WIP - The forest's map

[markem]

Ok. Got the image scanned in. First pass on coloring the trees.



Remember that this is a fantasy forest so if the trees look weird - they are supposed to! :-)

Also! Those really are shades of brown. But more of an ash brown.

[jshoer]

This reminds me a lot of Tolkien's art - not his maps, but his art. I think he worked in watercolor... Here's a page about it, for example: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01...t-illustrator/

Really curious to see where you go with this.

[Meshon]

I'm looking forward to seeing the map too. I'm pretty happy about your decorative border though, great start.

cheers,
Meshon

[markem]

To both you Meshon and you jshoer. I'm working on the leaves at the bottom of the trees. So far - frustration. I'm doing it in Photoshop CS3 and the leaves look fairly good but I'm thinking I'm going to have to export the scanning in PNG file so I can put it into Corel Painter X. I don't need the trees - I just need to make sure the canvas is the right size. I'm more familiar with how Corel's Painter does a nozzle effect. I've tried a couple of brushes and they look really great but I can't get the finished item to rotate away from the viewer so it looks like they are laying on the ground. But I've already set up the multiple layers for each part (ie: ground, leaf coverage, trees, tree leaves, etc...). I have had great fun yanking the leaves around while making wind noises. :-)

The type of leaves I'm planning on using are semi-maple tree leaves. I say semi because I'm working on making them not look like normal maple leaves. But I may just throw that out and make them regular maple leaves as that would be a lot simpler. :-)

Anyway! Glad you like it so far. :-)

[markem]

Well, I finally got frustrated enough trying to do 3000 dpi images and reduced it to 600dpi. Wow. Is my Photoshop running a lot faster. It was taking 15-30 minutes PER CHANGE at 3000dpi. Now it is just a few seconds. I still have the scanned in document but really do not see me going back to it. Here is a test of using Corel Painter X to pop in leaves and stuff. Now comes the "get out the ziplock gallon sized bags and go gather up a bunch of leaves that I want to have in this. Make a brush out of them and use them in the program. It is amazing the difference between Corel's Painter X and Photoshop. I tried distorting the leaves in Photoshop but couldn't get them to lay down the way I wanted them to lay (so they looked like they were laying on the ground). But in Painter it only took a few seconds to get the effect. And believe me - I haven't had Painter anywhere near as long as I have had Photoshop. But Painter has this horizon line. You just drag it down and it skews everything to that perspective. Anyway, here is my first trial of doing this.


Please note that the leaves in the trees are NOT the ones I want to use. Nor are the ones on the ground (although they do look rather nice). I spent about six hours trying to get the 3000dpi image to do what I wanted and just was so frustrated that I just used the stock images. I've seen the leaves I want in the trees downtown in Houston. They are kind of a weird mix of maple tree-like leaves and some other species. Anyway, I'm going to collect a lot of them and make a nozzle/brush out of them and then spray them onto the trees. I'm also going to experiment with more and fewer leaves. The leaves on the ground do look very good but now they make the trees look more 2D than before. This is mainly because there aren't any shadows yet for the trees. Your eyes are expecting shadows like those leaves under the roots to be really dark or maybe have leaves piled up against them (which they will) thus hiding the 2D drawing. Also, there isn't any ground really yet. But I think things will go a bit faster now that I've reduced the DPI down to a manageable level.

I'm also debating on whether or not to change the leaves from having color to being black & white. (Or rather - greyscale.) I'm torn between whether it would make it look nicer or more dreary. I may just need to darken down the leaves some more so they don't give quite so much color to an otherwise moody scene.

Let me know what you think. I'm very conflicted over which way to go really with this. I know what I want - but I'm still groping my way towards it. :-) TIA!

Oh! One last thing - I did apply a light filter to the trees themselves so they are lighter at the top than at the bottom.

[zeichen]

I really like it. I personally would reduce the saturation and lightness on the green leaves slightly. I would also create more shadows from them.

I would darken the lower leaves a little but they look good as is. Really will depend on what the white space will be.

You might want to add another spot of light somewhere else to give a dramatic focal point also.

I think it looks spook and really excited to see where you take this.

[markem]

@zeichen : Thanks! I'll try those ideas out! :-) Like I said though - the leaves I want look very strange to me because they are somewhere between a maple leaf and oak leaves. I'll try to post later this week after I get some samples. Thanks again for the advice! :-)

[markem]

I've now collected about ten leaves. I'd like to collect some more because I don't have enough with yellow or other such colors (mainly green or pale green). I don't think the city allows them to lay on the ground for very long. So I will have to keep an eye out for them or maybe I can do something in Painter. Anyway, tonight is scanning night for me. I'll post a few of the leaves (or maybe all of them) so others can use the images to make maps with. :-)

[Meshon]

I'll post a few of the leaves (or maybe all of them) so others can use the images to make maps with. :-)

Great idea! It sounds like you're learning some things too, which is never bad. So many maps, or map elements, I have spent an hour or two (or three!) working out and then discarding them because it doesn't work out. In this case the journey is more important than the destination.

Cheers,
Meshon

[markem]

Here is one of the leaves. Anyone have any kind of idea what type of tree this is?