June / July '15 Lite Challenge: Halarnoth (The Shattered Isles)

[Domino44]

Those icons look really good! They give the whole map a much better feel!

[Meshon]

Very nice work on the icons. I think you could intensify the white at the peaks of some of your mountains if they're intended to be snow-capped. You know, I really like poetry that sounds like terror, give it a try! Or, if you're not sure, you could look at borrowing from another source, maybe a few lines from an old Anglo-Saxon work like The Ruin, The Seafarer, or The Wanderer. Mind you, I guess you'd have to translate those… or not.

This is looking great.

cheers,
Meshon

[snodsy]

Really beautiful, not crazy about the tree of are or, looks a little off, but love the icons

[Wolram]

I agree Snodsy, that tree is not well drawn, and thinking about it now it should probably go all together. I've got a better idea

Meshon, I hadn't noticed, but you are right, they definitely need intensifying. As for poetry those are some fantastic sources, I found some translations and they really echo the culture I want to imply in this map.

Domino44, thanks! I hope I can find the time to improve some of those icons before the competition is up.

I shall return with developments.

[Wolram]

Next update,

### Latest WIP ###

The pillar of Svargoroth, a great monolith of Obsidian reaching up to the sky. Shrouded in mystery it rises from a bed of sharp and loose Obsidian. Created under the immense pressure of the cataclysm, and forced to the surface by volcanic action, it is said to be the gateway of the dead, for faces can be seen within by those who stare too long!!!!!!!!!

Also added more rivers and a few details, mainly been doing clouds, I'm trying to show the sheltering effect the mountains to the south have against the great ocean, I think they work. I've whitened some of the peaks as Snodsy suggested, I might have to re-visit these still.

And behold, the dreaded poetry. Don't hold back. "Ūs Lor Vascrin" Translates to "The Broken Isles". Because I said so. It's a tale of the people who dared to settle upon the land following it's ruin, and to build a new life.

[Chick]

In looking at the island with the pillar, I think the mountains have a nice perspective, but the forest looks more top down than the mountains do, and the pillar looks more from the side than the mountains do. This gives the whole island a very strange perspective conflict.

[Wolram]

Thanks Chick, you are right that does look kind of funny now you've pointed it out!

[Shall Teclex]

Great map, Wolram! The shapes of those mountains fit your world of the Shattered Isles perfectly, and you did some excellent coloring on a top of that. I have to agree with Chick about the pillar of Swargoroth - perhaps you could draw it from the 45 degrees angle, that would give it a nice isometric perspective...

[Wolram]

Well, I've removed the Pillar, and the wood, and yet it still looked wrong. I've been puzzling all evening but as soon as I zoomed out it was obvious. The problem, I think, is with the circular shape of all the islands around Arvascr, because it's so circular it appears to be looked on from directly above, where as the map is drawn from a slight angle.

A foolish error indeed! As I see it I'm going to have to find a way to reshape the land into more of an oval. A nightmare scenario as in my eagerness I've managed to build up over 70 layers :/. Even more frustrating is that it's been staring right at me since my very first post!

Today's lesson, get the first bits right first!!!

Not sure my Photoshop skills are up to this one.

Wolram out.

[industrygothica]

Well, I've removed the Pillar, and the wood, and yet it still looked wrong. I've been puzzling all evening but as soon as I zoomed out it was obvious. The problem, I think, is with the circular shape of all the islands around Arvascr, because it's so circular it appears to be looked on from directly above, where as the map is drawn from a slight angle.

A foolish error indeed! As I see it I'm going to have to find a way to reshape the land into more of an oval. A nightmare scenario as in my eagerness I've managed to build up over 70 layers :/. Even more frustrating is that it's been staring right at me since my very first post!

Today's lesson, get the first bits right first!!!

Not sure my Photoshop skills are up to this one.

Wolram out.

I've been out for a while, so I'm just jumping in here... but I don't think the shape of your land is the problem at all, personally. I first saw your map from a zoomed-out perspective, and I thought it was beautiful. When I zoomed in, it was at the upper left corner, at the Plains of Tulinor. I thought then that something felt off about your mountains. While I love the line-work and the shading of them, their perspective is a bit all over the place. Some are top-down, some are more of a side view, while others are more isometric. At least that's how my eyes see it.

Anyway, I think this you're showing some excellent art. But I'll add that I'm having trouble spotting the disaster (though, admittedly, I haven't read the full thread yet).


-IG