#nobadmaps — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nobadmaps, aggregated by home.social.
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Mercator Settlement: A Free 16th Century Settlement Brush Set for Fantasy Maps
Buckle up mapmakers, it’s history time! Between 1567 and 1570, surveyor Robert Lythe worked in Ireland on behalf of the British government to assess how best to garrison and colonize their latest conquest. Much of that work was never widely distributed in his time; but those surveys would later go on to influence a great many cartographers, including the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
Mercator is famous for a great many things, particularly his globes, but also his maps and atlases. He’s also the guy who invented the now infamous Mercator projection. Handy for shipping when created, it has since become derided for its distortion despite its widespread adoption. But that could be an article of its own, and there’s plenty of people who have written those already, and we got fantasy maps to make.
Hey look, it’s Gerardus Mercator!Today’s set comes from Mercator’s famous 1595 Atlas. It was published posthumously by his son Rumold not too long after his death. From there, the copper plates were acquired by Jodocus Hondius, who further reprinted Mercator’s maps, further popularizing the man. The source for this latest brush set is one of those early Hondius reprints, and is the first in my Mercator Collection. It’s time to meet Mercator Settlement.
All my Map Tools will always be free. Want to help support this work?
Some of the settlement symbols.
Click here to learn how.So how doesn’t Lythe come into play here? Well, there’s an odd little map is tucked away inside that 1595 Atlas, and later reprinted “with privilege,” as Hondius liked to say. It’s a map of Carlow County, Ireland (at the time called Catherlagh Baronia), detailing the hills, trees, gallows, and villages along the River Barrow. Lythe’s survey’s most likely influenced its creation, as his work would have been accessible by Mercator.
As best I can tell, Mercator didn’t create maps of any of the other counties in Ireland, so I’m not sure why Carlow was specifically chosen. (Maybe a commission?) He tended to focus his work on larger-scale projects, mapping whole countries or continents, and not on intimate regional maps. So it’s an odd inclusion and stands out among his other published works. But the signs and symbols are perfect for fantasy maps.
Some of the flora brushes from the set.I was immediately drawn to Mercator’s approach to the towns and villages. I’ve always liked it when cartographers from the 16th and 17th centuries drew detailed depictions of settlements rather than just round dots or repeating the same symbol over and over. That tends to works rather well for fantasy maps. But there’s more here than just his drawing of habitation. While I am officially classifying this as a settlement set, it’s robust enough to go beyond that. There are lush forests, hilly mountains, and even a rare earthwork structure that once served as the border between Carlow and Kilkenny. (Fun little fact: this is the first time I have been able to source every object from the original manuscript.)
Just a small number of the landforms in the set. I love how clean they look.Because I was able to extract so much from the original manuscript, Mercator Settlement has over 230 brushes, including:
- 12 Small Towns
- 88 Towns
- 15 Large Towns
- 2 Cities
- 17 Unique Settlements
- 15 Individual Trees
- 13 Small Forests
- 18 Forests
- 33 Single Hills
- 21 Multiple Hills
- 2 Unique Hills
- 2 Map Component Cartouches
The button below links to a ZIP file that contains a 2.3 MB Photoshop ABR brush set (it’ll also work with GIMP, Affinity Photo, and I’m told Procreate now). I also release the set as a pack of individual PNGs organized by folder, similar to how I organize the ABR file. This should make using these with tools like Wonderdraft much easier. No more extracting symbols from an enormous PNG.
Like this set? Click here to learn how you can support this project.
download Mercator SettlementDownload the Mercator Settlement PNG Pack
(4.2 MB)As with all of my previous brush sets, Mercator Settlement is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in personal or commercial work and distribute adaptations. No attribution is required. Easy peasy!
Enjoy Mercator Settlement? Feel free to show me what you created by emailing me. I love seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers. Let me see what you make!
Mercator Settlement in Use
Want to see how I’ve used this set? There are three versions: a colored example, a black-and-white rendition, and a decorated sample. Click on any of the images below to view them larger. Perhaps this will inspire you as you get started on your projects!
4000×5000 (8.7 MB) 4000×5000 (6.6 MB) 1080×1350 (1.7 MB)Sample Details: I hand-drew the landmasses in Photoshop using True Grit Texture Supply’s Monomania. The font is Thanatos Variable from Herzberg Design, which can be licensed from them or via Adobe Fonts. The water texture is from a currently unreleased set based on Mercator’s work. It’s still in development but I’ll release it when I feel like it’s right. Still a bit finicky now. All the names are surnames that come from famous biologists. The paper texture is from True Grit’s Infinite Pulp. True Grit is also where I got Atomica, which gives me ink-like effects for the text and colors, and I used their recent release Aqua Studio to get the watercolor effect. I didn’t mean this to be a True Grit ad at this point, but what can I say, I’m a fan and I like their stuff!
Support this Work
Brushes and tools released through the #NoBadMaps project will always be free and released under a public domain CC0 license. If you’d like to support the project and help me cover the cost of hosting, research, and tool-set development, I’ve put together three ways you can help, and all are detailed below.
I’m not just a map enthusiast. I’m also a novelist! The easiest way to support me (and get something in return) is by purchasing one of my cosmic horror urban fantasy novels.
❦
A simple and quick way to support the #NoBadMaps project is through a one-time donation of any amount via ko-fi. Your support helps keep this project going and is appreciated.
❦
If you want to continually support the #NoBadMaps project through a reoccurring monthly contribution, consider joining my Patreon and get sneak peeks into what’s coming.
❦
More Map Brushes
This is just one of many brush sets and map tools I’ve released. You can find it and other free brushes covering a wide variety of historical styles on my Fantasy Map Brushes page. Every set is free, distributed under a CC0 license, and open for personal or commercial use. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that works for your project. Click the button below to check them out!
view more Fantasy Map BrushesWant to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to ensure it’s not spammy and contains interesting and relevant information. Sign Up Today →
#adobe #art #brushes #carlowCounty #cartography #design #fantasy #free #gerardusMercator #history #illustration #ireland #jodocusHondius #mapMaking #maps #nobadmaps #photoshop #robertLythe #rumoldMercator #settlements -
Mercator Settlement: A Free 16th Century Settlement Brush Set for Fantasy Maps
Buckle up mapmakers, it’s history time! Between 1567 and 1570, surveyor Robert Lythe worked in Ireland on behalf of the British government to assess how best to garrison and colonize their latest conquest. Much of that work was never widely distributed in his time; but those surveys would later go on to influence a great many cartographers, including the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
Mercator is famous for a great many things, particularly his globes, but also his maps and atlases. He’s also the guy who invented the now infamous Mercator projection. Handy for shipping when created, it has since become derided for its distortion despite its widespread adoption. But that could be an article of its own, and there’s plenty of people who have written those already, and we got fantasy maps to make.
Hey look, it’s Gerardus Mercator!Today’s set comes from Mercator’s famous 1595 Atlas. It was published posthumously by his son Rumold not too long after his death. From there, the copper plates were acquired by Jodocus Hondius, who further reprinted Mercator’s maps, further popularizing the man. The source for this latest brush set is one of those early Hondius reprints, and is the first in my Mercator Collection. It’s time to meet Mercator Settlement.
All my Map Tools will always be free. Want to help support this work?
Some of the settlement symbols.
Click here to learn how.So how doesn’t Lythe come into play here? Well, there’s an odd little map is tucked away inside that 1595 Atlas, and later reprinted “with privilege,” as Hondius liked to say. It’s a map of Carlow County, Ireland (at the time called Catherlagh Baronia), detailing the hills, trees, gallows, and villages along the River Barrow. Lythe’s survey’s most likely influenced its creation, as his work would have been accessible by Mercator.
As best I can tell, Mercator didn’t create maps of any of the other counties in Ireland, so I’m not sure why Carlow was specifically chosen. (Maybe a commission?) He tended to focus his work on larger-scale projects, mapping whole countries or continents, and not on intimate regional maps. So it’s an odd inclusion and stands out among his other published works. But the signs and symbols are perfect for fantasy maps.
