What is the effect of contours in creating topographic maps?

Contour lines are used in Geography to create topographic maps that show the elevation of a landscape. The contour lines create a series of concentric shapes which—aside from their important role in mapping—look pretty cool!

What are topographic patterns?

Topography describes the physical features of an area of land. These features typically include natural formations such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and valleys. Topography often records the various elevations of an area using a topographical map.

What are contour lines?

A contour line is a line drawn on a topographic map to indicate ground elevation or depression. A contour interval is the vertical distance or difference in elevation between contour lines. Index contours are bold or thicker lines that appear at every fifth contour line.

What do contour lines look like in illustrator?

The contour lines create a series of concentric shapes which—aside from their important role in mapping—look pretty cool! In today’s Illustrator tutorial I’ll show you how to make use of the Blend tool to create a series of contour line style shapes.

How to create a seamless topographic map pattern?

I’ve posted articles about topographic maps before on my blog, namely my contour map effect Illustrator tutorial and my free pack of topographic map patterns. My first tutorial used Illustrator ‘s Blend tool to draw a series of concentric lines.

What’s the best way to paint a topographic map?

Use a subtle grunge brush to paint over the contour lines using the same dark blue background colour to erase out portions of the lines to create a distressed effect. Topographic map contour lines are just one of the many styles that can be created using Illustrator’s handy Blend tool.