Like I said in the WIP thread. great job!
Calling it done since there's nothing really left to add. No real story or backstory cuz I never have any I just draw. I wanted to draw some sort of region that was being hit with a plague and since I'm always experimenting with new techniques this one morphed into having an emphasis on the terrain...even more realistic than what I usually do. I think it's pretty cool but I am, of course, biased in that and I did learn some new things. Any day in which I learn something is a good day to me. Any day in which I create something nice is a great day so the week or so I spent working on this was a great week.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Like I said in the WIP thread. great job!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
They are some lovely mountains. Very nice.
Hi Ascension.
To start with, I like your maps, I think they are beautiful. But as maps most* of them have a fatal flaw. So I have some constructive criticism for you.
Your maps tend to exaggerate the colour of the shallows just outside the coastline and the ocean is to prominent while the land is to dark. The end effect is this:
Do you notice how you start looking at the black part of the image. Even when you try to look at Iceland. As I said before, most of your maps have this effect. Even the Mercatoria map manages to have this effect. That in itself is incredible as the ocean and the land are almost the same colour. Just like your other maps the Mercatoria map makes the coast line pop out and it becomes difficult to look inside the map. Your eyes keep drifting to the coast line.
The effect you want is this:
In this map land is prominent and it´s not hard to focus on it. How you accomplish that with your map is hard to say. Try a few things and see where you get. I recommend less colour (hue on the ocean) and a lighter land. The Atlas tutorial and Narthaine maps have that effect. If you can keep the colours from them and the photorealistic effect from the map above the value of your work, as maps, will go up immensely.
*The map in the Atlas tutorial does not have this flaw nor does the Snagglefjörð or the Narthaine map.
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Gorkamorka
So what I gather is that you want me to lighten the ocean to remove the "prominence of dark/color" and then turn around and lighten the land as well. Or are you saying to make my oceans more gray/less hue? Wouldn't that ruin the whole satellite style though like in your album, pic number 2...dark ocean, light land?
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
Terrific mountain textures Ascension. A real beauty!
As a MAP the ocean need to pop out less and the land to pop out more. At the moment the ocean and especially the shallow water grabs your attention and makes it hard to concentrate on the land that you are mapping. Partially its a mater of colour and partially its a matter of complexity. Land needs to be complex, sea needs to be simple.
But please note that as ART your maps are beautiful. Far better then anything I can do.
Last edited by gorkamorka; 02-06-2009 at 02:48 AM.
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Gorkamorka
OK, so maps need to be more like this first, atlas style where the land is light but darker than a light simple sea, and not at all like the second satellite style where the sea is simple and dark and the land is lighter. And my artsy style that adds a topography to the ocean floor is way too complex. Personally, I like all three, though, I should lighten the land a bit on the satellite map. Can't go wrong with any of these styles, IMO. I add stuff in the ocean cuz they need love too
Last edited by Ascension; 02-06-2009 at 04:09 AM.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
I really like your dark style, it should be great for dark fantasy. But the atlas style is really nice too, you could do something with the labels, but other than that it looks good.
They look like to totally different maps...
Wonderful map! Have you ever written up some of your techniques for the tutorial section? If you're willing to share them of course