Earen - A Work In Progress

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks for the heads up on the ISO mountains tutorial jfrazierjr. It actually gives me a few adaptation ideas for doing something similar in Photoshop. In some ways its not as versatile at the brushes I've already created, and in other ways its more versatile. It's just such a radically different style that is aesthetically very pleasing to me. Granted the rest of this map is fantastic as well. I am truly amazed at just how hand drawn it looks.

Thanks!

Wag

Yes, thats the one thing against doing it "my" way is that it is terribly time consuming. However, I think the fact that every single mountain is unique makes it well worth it if you have the time. I am also working on a set of ISO mountain symbols/gimp brushes and if I can ever get them finished, you could always lay some down in a random pattern and then use the smudge tool to blend them into the underlying terrain as needed. Of course, you could make your own brushes in the same manner as kind of a "jump start". It won't look as good as doing each individually, but you can still get some very nice results using brushes if you will also take the time to "finish" up the process after laying the brushes down onto the canvas and smudge them into the underlying terrain.


In case you have not seen it, here is a WIP where I hand drew and smudged each mountain/hill: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3653

[Wag]

Every Day I'm amazed at the new things I find on this site. I had not ventured into that thread before, but I am certainly impressed with the style of these maps. One of the maps I plan on doing in the not too distant future is a smaller island map and will likely try this more "hand drawn" approach as I will have a small quantity of individual mountains to do.

That’s the thing about making things look good though. They are terribly time consuming methods. One always thinks of the creation process as so glamorous, but in reality it's just about the time it takes which is often times substantial.

Absolutely fantastic. Thanks

[megrim]

BLAST FROM THE PAST! i managed to get some of the original files from my old hard drive. sooooooooooooo i will continue with this map as my story progresses, the updates will be SLOW. No interactive map since the files i was using are lost. Anyways, this is not map related but its related to the story i was originally writing for it, this is Aiden, the name of the main character, i did him in adobe illustrator

[megrim]

here we go added Aberwyn and the castletown of Galeah

[PixelFish]

I particularly like the illustrative effect of the chasms and cliffs and ridges. The colour choices are nice too--very cohesive and giving off a slightly aged feel.

Are you planning on keeping the compass rose there or perchance is it a temporary watermark? It's nice looking but distracting at its current size and location.

Really nice work so far.

PS. How did you do the borders?

[megrim]

I particularly like the illustrative effect of the chasms and cliffs and ridges. The colour choices are nice too--very cohesive and giving off a slightly aged feel.

Are you planning on keeping the compass rose there or perchance is it a temporary watermark? It's nice looking but distracting at its current size and location.

Really nice work so far.

PS. How did you do the borders?

its a temporary watermark. About the borders i honestly don't remember but i will look into it to see if i remember ho i made it.

[Ramah]

Wow, this is looking very beautiful indeed. I love the desert and rocky regions.
The only thing that I'm not too fond of are the icons you seem to be using for cities etc. which look too computer generated compared to the rest of the map.

Great work.

[megrim]

Wow, this is looking very beautiful indeed. I love the desert and rocky regions.
The only thing that I'm not too fond of are the icons you seem to be using for cities etc. which look too computer generated compared to the rest of the map.

Great work.

Any suggestions for the symbols?

[Ramah]

Umm, personally I would say that maybe the symbols are ok, or something similar (they are a bit small to see) but I would lose the colour on them and go for a brown, or sepia tone outline, so they kinda fit in with the very artistic hand-drawn look.

But I dunno, that's just me of course.

Is it possible to post a higher res version so we can see it closer? I'd love to get a detailed look at your artwork.

[torstan]

Great to see this thread again. I'd agree with the symbols - they don't fit with the style of the map. I'd suggest drawing in a new city symbol yourself using your own colour palette from the map. I'd also give them a shadow to integrate them into the image.

It sucks to have lost the interactive version as that was just lovely. Certainly looking forward to seeing this finished (however long that will take )