Some of the flora brushes from the set.I was immediately drawn to Mercator’s approach to the towns and villages. I’ve always liked it when cartographers from the 16th and 17th centuries drew detailed depictions of settlements rather than just round dots or repeating the same symbol over and over. That tends to works rather well for fantasy maps. But there’s more here than just his drawing of habitation. While I am officially classifying this as a settlement set, it’s robust enough to go beyond that. There are lush forests, hilly mountains, and even a rare earthwork structure that once served as the border between Carlow and Kilkenny. (Fun little fact: this is the first time I have been able to source every object from the original manuscript.)
Just a small number of the landforms in the set. I love how clean they look.Because I was able to extract so much from the original manuscript, Mercator Settlement has over 230 brushes, including:
- 12 Small Towns
- 88 Towns
- 15 Large Towns
- 2 Cities
- 17 Unique Settlements
- 15 Individual Trees
- 13 Small Forests
- 18 Forests
- 33 Single Hills
- 21 Multiple Hills
- 2 Unique Hills
- 2 Map Component Cartouches
The button below links to a ZIP file that contains a 2.3 MB Photoshop ABR brush set (it’ll also work with GIMP, Affinity Photo, and I’m told Procreate now). I also release the set as a pack of individual PNGs organized by folder, similar to how I organize the ABR file. This should make using these with tools like Wonderdraft much easier. No more extracting symbols from an enormous PNG.
Like this set? Click here to learn how you can support this project.
download Mercator SettlementDownload the Mercator Settlement PNG Pack
(4.2 MB)As with all of my previous brush sets, Mercator Settlement is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in personal or commercial work and distribute adaptations. No attribution is required. Easy peasy!
Enjoy Mercator Settlement? Feel free to show me what you created by emailing me. I love seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers. Let me see what you make!
Mercator Settlement in Use
Want to see how I’ve used this set? There are three versions: a colored example, a black-and-white rendition, and a decorated sample. Click on any of the images below to view them larger. Perhaps this will inspire you as you get started on your projects!
4000×5000 (8.7 MB) 4000×5000 (6.6 MB) 1080×1350 (1.7 MB)Sample Details: I hand-drew the landmasses in Photoshop using True Grit Texture Supply’s Monomania. The font is Thanatos Variable from Herzberg Design, which can be licensed from them or via Adobe Fonts. The water texture is from a currently unreleased set based on Mercator’s work. It’s still in development but I’ll release it when I feel like it’s right. Still a bit finicky now. All the names are surnames that come from famous biologists. The paper texture is from True Grit’s Infinite Pulp. True Grit is also where I got Atomica, which gives me ink-like effects for the text and colors, and I used their recent release Aqua Studio to get the watercolor effect. I didn’t mean this to be a True Grit ad at this point, but what can I say, I’m a fan and I like their stuff!
Support this Work
Brushes and tools released through the #NoBadMaps project will always be free and released under a public domain CC0 license. If you’d like to support the project and help me cover the cost of hosting, research, and tool-set development, I’ve put together three ways you can help, and all are detailed below.
I’m not just a map enthusiast. I’m also a novelist! The easiest way to support me (and get something in return) is by purchasing one of my cosmic horror urban fantasy novels.
❦
A simple and quick way to support the #NoBadMaps project is through a one-time donation of any amount via ko-fi. Your support helps keep this project going and is appreciated.
❦
If you want to continually support the #NoBadMaps project through a reoccurring monthly contribution, consider joining my Patreon and get sneak peeks into what’s coming.
❦
More Map Brushes
This is just one of many brush sets and map tools I’ve released. You can find it and other free brushes covering a wide variety of historical styles on my Fantasy Map Brushes page. Every set is free, distributed under a CC0 license, and open for personal or commercial use. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that works for your project. Click the button below to check them out!
view more Fantasy Map BrushesWant to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to ensure it’s not spammy and contains interesting and relevant information. Sign Up Today →
#adobe #art #brushes #carlowCounty #cartography #design #fantasy #free #gerardusMercator #history #illustration #ireland #jodocusHondius #mapMaking #maps #nobadmaps #photoshop #robertLythe #rumoldMercator #settlements -
Müller: A Free 18th Century Cartography Brush Set for Fantasy Maps
In the early 18th century, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI charged Johann Christoph Müller to produce an “authentic and complete” map of the kingdom of Bohemia. Being no slouch, Müller’s end result was a massive work, done at a 1:132,000 scale and eventually engraved on twenty-five sheets by Michael Kauffer and Jan Daniel Herz, most likely in Berlin. It is from that map that we get today’s set, and what a phenomenal set it is—and, uh… it’s much bigger than I planned.
