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Well there sure are a lot of brand new members voting on the poll.
Still 15 hours of voting left and only 3 votes separate 70% of the entries, it is still up for grabs!
My Battlemaps Gallery http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...p?albumid=3407
Well there sure are a lot of brand new members voting on the poll.
I'll be honest. I tend not to watch sports. And I really don't need to because the action on the Cartographers' Guild is fast and furious!
Meshon's Cobblestone Streets tutorial
DeviantArt page: https://meshon.deviantart.com/
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Congrats Chickpea, great work!
Close indeed! Bogie, is there any way to get the word out to others on the site that might not regularly visit the challenge forums?
-IG
Ok, this is awesome. I can totally see why this is a neck and neck race. We don't always get so many quality entries and usually one or two leap out in a sort of landslide victory. What we have here is some excellent craftsmanship by everyone involved. I can't remember when I've seen this many great maps in the Lite competition. That said, and part of the reason I hate voting on challenges (joke), I feel like I should share where my votes come from and why I chose one over another. It takes a lot of time for me to write this part up but I always love it when others do it for me. Also, to all of you, I want you to understand that sometimes decisions are based on a thread thin bit of feeling so don't give up. I can't tell you how many of these things I've come in 3rd or 4th place.
Shilfah - The Floating Village by Abu Lafia - I love the unique idea of a floating village and the little buildings and all are very well done. I still feel I'm on gold overload and I don't care for the border that looks like a place mat made out of straw but that sort of works along with the story so... Speaking of story its fantastic and filled with lots of good hooks for an adventuring party. I am quite tempted to use this idea in my own campaign world and overall this is beautiful. This got my 2nd vote.
Clift Side by Belgath - I got a kick out of the story with the Lieutenant going over the edge.I also like the hand drawn style and the colors made it better. I was confused by the mayor's home looking like it's smoldering or recently burnt out. Did I miss an explanation made in the story? I appreciate it's tough to transition from paper to digital and it's something I have struggled with. Taking photos to get your image into digital can be tricky and it takes practice to meld the two. This totally looks like it could be in a children's story book. I think the main issues I have here are the 3/4 view aspects do not always jive with the rest. (ie, the houses are full 3/4 but the trees look more flat).
Harvest Time in Applehill by Chick - This is very clean and crisp, nicely laid out and easy to read. Great job to get entries into both contests this month. Perhaps some shadows to give the map more depth would have pulled me in more. For example, the river seems on the same level as everything else. Still, this is perhaps the most readable of entries even if I think the story seems a little weaker than the others. You did write a ton on your other entry. It would be my 4th vote but I cut myself off at 3. Still, I totally get why it's toward the front of the pack.
Darrowholm by ChickPea - I think this is just a really cute map that kept getting better. You took in lots of advice on this and applied it. The river shoreline improved a lot, the shadows look good and I just want to eat those little "Pea" trees. Looking at this both zoomed in and out is enjoyable and your story was well told. This got my 1st vote. Keep working on the edges.
Bjorah's Cliff by Industrygothica - I really liked this entry as well. The viewpoint is excellent. I think, some of the buildings look a tad off kilter. The water looks to me more like a top down view compared with the cliffs (I know you reworked it at least once). I think the waterfall would still be practically pure white. Search "waterfalls British Columbia" for examples. The cliffs are great at capturing the 3d view yet they sort of fade out towards the bottoms. Some more detail there would be good. The trees work well but I think the field/road areas need more depth somehow. This entry got my 3rd vote. [I know I am posting a bunch of nitpicks here and I always wished folks would give me those before the contest was over (sorry about that) but I think your map is right on the verge of being really amazing. Don't be discouraged.
Wydenfurth by MstrWelf - I'm not knocked out by the border but you definitely have a nice looking little town here. I like the look of your hand drawn buildings and love the crops having rows. Some areas suffer from being a bit muddy however. Along the river shoreline for example. The edges of some of the forested areas also look like they were created by a fading mask. I am one who has suffered from making my stuff to muddy so I have had to work on this as well. I think your lines in the water don't match the rest. Perhaps if they were closer to 50% opacity it would help. Still a solid entry.
Treetop Village of Eren Tulluath by Whump - For jumping in at the last this is fantastic. I love the line work you did with the village. The border design is fabulous and I love how it looks like it's painted on a board. Unfortunately, while I love how the border is faded and you can see the wood through it I feel like the wood grains killed off some of your town's excellent line work. It might have been better to fade the grain behind the town portion because then your town would stand out better (sacrifice some realism for readability). The story portion didn't suck me in like some of the others. Still, this is also a solid entry.
As with any advice, you get what you paid for
I've been sitting here for around a hour looking these over so understand it takes a lot of effort to break things down. More if you want to say things in the proper way. I hope I achieved that. If not, just know that I do really think all these maps are excellent work and every one of you should keep at it.
Sincerely,
Jax
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt
Jax.. thank you! Not just for your vote, but for taking what is obviously an insane amount of time to break down the critique for each one. That is more than kind of you, and I appreciate every word of it. And I will definite take those words to heart. Thank you again!
-IG
I made a little announcement in the General Forum so we'll see if we can get a few more votes. This makes me wonder if we should be adding a link from our Announcement forum to our monthly contests in the future just to remind folks about them?Originally Posted by industrygothica
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
I think we should! Or make it a news item that shows up on the front page.
-IG
*edit* Unless, of course, the announcement forum is where the news items come from, in which case. . Great idea Jax!
Last edited by industrygothica; 04-17-2015 at 03:05 PM.
I vote a resounding YES on this idea! I've noticed that the regular challenge may get 20-30 votes and the lite challenge is lucky to get 15. This month may be an exception, but I for one would really like to have votes from the far more experienced members as well as those eligible for the Lite.
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