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Thread: February 2013 Entry: Crescent Island

  1. #1
    Guild Member Larion's Avatar
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    Post February 2013 Entry: Crescent Island

    So, made this map in one sitting this after noon. Did it entirely in Photoshop. The challenge was for PART of the map to be submerged, and arguably not very much of this map is submerged beyond the rocks and the shipwreck. The entire bay is all about 30 feet deep though. So, it's technically submerged. I hope it qualifies. So, I cooked up a little back story to go with it.

    It's a remote island, not very big, and it hasn't been charted on many maps. If you stumble upon it, the only prominent feature is the sunken ship wreck in the middle of the shallow bay. Head into the woods and you'll find very little wildlife, mostly just birds. The plant life is thriving, however, with all manner of flora growing everywhere. Perhaps if you searched long enough, you might find the hidden "X" that marks the spot

    Now here's a bit of the creation process. I've never made such a close up map before. Generally I'm doing whole regions or continents. Fine details still elude me. So this was a bit of a challenge. I couldn't use my tried and tested methods of making a map (though they did play a part in it). First, I drew the whole map in black and white. White would become water, while black would eventually become land. I selected the black, made a new layer out of it, and added the layer effects. Then I did the same to the white area, turning it blue and into water. Then I spent the next 2 hours fiddling and testing and experimenting... and the result is this. It's meant to be photo-realistic, as if you were viewing it from a precise top down point of view (aside from the borders and the title, of course ) I even added a sparse cloud layer. Hope you like it

    ### LATEST WIP ###
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  2. #2
    Guild Artisan LonewandererD's Avatar
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    I knew islands were cannibals! Nice work on the colours

    -D-
    People come and people go. I walk amongst them, I see their faces; but none see mine. I pass them in the streets but nary a glance is spared my way, for what interest would they have in a Wanderer? Not of this world... Forever Alone... Forever Wandering... LoneWandererD...

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  3. #3

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    I like the basic look, though I am not a fan of the clouds. I know from an airplane or satellite view clouds might be seen, but a map shouldn't be a satellite photo. I would spend more time putting details in the subsurface terrain beneath the waves, rather than playing with the sky.
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  4. #4
    Guild Member Larion's Avatar
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    What kind of texture would you recommend for beneath the waves? I played around a with a few just barely but nothing looked right. As for the clouds... Somehow, I feel that they tie the whole thing together. Without them, the map seems a little... bare. Granted, an underwater texture would help fill that void, but only if I can do it right... and I'm still a learning haha. Would it be kind of the texture you'd see on the bottom of a swimming pool from the way the light hits the waves and scatters the light?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Larion View Post
    What kind of texture would you recommend for beneath the waves? I played around a with a few just barely but nothing looked right. As for the clouds... Somehow, I feel that they tie the whole thing together. Without them, the map seems a little... bare. Granted, an underwater texture would help fill that void, but only if I can do it right... and I'm still a learning haha. Would it be kind of the texture you'd see on the bottom of a swimming pool from the way the light hits the waves and scatters the light?
    I use this image (provided below) as a repeating pattern, though not too small or too many repeats. I apply it as a transparent layer to view what is beneath it - in this case as the sea floor.

    As for clouds, to me, that is something between the viewers eye and the map area - it blocks the view, so why would you want to include it?Afterall a map is not supposed to be a photograph of the ground, not literally anyway. It's supposed to be a representation of a given piece of geography, don't block the view, if you don't have to.

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