All my Map Tools will always be free. Want to help support this work?
Some of the flora, symbols, and lakes within the set.
Click here to learn how.The level of detail in this work is impressive. It reminds me somewhat of the Vischer set, especially in how elements of flora are incorporated into the landforms. The flora itself is rendered with restraint in either groups of tiny rendered trees, or a stippled scrub brush, which I labeled “wilds.” They play well off each other and work together to fill out the map. It’s easy to quickly create sprawling forests or empty plains. Within the Emperor’s request, there was a goal to map “relevant military information.” To that end, Müller mapped industrial points of interest, highlighting the locations of raw materials, ranging from metals to mineral water, and the workshops and mills that processed them. He also provided details for travel, marking the locations of warm baths, inns, mail stops, and river ferries.
A sample of the settlements you’ll find in MüllerIf you’ve used my sets before, you’ll be familiar with many of the imagery choices depicting the various sizes of towns, though again Müller adds his own unique spin. Manor Houses reprise the role of the Schlosser from the Vischer set. Only Müller significantly simplifies these, and they serve as a catchall, representing anything from “castles, lordly palaces, and knights’ residences.”
The key to the original map in Latin (left) and German (right).The extended villages were another unique approach I haven’t seen on a map from this era before. Obviously, a town or village isn’t always contained in a small bubble, especially on a map rendered at 1:132,000—one mile is 0.48 inches (or for those not beholden to the king, one kilometer here is 7.58 millimeters). To solve for this, Müller approaches communities two-fold: one is the single dot for “solitary villages,” the second adds more dots around named settlements that represent scattered or extended “rustic” settlements. Think of an extended settlement as a small town with the lone parish church and lots of farms in the area surrounding it, or similarly a village running along the length of a stream or small river. That’s what he was going for here.
Some of the landforms found in MüllerThis was a really fun set to build, and there was so much to explore on each of the separate sheets. It’s no wonder this was the definitive map of Bohemia for nearly forty years. (Eventually superseded by the Josephinian Survey.) Funny enough, this is now my second biggest set, surpassing Moronobu Gansai by over four hundred brushes*. Within the might of Müller, you’ll find over 1500 brushes, including:
- 100 Walled Cities
- 25 Cities without Walls
- 100 Market Towns
- 50 Villages with Churches
- 50 Villages w/o Churches
- 50 Extended Villages
- 50 Manor Houses
- 25 Churches
- 30 Monasteries
- 30 Inns/Taverns
- 13 Hunting Lodges
- 40 Mills
- 10 Ruins
- 34 Elevated Settlements
- 31 Unique Settlements
- 200 Wilds
- 200 Forests
- 200 Individual Hills
- 100 Groups of Hills
- 50 Lakes
- 20 Miracle Markers
- 5 Archaeological Sites
- 20 Vineyards
- 12 Silver Symbols
- 2 Cinnabar Symbols
- 5 Lead Symbols
- 10 Copper Symbols
- 10 Acidic Water Symbols
- 10 Glassworks Symbols
- 20 Iron Symbols
- 15 Tin Symbols
- 3 Sulfur Symbols
- 7 Gold Symbols
- 2 Salt Symbols
- 2 Sulfuric Acid Symbols
- 2 Aluminum Symbols
- 12 Bathhouse Symbols
- 20 Ferry Symbols
- 30 Mail Horns
- 20 Crowns
- 3 Bishopric Symbols
*Look, they aren’t all going to be this big. Making sets this big is an enormous time investment in production and distribution. The tale just grew in the telling, I guess. Enjoy it. :)
The button below links to a ZIP file that contains an 27 MB Photoshop ABR brush set (it’ll also work with GIMP, Affinity Photo, and I’m told Procreate now). I also release the set as a pack of individual PNGs organized by folder, similar to how I organize the ABR file. This should make using these with tools like Wonderdraft much easier. No more extracting symbols from an enormous PNG.
