June 2010 Entry: Wheel of Time - from Falme to Fal Dara

[Gidde]

I like this style better too, but I'm surprised/disappointed that you took the mountains off. I think that style of mountain would match better with this version than it did with the previous.

[Immolate]

You mean these mountains?

More saturated land colors... opinions?

### Latest WIP ###

[tilt]

now he's got the ball and is running with it...
looking good, the background color behind the mountains close to falme could use a bit of raggedness/getting pulled in closer...

[Gidde]

Or even just lowering the opacity on it would do. The mountains themselves look great, as do the hills. Good style for those, they match the rest wonderfully.

[Immolate]

Forests are in, borrowing from Ramah's Vaniya style. The brushes are two conifers and two deciduous, each using size and a slight tilt dynamic. Each is placed by hand to avoid gratuitous overlap. The brushes are painted in a dark green, with the background in a less dark, desaturated green. The deciduous trees are colored in after with a leafy green. I could have used Ramah's huge forest pattern and got it done much quicker, but I figured it was enough to borrow the idea, and the amount of forest was small enough to be hand-done.

### Latest WIP ###

[Immolate]

And one more update for the weekend.

I have added roads, and made a myriad of adjustments of labels to compensate. I'm sure there are others, so call them out if you spot them please!

I also added Garen's Wall, which is basically a cliff overlooking the western horizon.

### Latest WIP ###

[tilt]

looking really good - but I'm looking forward to seing the last mountain ranges go in

[Midgardsormr]

Are you planning on leaving the green even in the Aiel Waste and The Blight?

[Immolate]

Good catch Midgardsormr. As you imply, that wouldn't be appropriate considering the reality of those places. I want to get the mountains in before making those color decisions however. The colors should provide a hint as to the corruption of the blight and the arid nature of the three-fold land.

[Midgardsormr]

I thought as much. This map is looking awesome; I'm glad you're doing it. Maybe people will stop asking for permission to use mine now! I particularly like the way you're using tints and shades of your land color to delineate the nations. I think it better emphasizes the large swaths of unclaimed territory and makes me curious about the people who live in those areas and how they survive without governance (a detail that Jordan tends to gloss over). Mitchell's maps don't really pique my interest in that way.

You might think about softening the edges of the backing color for the mountains, hills and forests. I don't know if that would look better or not, but give it a try and see what you think.