My first boat

So, i'm working on a commission project where i need a symbol of a galley with an upper deck and a central hold. I love to fish and boat on my dad's vessel, but myself know NOTHING about boats or anything nautical, for that matter. Anyway, there is a pretty limited supply of symbols meeting my needs and decided to try to to make one myself and convert it to a png symbol. Does this look like a Galley with an upper deck and central hold????? Here's what i've gotten....I give you the S.S. Lorelei (hee hee) Thoughts? (i know it's pretty plain, but this IS a symbol, not a map - although i am sure now i will be using it as such in my own campaign:) )

Comments

  • This is superb, and meets all your requirements in my opinion. Love to be there at the launch!
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Hey Lorelei :)

    Nice first try :D

    I think the sail area may be a bit small, but you don't want to cover the battlemap with sails, I know ;)
  • Thanks, guys. Yeah, i thought so also, Sue, but I need the dock along side this not be obstructed by top view for battle play :) However, for future for my own uses, i will certainly increase the sail size - more options for battle up there on the lines and rigging - maybe i'll even try a crow's nest? Anyway, i think for use as a symbol within a battle map, it should be fine :)
  • ScottAScottA Surveyor
    Very nice. Agreed about the sails being too small, but understand the reasoning and I don't think it will be noticeable used as a symbol. Lovely, though.
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited May 2017
    Looks great! (not exactly a shock) and it'll make an even more terrific symbol! Holy cow!

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • DogtagDogtag Moderator, Betatester Traveler
    edited May 2017
    I notice that the hull looks like it might be made of small, carefully placed straight paths (because, you know... my eyes do that sort of crap). Is that how you did it? If so, you may want to check out Monsen's recent post about mirrored polygons. They're really cool. I don't think it matters here. It's barely noticeable now at this scale so it will probably vanish entirely at the symbol-level. But if you want to do a battle map of one of the ships later, you might want to make a mirrored poly drawing tool to play with.

    Cheers,
    ~Dogtag
  • edited May 2017
  • MedioMedio Surveyor
    Usually the cargo bay is made between both masts (sorry about not using the exact names, i know them in spanish but not in english). Although depends on which kind of ship you want to do (i mean, if it has to be just fantasy or based on real earth, and then depends on the age...). Apart from that, and understanding that it looks like a small galley (a standard galley would have a much smaller upper deck), the ship is beautiful.
  • pvernonpvernon Betatester 🖼️ 34 images Surveyor
    Lorelei, you used the term Galley, a boat/ship propelled by oars, is that what you were thinking? Or were you thinking of a self propelled barge?
    If Galley is correct, add oars and lose the masts, If barge, lose the small mast, move the renaming mast to the as close to the middle as possible and put cargo hatches on either side of the mast. Any rigging is probably too much for a symbol.
  • It's a beautiful boat Lorelei :) I need to start making more of my own boats like this. I've wanted boat symbols for some of my city maps for quite some time now.

    I think many people get the word Galley mixed up with the word Galleon. A Galley is two things in nautical terms. The first is exactly what pvernon described. The second is the place where the sailors all sit down to eat.

    a Galleon however, is a very large ship with lots of sails, a few decks to it, and plenty of space for cannon and cargo. Those are what most people think of when the word Galley is used.
  • HadrianVIHadrianVI Surveyor
    This is a very nice ship:)
  • JMunsonIIJMunsonII Traveler
    You've drawn up a very nice boat. :)

    You might wish to reference this article for a "galley": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley

    Some galley's had sails (some even more than one), but the primary propulsion was by oars. Sail area is of no consequence in terms of your galley as that was an "auxiliary" form of locomotion anyway.

    Though, relative to those sails, you would see the mast behind the spar - yours doesn't show that. Instead you've got it such that the spar is actually resting on top of the mast. In fact, the spars wouldn't be near the top of the mast at all - quite a ways down. Also, the mains'l's spar is bit long to starboard. ;)

    I'd say your boat is a little closer to a barque (or barc)... ;) Though, I bet, that's quite debatable.
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