Like this set? Click here to learn how you can support this project.
DOWNLOAD MüllerDownload the Müller PNG Pack
(42.2 MB)As with all of my previous brush sets, Müller is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in personal or commercial work and distribute adaptations. No attribution is required. Easy peasy!
Enjoy Müller? Feel free to show me what you created by emailing me. I love seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers. Let me see what you make!
But wait, there’s more…
Kauffer Hand: A Free 18th Ct. Type Family
Alongside the launch of Müller, I’m excited to announce the launch of my second totally free typeface: Kauffer Hand. This font is extracted from the same map as the Müller brush set and is named after one of the engravers who published the map in 1726.
This typeface is a bit cleaner than Myer Scratch, but it could still use some softening to help it feel as realistic as possible. When pulling from these historical documents, not every glyph is accounted for—J, Q, and q in the base Hand style, X and Y in Italics style, and the Q in the Title style, were reconstructed from other documents labeled with a similar style to fill out the alphabet and maintain a consistent tone with the typeface. (If you want an even more polished version in a similar style, check out Three Isle Press’s Geographica family.)
The Kauffer Hand’s Character Set.The three variant styles can be used in multiple ways to label your projects. Müller used Italics for smaller settlements and Hand for larger ones. You can see how I even do an all-caps Hand for the titles of the largest settlements in my example map below. Title was used for bigger labels or for the map’s title. Lots of options with this one, experiment and find a way to make it your own.
Kauffer Hand has three variants: Hand, Italic, and Title.The button below links to a ZIP file that contains the Kauffer Hand family’s OFT files. Just install the font the way you would any other. Like my brush sets, Kauffer Hand is free and distributed with a Creative Commons, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use it in personal or commercial work and distribute adaptations. No attribution is required.
DOWNLOAD Kauffer HandMüller in Use
Want to see how I’ve used this set? There are three versions: a colored example, a black-and-white rendition, and a decorated sample. Click on any of the images below to view them larger. Perhaps this will inspire you as you get started on your projects!
4000×5000 (11.4 MB) 4000×5000 (8 MB) 1080×1350 (2 MB)Sample Details: I hand-drew the rivers and some of the lakes in Photoshop. Roads and trails were done in Illustrator. The font is Kauffer Hand, which can be downloaded above. All the names come from locations and surnames from the enclave of Lesotho. (A fascinating place that has been in the news recently. It’s worth checking them out.) The paper texture is from True Grit Texture Supply’s Infinite Pulp, and they’re also where I got Atomica, which gives me ink-like effects for the text, colors, the roads, and trails. The title frame comes from my Fancy Frames set, which can be downloaded from the Decorative Assets page.
Support this Work
Brushes and tools released through the #NoBadMaps project will always be free and released under a public domain CC0 license. If you’d like to support the project and help me cover the cost of hosting, research, and tool-set development, I’ve put together three ways you can help, and all are detailed below.
I’m not just a map enthusiast. I’m also a novelist! The easiest way to support me (and get something in return) is by purchasing one of my cosmic horror urban fantasy novels.
❦
A simple and quick way to support the #NoBadMaps project is through a one-time donation of any amount via ko-fi. Your support helps keep this project going and is appreciated.
❦
If you want to continually support the #NoBadMaps project through a reoccurring monthly contribution, consider joining my Patreon and get sneak peeks into what’s coming.
❦
More Map Brushes
This is just one of many brush sets and map tools I’ve released. You can find it and other free brushes covering a wide variety of historical styles on my Fantasy Map Brushes page. Every set is free, distributed under a CC0 license, and open for personal or commercial use. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that works for your project. Click the button below to check them out!
view more Fantasy Map BrushesWant to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to ensure it’s not spammy and contains interesting and relevant information. Sign Up Today →
#adobe #art #Bohemia #brushes #cartography #design #fantasy #font #free #freeFont #illustration #JohannChristophMüller #mapMaking #maps #MichaelKauffer #nobadmaps #photoshop #settlements