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Thread: City of Erbsburg

  1. #1
    Guild Journeyer Freehand 5.5's Avatar
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    Default City of Erbsburg

    I just finished a map of the City of Erbsburg (peacastle) for a german Fantasy RPG.
    Original data is A4 and 600 dpi.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Erbsburg has 2200 inhabitants, 300 of them are elves living in the elven quarter.

    The lineart and typo is made by hand with black ink and calligraphy pens and
    copic multiliners of different sizes. Not in one piece but many pieces being
    scanned and composed in Photoshop.
    The colours were made in PS, too.

    Despite the fact that the map is finished I would like to hear some thoughts of
    how to improve because there are plenty future village and city projects to come.
    Last edited by Freehand 5.5; 01-04-2013 at 09:50 PM.

  2. #2

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    I like the style of only drawing/marking the very important buildings in the city. I hadn't really thought of doing it that way before. I'll have to try that in the future. I also really like your coat of arms.

  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer Freehand 5.5's Avatar
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    Thanks.
    The style of showing only important buildings came from the need of the game quite naturally.
    In RPG adventures you have to visit special places for doing important things, meeting special persons and getting crucial clues for the plot.
    That sort of map supports that type of gameplay.

  4. #4
    Professional Artist Carnifex's Avatar
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    Nice style and calligraphy but I'd prefer that you'd colored the city as well - now everything else is colored.

  5. #5
    Guild Journeyer Freehand 5.5's Avatar
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    My son had a few suggestions and a friend of mine found two typos, so I retouched the
    whole thing to add some more detail.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    It took me far longer than I wanted to work on it. I definitely close this
    project now. More maps are waiting ...

    Thanks Carnifex, I thought about that point quite a time, but I think it
    looks more serious/authentic if it isn't coloured. And look at it as the
    special touch to let the content inside the city stand out more clearly.
    Last edited by Freehand 5.5; 01-05-2013 at 08:52 PM.

  6. #6
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Schwarzkreuz's Avatar
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    I like the feel of the Map. Also the title banner is superb!

  7. #7
    Guild Expert jbgibson's Avatar
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    Nice fraktur. You can't beat the little variations of hand-done calligraphy, yet to look good everything has to be evenly *almost* the same. You've achieved that well.

    I've done some hand-drawn and separately hand lettered maps, digitally composited. In my case I was just terrified one blotch would ruin hours of otherwise perfectly mediocre work ;-).

    The buildings are great too. I can't figure out the elven quarter- do they have a hedge instead of a wall?

  8. #8
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected vorropohaiah's Avatar
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    that's a lovely example of a handdrawn map - especially the header and typography. nicely done.

  9. #9
    Guild Journeyer Freehand 5.5's Avatar
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    @ Schwarzkreuz and voropohaiah:
    I watched Harry Potter III some days ago and was inspired by the calligraphy in the end titles.
    So the banner was made in the style of the invisible map of the school.

    @jbgibson:
    the fraktur letters are really not the best, I have to admit. Every master scribe would let me write that again - 10 times. But I liked the chaotic style because it is for a medieval fantasy game. And the city isn't very great. So I didn't even draw base lines.
    Meanwhile I write long enough to avoid blotches, but in the case of this map I wrote the typo completely off the map and inserted it with photoshop.
    And: yes, you're right. The elves have some living hedges to protect their part of the city.

    btw: the signature (TM) is a hint to the Erbsburger cartographer Thomasus Mormann. He lives in a little house near the south gate, where he is selling his maps. My next project could be his map of Deutschen.

  10. #10
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor - Max -'s Avatar
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    Very nice hand-drawn job. Special mention on the header! Time to get some rep...

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