Hand-drawn town WIP

[palehorse]

What...your pen doesn't have a ctrl-Z setting??

I wish! I'd have needed a LOT of levels of Undo, though.

[Baziron]

This looks so awesome. I feel encouraged to draw some more, ever since I also tend to predraw with pencil and then ink over - but it'll take some practice before it looks like that.

[pyrandon]

To be honest the fields do seem just a teensy-tinsy bit busy, but nothingt hat distracts the eye. The roads, on the other hand I think drag the composition down, dragging away from the buildings and the layout. That's not to say it's not a great map (it is), just one part that I personally didn't care for as much.

So what's next? Coloring? I can't wait--this is a very pleasing map-in-process!

[palehorse]

Started adding some color last night. As I mentioned, I'm using watercolor pencils for most of the coloring; I have some traditional tube watercolors as well that I'm using for a few colors.

The road has been shaded in with the pencils using the same colors as the beach (a deep cadmium yellow and just a touch of ochre brown). You can see how much difference a little water makes!

It doesn't show up at all in the scan, but I added a bit of foam onto the water with some white pastel.



Still have a lot more glazing to do; the rooftops aren't going to stay that fire engine red for long!

When it's all done I'll post up a link to a high-res version if you guys really want to get in and see how sloppy my watercolor work really is.

[palehorse]

To be honest the fields do seem just a teensy-tinsy bit busy, but nothingt hat distracts the eye. The roads, on the other hand I think drag the composition down, dragging away from the buildings and the layout. That's not to say it's not a great map (it is), just one part that I personally didn't care for as much.

So what's next? Coloring? I can't wait--this is a very pleasing map-in-process!

I wouldn't say it's great. Definitely too busy; I'm not use to thinking in color when I'm just drawing by hand, since I usually work in black and white with, at most, a single color wash or something similar to provide a bit of gray. I just have to remember next time to leave some of the work for the color!

[GlennZilla]

I must admit that I am anxious to see this finished so I can chop it up into symbols to use in my own maps. I am nowhere as good with a pen.

And for that reason, Repped!

[palehorse]

I must admit that I am anxious to see this finished so I can chop it up into symbols to use in my own maps. I am nowhere as good with a pen.

Heck, if that's what you want, I can just get out some bristol board and draw up a sheet of houses. I ordered a new batch of pen nibs and I'll need a good excuse to try 'em out.

Back in college I started off in architecture and then moved over to fine arts, so I kind of got a leg up early!

[Redrobes]

That would be stupendous. I looked at your site and seen all those lovely maps. A blend of pen and Photoshop can produce some great looking maps. If your looking to get some villages and cities made in your style then a sheet of houses and cottages by your pen would get a few people here including me eager for a chance to pop a few down and see what can be done with them.

[GlennZilla]

I'd love to get a compilation of houses, terrain and such to use! I tend to grab buildings out of aerial photos (Google Earth) and chop the up and paste them back together.