[Award Winner] A few tips

[torstan]

This is very similar to the way I have ended up doing my maps - it's interesting to read your methods here. I'd be interested in more detail on your colouring process. I'm guessing a normal colour layer for each area with some overlay or soft light layers for the shading and detail?

Also - you mentioned in another thread going through old books for paper textures - do you always use a scanned background or are some of the backgrounds computer generated as well?

Thanks for sharing the tips!

[Schley]

Hey Torstan,

My coloring process includes using a combination of personal texture resources (found and created), lots of hand painting with my tablet, and the judicious use of selection outlines and fills. I use Photoshop's filters, textures, and layer effects sparingly since they tend to scream PHOTOSHOP!. Especially repeating texture patterns. They make me so mad!

I actually set up my color layers by subject rather than area, in that I may have one layer devoted to the principal colors of all the furniture, another to the floors and another to the walls. Other layers might include a multiply layer for furniture shading and a hard light layer for highlights. I typically have a lot of layers active so it really helps to label them accurately.

I find most computer generated backgrounds to be repetitive due to tiling so I prefer to make or find my own. This does tend to increase file size, but that can be managed.