Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: General opinion on mountain brushes

  1. #1
    Guild Member urxed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Malmoe Sweden
    Posts
    50

    Default General opinion on mountain brushes

    I just wanted to get some critique on these mountains:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Untitled-2 copy.jpg 
Views:	642 
Size:	957.5 KB 
ID:	53643

    Just in general, good/bad/nice/ugly/awesome - and what could I improve? Anything at all really.
    These are my first mountain brushes that have created, drawn by hand, scanned and fixed in PS.

    The map is just a test.

  2. #2
    Guild Adept Facebook Connected aquarits's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    São Bernardo do Campo - SP - Brasil
    Posts
    395

    Default

    looks "good" but guess you can improve using more little mountains to not let it so isolated.
    A good thing that always burn my mind and you got, is the sweet connection btw each mountain

  3. #3
    Guild Master Chashio's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Maine, USA
    Posts
    2,235

    Default

    The style is nice. Very true to old maps, with the rounded summits and the shade lines.

    The top line is noticeably pixelated... the rest of the lines are too but there it just makes it seem like roughed and fading pen strokes. If you can I would suggest re-scanning at a higher resolution, use greyscale instead of black&white/bitmap/threshold or whatever you did, and saving the brushes as large as you can.

    There is also a large difference in line thickness between your mountains and the rest of the map (for that particular background texture, I'd change the coastlines to match the mountains). If you're going for a hand-drawn look, well, line weight is a consideration... I often use one pen for an entire map, though such consistency is more a matter of taste than necessity. To each, his own.
    Kaitlin Gray - Art, Maps, Etc | Patreon | Instagram

  4. #4
    Guild Member urxed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Malmoe Sweden
    Posts
    50

    Default

    This map is only a quick test to see what the mountains will look like on a landscape - it took me 20 min to make it. And the names are all a lame joke. Just so you know.

    Quote Originally Posted by aquarits View Post
    looks "good" but guess you can improve using more little mountains to not let it so isolated.
    A good thing that always burn my mind and you got, is the sweet connection btw each mountain
    Yes! I find it hard to draw smaller (and much larger) mountains, but I will definitely do that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Chashio View Post
    The style is nice. Very true to old maps, with the rounded summits and the shade lines.

    The top line is noticeably pixelated... the rest of the lines are too but there it just makes it seem like roughed and fading pen strokes. If you can I would suggest re-scanning at a higher resolution, use greyscale instead of black&white/bitmap/threshold or whatever you did, and saving the brushes as large as you can.

    There is also a large difference in line thickness between your mountains and the rest of the map (for that particular background texture, I'd change the coastlines to match the mountains). If you're going for a hand-drawn look, well, line weight is a consideration... I often use one pen for an entire map, though such consistency is more a matter of taste than necessity. To each, his own.
    A re-scan is on it's way, and I will draw more mountains too. And I am having trouble with how I am supposed to work with them pre-brush state. I got the size I want but as you said, I did use the threshold function. Problem is I just want the black lines, not the grey paper background - care to give me some advice on how to do it? Would greatly appreciate it.

  5. #5
    Guild Member urxed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Malmoe Sweden
    Posts
    50

    Default

    How about this?

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	mountains.jpg 
Views:	482 
Size:	187.9 KB 
ID:	53654

    I like the rough thicker lines of the pixelated one, but I figure I could just use a thicker pen drawing them. The new result is much better in general though. The mountains on the left are set to multiply, the others are just normal.

  6. #6
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor - Max -'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    France
    Posts
    4,220

    Default

    Looks pretty good, with that old 17th century maps feeling...

  7. #7
    Guild Master Chashio's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Maine, USA
    Posts
    2,235

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by urxed View Post
    Problem is I just want the black lines, not the grey paper background - care to give me some advice on how to do it? Would greatly appreciate it.
    Yep.

    - Go to Select > Color Range and click on the colors which you want to be rid of (the big areas will do, and the little eyedropper with a + lets you select more than one color). Set the Selection Preview to Black Matte (this shows everything NOT selected as Black). Adjust the Fuzziness to the point where the black lines look good and there's little/no black noise elsewhere. Click OK.
    - With that selection open, go to your Masks panel and create a new pixel mask with it. Invert it. Apply it.
    - If needed, use a Vibrance Adjustment Layer (clipped to layer) to desaturate any bits of color left around the edges.
    - If your lines aren't dark enough for your taste, use a Levels Adjustment Layer (clipped to layer) to darken the mid-values.
    - You may still have a little noise to clean up around your lines, but it does a lot. You could, beforehand or now, go to Image > Adjustments > Replace Color, drag the Lightness to 100, select a pixel of the noise you want to lighten, then adjust the Fuzziness to suit until you see what you want. Then Select > Color Range to get rid of the white noise (this may be moot if you're just making a PS brush from it where the white won't register). You could alternately erase the little bits of noise by hand, or select color range black, adjust fuzziness and then mask off the noise you don't want.

    Hope that all made sense. Here's what happened to your uploaded pic from doing the above.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	scan retouching to remove background colors.png 
Views:	367 
Size:	62.5 KB 
ID:	53660
    Last edited by Chashio; 04-15-2013 at 12:49 PM.
    Kaitlin Gray - Art, Maps, Etc | Patreon | Instagram

  8. #8
    Guild Member urxed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Malmoe Sweden
    Posts
    50

    Default

    Thank you!

  9. #9
    Guild Master Chashio's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Maine, USA
    Posts
    2,235

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by urxed View Post
    Thank you!
    You're welcome.
    Kaitlin Gray - Art, Maps, Etc | Patreon | Instagram

  10. #10
    Professional Artist Guild Donor Sapiento's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Salzburg, Austria
    Posts
    3,654

    Default

    A possibility to create clean lines would be tracing in a vector program like Inkscape or Illustrator. This gives sharp edges if you have the right settings.
    Last edited by Sapiento; 04-17-2013 at 12:37 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •