Nostapyrax

[fifty]

So this is going to be my first attempt at a city map with the new skills I have learnt from this community!

Here's the original sketch that I was working up a couple of years ago.


I'm going to use it as a broad guide but I'm not going to force myself to stick to it rigorously.

At the moment I want to do a detailed map and intend to hand draw the buildings individually rather than the blocks I had here, generally to push myself as hard as possible for an amazing map and hope to get somewhere close to it!! .

I'm not sure whether I'll be going colour or some sort of sepia aged look but as I reckon there's a lot of work to do before I need to decide that but in the meantime if anyone has any tips or advice then all is gratefully received.

[xpian]

I like it very much as a city plan. It feels quite real and "evolved" in the way that such cities should be.

[Wingshaw]

I think this city has promise. I'd like to see what you plan to do with it before offering specific comments. What else can you say about it at the moment?

THW

[fifty]

Well it's a big city on the coast slap bang in the centre of my RPG world (see Uma map). Its a sort of Byzantium type place, majestic and tall domed buildings vying with simple structures and narrow streets, with peoples drawn from all corners of the world and even some small population of creatures from beyond.

Originally the city was built on the banks of a natural harbour but over the centuries that area has sunken somewhat leaving a Venetian style canal area around the docks (the large central circular 'Haak' district). The city beyond that has grown out over time, new walls and fortifications surrounding them as they have been needed.

The most recent and grandest district being the empty area top right ...the blank areas within the walls will be filled with buildings - I just never got round to it originally!

As it's a developed city within the setting I have some constraints in that certain areas have been described, but overall I have plenty of wiggle room so I'm not too concerned

[fifty]

1st WIP:



Just a copy of the landscape ridges and coastline really. This does bring me to my first decision though..

How to draw the actual ridge / fall of land itself - before I just used the little 'comb-teeth' edging that I've always done on sketches, but now I feel I should put more effort in to making them look great. so I'm thinking a bit of shading and something else to make it better defined?

Any ideas or hints on how to achieve this?

[Wingshaw]

For the high areas, I'd say keep using the comb-teeth style, but put much more of them, and closer together. A bit of shading wouldn't hurt, either. The style in this map of Rome would look good for your map, I think.

I think it is good that you have shown the landscape pre-city. It helps work out how a city might develop.

Now, before I continue, I am just gonna point out, as I always do, that I can advise you about how real cities form, and thus how to depict them in a way that looks realistic. I always think it is necessary, though, to point out that this is your city, and you don't have to follow my advice if it doesn't match your intentions. It's obvious really, but I just think it is a good idea to mention it.

With that little caveat out of the way, I would suggest the next things you do with this city are:
--decide why it was founded, and thus where (eg. if a fortified settlement, on high ground; if a trade settlement, near water or highway; if an agricultural settlement, anywhere except the fertile valley floors etc).
--draw in the major roads: at this stage, I think you should limit yourself to the town's main street, which probably also serves as market, and the roads that lead off the map. You could add a few more major roads, if you want.
--remember, if the town is small and unimportant in its early days, it won't have walls. At most, it might have a watchtower or two, and maybe a wooden palisade if really necessary.
--if this town was connected with other towns and cities from its earliest days, I don't think it does any harm to think about the nature of those connections (did they trade? what goods did they exchange? how far is the next town? etc). These details may not show up on your map, but they help make it more complete for you, and you may want to know them later for other reasons (eg, if Nostapyrax imports all its metal from a town in the north, you know many blacksmiths and foundries will be on the road north). However, some people probably think this step is excessive.

Think about those suggestions, and then show us all how it looks.

THW

[fifty]

Good advice THW, I'm going for a bit more arty effort than the Rome map but I like the idea of the tight-comb as a ridge definer.
As for the background history of the city I've got a ton of stuff because this is a major city in the RPG setting I've published, but its a lot to bore you with here!
But yes I will certainty try to bear in mind the city growth points you've highlighted.

[fifty]

so .. I tried wiggly contour lines, and comb-teeth, and then a combo of the two..

Attachment 67445

I think this looks like a way forward - although I'll probably have to do at larger more robust scale if I want it to look like something other than just a black line when not viewed quite zoomed in like this.

[Wingshaw]

Your attachment doesn't work.

THW

[fifty]

This work?