WIP Ulthui v4 - How should I draw forests?

[Sarithus]

Hey everyone. I'm working on the next version of my Ulthui map. I like my mountains, but I feel like I've shot myself in the foot with them. How can I draw forests in a similar way? I've drawn a rough version of what I might do, but I'd be very grateful for any other suggestions.

Thanks.



Edit: This seems a bit better.

[Domino44]

Hey, I really like those mountains! The second forest looks good, it's hard to do those kinds of forests especially when there is a river going through it.

[fabio p]

I agree with Domino44, I like those mountains too and the second forests are not bad (maybe you could avoid overlapping trees when drawing those on the edge).

[- Max -]

Nice start so far. I tend to find the first forest interesting. They probably need some work and it would look better for the sake of consistency, to have some pointy trees top spread on it (like you did on the second forests, but mathcing the trees of the first one).

[Eilathen]

Wow, those mountains are spectacular! Very nice. I would not change them.

As to the forests...well, i am not a big fan of either version. But the second one is better developed, so far. Although the first one could have potential, if done right. But don't ask me how to "do it right" Max has some versions of those kind of forests and his later trials start to grow on me...so maybe look at some of his newest maps with that kind of forest style.

[Sarithus]

Thanks for the comments so far, very pleased that you guys like the mountains.

It's okay I guess, but I'm not really happy with the forests. They're awkward to draw and rather inconsistent compared to the mountains. Might need to try something else, or even just stick with single brush tree icons.



Edit: I think this might be the best one so far in that it looks neater and the process is simpler, drawing the outline first and then keeping all the tree tops more uniform. Still needs some work though.

[arsheesh]

I agree with Eilathen, the mountains look fabulous. The forests aren't bad, but I'd suggest making the tree top texture a bit less evenly dispersed. Otherwise very nice.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[ascanius]

@ Sarithus

Hey I think I might have an idea for the forest. I did a paint over, hope that is ok.



It's basically black pencle scribbles at something like 70% opacity(1), then white highlights at the same opacity (2) and lastly dark black underneath (3)

The mountains look really good by the way.

[Deadshade]

Well the problem is that trees can't be as big as mountains. That's a classical scale problem that always appears with stamped trees and handdrawn mountains.
I'd suggest to make the circular traits suggesting a forest much smaller and like Arsheesh says, more irregular and dispersed.
Another technique (which is much better with colors) is to use a brush which has only a few small vertical/oblique traits and you use a large jitter. This avoids the blocky aspect (where a forest looks like a box) and the forest gets nicely less dense at the borders and even a few small copses appear.
When you vary the brush colors (dark green and light green) you obtain a mixed forest look - f.ex more dark green near/in the mountains and more light green in plains and along rivers.

I have used the trait technique in this handdrawn sketch where I explored how to create depth in a relief map :

[- Max -]

Actually scale would be important only if you're looking for a realistic style. Map isn't always the terrain and elements can be emphazised (and overscaled) to make them more obvious. I personnally used both technics on several kind of maps.