Fantasy maps created using Xara Xtreme

**Karateed** · 10 December 2011, 09:25 PM

Hi Michael,

One thing you could do so you don't have to keep directing people to your tutorial is maybe put it in your signature as a link, then they could just click it and go there. Others have done this and I think it's an effective way to save you extra time explaining you have a tutorial and where it might be.

Just a thought....

BTW, your new map is really awesome, certainly captures the imagination....

**Gamerprinter** · 11 December 2011, 12:21 PM

I'll do that later today - I wanted to finish the map first, and I just did!

Here's the final. I darkened the background even more, so the text labeling would show up better. I changed the border - I removed the details within the border itself, placed story text on top and bottom and some icons left and right of a sword, Sutton Hoo helmet, saxon axe and a shield. I also enlarged the pillory and shrunk the ballista to better match scale. Finally I placed a square grid and a scale.

Note: the title font is Anglo Saxon and the text font is Magic the Gathering.

That's it, done!

Enjoy!

Michael

Here's a link to the full size map - Wyrm Sign

Click image for larger version.

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**Big Frank** · 11 December 2011, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Gamerprinter

Here's a link to the full size map - Wyrm Sign

No there isn't, lol

**cursor** · 11 December 2011, 01:13 PM

Your link to the full size map in your previous post results in

Not Found
The requested URL /cbg/wyrm-sign-final-thumb.jpg was not found on this server.

**Big Frank** · 11 December 2011, 01:14 PM

It's still a brilliant map though, even at low rez

**Gamerprinter** · 11 December 2011, 09:18 PM

Let's try this again...

Wyrm Sign map

It worked this time

**cursor** · 12 December 2011, 12:35 PM

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.

Note that links to Gameprinter's three tutorials are in post #18 of this thread.

**Gamerprinter** · 27 February 2012, 04:04 AM

Sorry guys, been a while since I last posted, but as always very busy these days.

Here's the final hand-drawn map of the City of Kasai, Minkai Empire, for #6, Jade Regent Adventure Path, Paizo Publishing - this was a commission to create a preliminary hand-drawing of this urban capital with a propose population of 35,000 to 80,000. This took me 12 hours to create start to finish, although I had to wait a couple of weeks to create the last quarter as I was waiting on the author's map of the fortress for this adventure, so I could match details between both maps. Anyway, I created this back in July, but was not allowed to post anywhere until after the product was released on February 22nd. It's out, so now I can show it. Although this is four different 18" x 24" scanned then composited into Xara - this really isn't much to show Xara in action.

I'd post a thumbnail, but it's a 100 ppi 36" x 45" map of lineart - as a thumbnail, it becomes a blur of pixels, so here's a link to the full final map...

City of Kasai map.

**Gamerprinter** · 22 March 2012, 02:47 PM

Next map is the castle town of Kawashi, as a sample samurai town set in Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting. This is my usual hand-drawn style finished in Xara Xtreme Pro 4.

Enjoy!

Michael

Click image for larger version.

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Link to larger version - Kawashi town map.

**zeedale** · 22 March 2012, 07:28 PM

Michael, your maps are beautiful! Just wondering why you choose Xara over other vector programs. That is, what Xara features do you enjoy using and why? And how does it help you progress quickly when creating your works? I'm curious because I'm not sure if I'm fully taking advantage of Xara's potential. I have Xara Designer Pro and other vector programs installed on my PC, but I often deliberate on which ones to use for certain tasks.