When drawing maps,

[JustSarah]

I was wondering, when someone wants to handle elevation when they draw they map, is there a standard way to chart specific areas that are higher than others?

 

I presently have a couple of maps. One is for things like mountains, towns, rivers, and other typical map stuff. The second one I guess you could call a random encounter chart. But I'm not quite sure how I would determine elevation.

 

I'm thinking more visually, not textually. Brandon mentioned that mountains come apart where ever there is a fault line. At this point I'm sort of having to guess, and maybe assume that the further away from the fault line, the lighter it becomes, and therefore less elevated. (Depending on whether you have darker be higher, or lighter be higher.)

 

But I have the first two maps done.

[Mysty she/her]

I suposse it depends on how technical you want to get. Contour lines is a typical method in real maps. (See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contour_line) However contour lines aren't particulary pretty. You can achive the same effect with color gradiations (for example dark been on the mountain top, light green in the valley, and in between the colors gradually change). Color changes is often more imediately distiguishable for someone newly looking at the map (unless you're color blind).

The method chosen depends on how the map will be used and artistic preference.

[JustSarah]

I might end up considering black and white variation then. Thanks!

 

I ended up actually drawing to different layers of the map. Because half the story is set in the real world (as real as a the potato district is), and the other half is set in sort of this game world. I'm sort of experimenting with how that will end up being communicated.

Edited November 17, 2013 by JustSarah