Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 35

Thread: City of Val Nevan

  1. #1
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Blaidd Drwg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Weert, Netherlands
    Posts
    502

    Map City of Val Nevan

    Posting this here because Vorropohaiah said I should

    Val-Nevan2.jpg

    Val Nevan is a city in the conworld I started when I was still running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (which is long-dead). It is the capital of the Kingdom of Ainemmais, which is in turn one of the kingdoms that make up the greater kingdom of Muyremere. While my D&D-playing days are over, I'm still busy fleshing out that kingdom and drawing the maps is the part I enjoy best. I could write some history, but I fear it would bore everyone to death the way it did my players.

    I got most of my inspiration for this map from four things:
    1. the town of Valkenburg in the south of the Netherlands. See the sandcastle impression of the monster that may have once dominated the town,
    2. Hochburg Emmendingen in the Black Forest, Germany,
    3. the city of Freiburg (Black Forest, as well),
    4. an old map of Brugge (or Bruges if you will) and
    5. quite a few maps and tutorials I've seen here and on the Guild's DA-page.

    As an aside, I suggest you visit these places if you have the opportunity. They are made of awesome

    Some pics I looked at A LOT: 1 429727_10150677823189161_647653198_n.jpg 2 474419_10150707525124161_1484997340_o.jpg 4 Brugge.jpg

    I had been wanting to do a isometric-y map for a long time, but never felt I'd be able to pull it off. I'd tried a few times using a grid and photohop, but it never looked decent. Then I went back to old-fashioned pen and paper and things started to come together. Thankfully, it turned out to be more of a matter of patience than real drawing skills. Technically, I screwed up quite a lot (accidentally using slightly different projections, mistaking the relative size of buildings, smudging), but because all the houses are so small and there are so many of them, they don't seem to stand out too much if you look at the map as a whole. Just don't zoom in on the houses on the street near the east gate and notice how they all appear to be falling over in one direction or other

    It was drawn on A3 paper with pencils and my trusted micron pens, then scanned and coloured in Photoshop. The details like the writing and the coats of arms were done digitally, but to preserve the hand-made look, I printed them out, traced them, and scanned them again. I used a stock image for the aged-paper background, but I have absolutely no idea where I got it, so I can't credit the person responsible. If someone here recognises it, please let me know.

    I don't have anything else to tell. It's been tremendous fun to do, your support and advice were awesome, and I'm glad it's done. Thanks for watching



    Original thread here.
    Last edited by RobA; 04-11-2013 at 12:22 PM.

  2. #2

    Default

    One of the best maps I've seen here. Period.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh

  3. #3
    Guild Artisan Freodin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    513

    Default

    What else is there to say but what arsheesh said? Period.

  4. #4
    Guild Expert jbgibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Alabama, USA
    Posts
    1,429

    Default

    What's beyond A-mazing ... twomazings or three-mazings? This is threemazing at least :-).

  5. #5
    Guild Artisan Katto's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Dortmund, Germany
    Posts
    709

    Default

    Fantastic! Repped & Rated! Hope to see it as a next Featured Map

  6. #6
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Blaidd Drwg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Weert, Netherlands
    Posts
    502

    Default

    Thanks folks. It's really (what's that word ...) satisfying (?) that people like it so much.

  7. #7
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected vorropohaiah's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Malta
    Posts
    1,425

    Default

    now that i can rate this... (again, great job)

    nice to see the influences too. I'm dying to try my hand at an intricate top-down star-fort map, like the one you linked to.
    Last edited by vorropohaiah; 07-16-2012 at 07:59 AM.

  8. #8
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected TheRedEpic's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Portland. OR
    Posts
    372

    Default

    I agree with arsheesh, this is a fantastic map that is a symbol of what we all would like to achieve Deceptively simple, its very elegant in its execution. This could be a map made by a cartographer from the high middle ages Bravo!

  9. #9
    Guild Apprentice
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    32

    Default

    It's such a beautiful map... I had to tear myself away from looking at it. You put such an insane amount of detail into it. Well done.

  10. #10

    Default

    I think I already said how awesome this map is on the other forum. It is a very fine piece of art and hugely inspiring.

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •