March/April 2015 Lite Challenge Entry: Darrowholm

[Abu Lafia]

Hi Chick-Pea. The latest progress looks great so far. I like the new houses and Alayn's journal excerpt is excellent!

I dunno about the crops, though I ended up spending more time than I'd have liked on them. Do they look ridiculous? I tried to break them up and colour them a little so they don't look so uniform, but I'm not sure if I've pulled it off. I'm not quite sure of the best way to illustrate fields of crops.

I have to say that the crops are a bit "straight" or "blocky" in my view. In Larb's thread on Carremvek J. Edward posted a kind of mini-tutorial on fields... maybe it's helpful. Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
AL

[J.Edward]

I like the crops. I think they fit with the style you've done this in.
Only thing I would add is the ones that are diagonal - I wouldn't do those diagonal. I would straighten them out.
I think it will look better. But that is just my opinion.
I have to give you props for deciding to change all those tree trunks and fix the perspective. It looks much better.
I love how you did the title with the little trees. That looks great.

[MstrWelf]

You made great progress from the first sketch to your latest WIP. I like it how all the colors play together but, to be honest, best of all I like the story

[Bogie]

Lots of nice little details!

[ChickPea]

I have to say that the crops are a bit "straight" or "blocky" in my view. In Larb's thread on Carremvek J. Edward posted a kind of mini-tutorial on fields... maybe it's helpful. Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
AL

Hey Abu!

Yeah, I have to agree about the crops. I was looking at the fields at the bottom right, and they started to look like a keyboard. Once I saw it, I couldn't 'unsee' it. Soooo, my farmers are now growing keyboards in their fields. That's either absolutely brilliant or utterly ridiculous (guess which) *groans*

I like the crops. I think they fit with the style you've done this in.
Only thing I would add is the ones that are diagonal - I wouldn't do those diagonal. I would straighten them out.
I think it will look better. But that is just my opinion.
I have to give you props for deciding to change all those tree trunks and fix the perspective. It looks much better.
I love how you did the title with the little trees. That looks great.

Yeah, I think some reworking of the crops is required. Thanks for the tutorial that Abu linked to above. It may not be the best thing for this style of map, but I've saved it for future use. Glad you like the title. I was quite pleased how it turned out.

You made great progress from the first sketch to your latest WIP. I like it how all the colors play together but, to be honest, best of all I like the story

Haha, that's cool! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it.

Lots of nice little details!

Thanks, Bogie.

[Meshon]

I like drop caps at the start of a story myself, but the drop quotation marks I'm not so sure about... I think the roof of Miss Sorrell's residence can lose the diagonal line in the middle of the north side, since it looks like that face is unbroken.

I just wanted to add something to the discussion, otherwise I'd just be repeating oohs and aahs. This is a really good looking map, the trees are grape, er... great, and the layout of the village looks exactly like I'd imagine a small frontier town looking. I really like the work you've put into making the legend look good too. Great entry!

cheers,
Meshon

[ChickPea]

Hey Meshon!

With the big quote mark, I wanted to emphasise that this was a quote of someone else's words and that it wasn't the guy telling you the story direct. I suppose I wanted to work an element of mystery into it, where you have the guy's journal and a war has broken out, so what happened to him? Why isn't he telling the story? Maybe it didn't work, but that was my reasoning. Fixed the dodgy roof too, thanks for that.

And thanks for your comments. PS haven't forgotten about your tutorial. Just haven't the chance to take a proper look at it because I've been so busy, but I'll get to it.

But back to the map ... I've made a few more updates and added a castle. The castle's a bit rubbish to be honest. I didn't have a clear idea of what to do when I started and it probably shows LOL! I'm starting to run out of time though, so it'll probably need to stay.

Basically, unless I spot a minor error, this will more than likely be my finished work. I've never made any kind of town map before and I made a lot of mistakes on the way which cost me tons of time. There are parts that I like but other parts I'm not so keen on. I'd probably do a lot of things differently if I were starting again, but, it's done now and it was a great learning experience. I hadn't even considered doing a town map until this challenge, but now I want to make another. Map-making is SO addictive!!

### Winner ###

[Belgath]

I do really like how your Map has come together. It's sort of funny how it's so much easier to see the flaws in my own map, yet those same flaws would go unnoticed everybody else's work. I like the subtitle shading you have throughout your map I need to learn how to do that in a way that's not time prohibitive.

[Meshon]

Oh yes, get addicted! I'm looking forward to seeing the fruits of your habit.

I like the addition of a new type of crop, cool there. I understand the quotation mark. To be honest your introductory line explains it very well, and the whole read through I was watching for the foreshadowing of things to come. And it's a pity Elder Alayn and Miss Sorrell didn't have more time. I'm sure they would have come to an understanding. It was kind of like watching the pilot for a tv series.

I think the castle is maybe a bit large and ornate for what I'd expect to be here, though I don't really think you should worry about changing it at this point. If you have time maybe put a couple outbuildings on the castle grounds.

And good observations about the learning process. I'm always amazed at how long it takes me to do things when production and learning are both part of the process.

Well done!

cheers,
Meshon

[ChickPea]

Belgath, with the shading, there are a few parts that I painted in by hand but about 95% of it is just the Gimp drop shadow filter. Photoshop has a similar filter (you're using PS, right?)

Meshon, yup, the castle's ridiculously large for the area, and that's the toned down version. The one I'd really liked to have done would have worked as a fairytale castle in a Disney movie LOL! Also, now I'm totally shipping Elder Alayn and Miss Sorrell. Hadn't even thought about that.

I think when I start my next town map (which, unless the next monthly challenge captures my interest, will be soon) I want to create a map full of ridiculously over-the-top buildings in a fantasy setting. Subtlety is NOT my middle name!