oh, and, if you made a map of it, is it really still uncharted?

Cheers,
~Dogtag

LadieStorm · April 2016

Lol Dogtag!!! I'm actually going to be removing a lot of those forests, per hubby's request. I will also be removing g some of the land mass also.

As for how the trees vet their water, I'll admit, I'm not sure... not my island

. I will work on it and see what I come up with.

Shessar · April 2016

Keep scale in mind. I know that the scale in an overland map is more fluid than in city and dungeon maps, but the trees are bigger than the hills and look out of place.

The monotone of the symbols and fills makes for an interesting map.

LadieStorm · April 2016

Most of those trees are going to be gone anyways.

LadieStorm · April 2016

Well, thanks so much to Monsen, I was finally able to edit this island. As you will notice, all of the trees and forests are gone. I actually plan on putting a few back, because that's what the 'client' wants, only we are going to switch it up a bit.

You will also notice I grabbed just a bit from one of Mike Schley's symbol sets. I wasn't sure how the two different styles would mesh. While I''m not sure they would mesh well in a normal map... I think the two styles actually work for this one. And it gives me a great way for me to make only one viable beach head, which is what my hubby asked for. I also added some more hills (as per his request), to make the island more treacherous.

I still have a few more things to do on the island itself, then I can start on the ice flows.

Comments, suggestions and ideas are still welcome!

JimP · April 2016

I see you got rid of the large white border. Map looks good to.

LadieStorm · May 2016

and here is the finished map. I added the ice flows and glaciers, finished the effects, and gave it its direction. Hope you enjoy!