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Thread: [WIP] Untitled Regional Fantasy Map - Vector, Muted, Full Color Palette, Digital

  1. #1
    Guild Novice Facebook Connected darren_kitlor's Avatar
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    Wip [WIP] Untitled Regional Fantasy Map - Vector, Muted, Full Color Palette, Digital

    Untitled Regional Fantasy Map - Vector, Muted, Full Color Palette, Digital

    Design Constraints
    • Muted, pastel color palette (less saturated, brighter colors)
    • High Text Legibility / Contrast (more saturated, darker colors)
    • Focus on geographic features rather than political/economic ones (borders, roads, etc.)
    • Bridge gap between hand-drawn styles and full vector digital using fewest hand-drawn elements.


    Tools
    • Affinity Designer on Windows and iOS
    • Procreate on iOS


    References
    Forgotten Realms 3rd Edition Faerun Map (by Robert Lazzaretti, et al.)
    Previous attempt at Abeir-Toril from various D&D Editions - unfinished and veered too much into realism/satellite-style territory
    Wonderful tutorial by Sarah Bell of Petrichor
    US National Park Service Uniguide and Style Guides

    Step 1:
    Outline landmass using real-world coastlines and adding/subtracting/reshaping islands to create water features (Western Norway and Northwest United States used)
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	01-fantasy-map-base.jpg 
Views:	69 
Size:	1.28 MB 
ID:	112274

    Step 2:
    Create drawn shoreline/waves utilizing stacked layers with strokes
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	02-fantasy-map-shorelines.jpg 
Views:	44 
Size:	1.71 MB 
ID:	112275

    Step 3:
    Identify shallows around geographic features and softening border
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	03-fantasy-map-shallows.jpg 
Views:	45 
Size:	1.77 MB 
ID:	112276

    Step 4:
    Begin adding biomes with high-contrast border, soft interior edge, and solid colors
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	04-fantasy-map-biomes-draft.jpg 
Views:	59 
Size:	1.80 MB 
ID:	112277

    It's a work in-progress but I'm happy to have only an hour down so far and the results being both aesthetically pleasing and providing a clear path forward. I had to go back and tweak the shoreline border stack to the desired thickness and "whitespace" soft blue between strokes. The end goal is a 300 DPI 33"x44" high-quality map, suitable for table use or framing.
    Last edited by darren_kitlor; 12-27-2018 at 10:39 PM.

  2. #2
    Guild Journeyer randigpanzrall's Avatar
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    Hi Darren,

    interesting work so far. The landmasses are quite familar even when they are presented upside down. Nevertheless I´m curious to see this developping

  3. #3
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Schwarzkreuz's Avatar
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    I would have shown more of the western parts. It looks a bit strange to cut it there, but the focus seems to be the ocean more than the landmass anyway.

  4. #4
    Guild Novice Facebook Connected darren_kitlor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by randigpanzrall View Post
    Hi Darren,

    interesting work so far. The landmasses are quite familar even when they are presented upside down. Nevertheless I´m curious to see this developping
    Agree. I think reusing the same shoreline, despite merging it at different angles fundamentally gives it same-y look. I even reused the islands and shores to "cut" into the land mass, leading to negative space (lakes) looking identical to positive space islands. I'll have to tweak the landmasses more to make it more alien and less of a "hey -- this is just norway recycled a bunch" type look.

  5. #5

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    I like it, but surely that's Scotland, not Norway!

  6. #6
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Schwarzkreuz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by darren_kitlor View Post
    Agree. I think reusing the same shoreline, despite merging it at different angles fundamentally gives it same-y look. I even reused the islands and shores to "cut" into the land mass, leading to negative space (lakes) looking identical to positive space islands. I'll have to tweak the landmasses more to make it more alien and less of a "hey -- this is just norway recycled a bunch" type look.
    I used England exclusively in my last WIP map, so I know what you mean, but I also redraw the lines with some editing.

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