March Entry: Reporting for duty

So I was laying on my couch watching Arsenal and Burnley and got to thinking if I could make one river system and have it fulfill the reqs. As I stood up and glanced at my junk pile (game manuals, various joysticks, old video cards, and other bits of hardware, etc.) spilling onto the floor I noticed something flat, black, plastic, and thin. Having no real idea what lurks in the junk pile ('cuz it's best not disturb it lest my life be in forfeit) I gave it a tug...'cuz I'm brave that way :) Lo and behold out pops a Wacom Intuos 2 6x8 with a flap over the screen for tracing. I couldn't find the manual tho, it must have been devoured to feed the denizens. So after dusting it off and washing it up a bit I threw my original idea out the window in favor of forcing myself to learn how to finally use this darn thing. So I drew in some rivers for the first time ever without my trusty magic mouse of uber utility +6 terraforming. My mouse is a swinger so it won't mind me seeing other styluses...as long as it gets to join in.

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Started fleshing this out. Kind of a hasty go and much experimenting...trying to blend my usual style and something else but not sure what that may be...part artsy, part atlas. Not totally happy with it but it's not total crap either. Back to the secret altar to sacrifice some chickens.

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Some more work and started adding my ridges. These will get some layer styles once done, probably tomorrow night. This tablet thing is way cool since I no longer have to use smudge and blur to get my lines tapered and with variable thickness. I will blur out the areas that are more hilly and softer rather than sharp and crusty.

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Lookin' good so far.

Great work as always A!

Is it me or do the rivers in the south look like walls? Maybe I'm crazy...

I like how you stick with a consistent style yet make each map its own individual piece of art. Well done.

Thanks Nol, I try.

Bo, it's probably the bevel on the rivers...I'll be replacing the bevel with some airbrushing later down the road.

Here's where I am right now...finished the ridges/hills, added some dodge/burn to the mountains, and added the froo froo stuff. Now back to my comfy chair.

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I love the grudgy feel you can created for this map. It is very nice and the colouring is well balanced.

I do have a concern thou with the rivers and water in general. Some parts of some rivers/coastlines can get very untidy looking and pixalated I feel this could use a little cleanup. I also have a concern about the darkness of the rivers in places. I find some of them even hard to see, which I think will make it even harder for the average colour blind person to see also.

Good thing my rivers aren't red then :) Pixellated coasts in places is what I am going for...this is sort of two styles in one. An antique-y one around the edges fading into a more realistic one in the center where the focus is. Execution of said concept is probably lacking at the moment...waiting for inspiration to hit me as to how to make it better.