[WIP] Tarkir

[Abu Lafia]

A good friend of mine is really into "Magic the Gathering" for years now. He has a huge collection of cards/decks and his walls are full with magic artwork and stuff. So i thought he might like a map of one of the planes of the mtg multiverse to hang there aswell.
I first had to do some research... i didn't even know before something like different planes exist nowadays (i played mtg myself the last time over 15 years ago, back in "high school"... i remember the Ice Age and Mirage series were out then...).
I decided to head for one of the newest planes called "Tarkir" from the "Khans of Tarkir" set, because i like the "oriental" background of the world the most. It's basically five clans (each representing mainly one colour) battling over the lands of Tarkir after they hunted down all their former dragon neighbours. There are the "Mardu" (red- golden horde style steppe nomads), the "Jeskai" (blue- martial arts monks living in fortified temple cities in the mountains^^), the "Abzan" (white- desert civilization inspired by persian/ottoman empire), the "Sultai" (black - some bad-ass naga necromancer living in huge palaces and necropoles in the jungle) and the "Temur" (green- rough Barbarians living in the frosty mountains in the north). Welll maybe i'll write a bit more about the lore later...

There is some information on the different territories from the Wizards of the Coast site but there is no official map, only two fan-made i could find.

I made some sketches on paper and then started in Krita with some mountain ridges that seperate the five territories.

I was not too happy with that first attempt. The mountains look all too similar and mostly aren't connected with each other. But i think i'll keep the rough layout of the landscape as it is.

So i made a second try, starting with the northern "Qal Sisma" mountain range, the one i left out in the first sketch, the territory of the Temur clan.

Im pretty happy with the rugged mountains so far, but i'm not sure if i can keep the perspective for the rest of the map. Also i don't know if i'll have the same amount of detail on every single mountain. We'll see...

Cheers,
AL

PS: comments, critique, suggestions are as always greatly welcome!

[Chashio]

For some reason the image doesn't want to appear in my browser, but what I can see of the second version thumbnail looks pretty cool so far. Some panoramic, and very often bird's-eye-view maps have a low perspective on the horizon but curve toward the near ground so you're looking down on the land. You might try something like that if you think it would fit better than what you have across the board.

[Abu Lafia]

Thanks Chashio for the idea with a curved perspective, i think you mean something similar to what J. Edward did in some of his latest maps? I'll see if it's possible for me to do something like this. It seems as if this would be the "champions-league" of cartography , atm i'm already happy to draw some things, i never thought i could do with a tablet before. I scaled the image to 50% this time so i hope it's doable now for your browser.
Attachment 75471
Well, as you can see in this small update i went a bit wild on some details...but it was a lot of fun to "immerse" in it and "let it all out" XD As i've written in other WIP threads, i'm not that good in planning all the things ahead and like it a lot if the drawn things "come to life" while drawing. Since there lived a lot of dragons in Tarkir (SPOILER: and will come back soon ... man what a cliché ) some of the mountains could have been their former dwellings and so the surrounding mountains are partly "molten".

[Meshon]

It's looking good! I haven't played MtG in years but I still have lots of cards hiding away, just waiting for the next generation I guess…

When it comes time to add labels you could have some fun with the different icons for the mana colours, turn them into heraldry or something.

And yes, I fully agree. Dragons would melt neighbouring mountains into weird shapes.

cheers,
Meshon

[Abu Lafia]

Thanks Meshon! Yeah i'm looking forward for working in the symbols and things too They also made some nice symbols for this particular set. I only fear i have to read pretty closely through all the pages of licenses and copyright stuff... don't want no mad wizards jumping through my bedroom window one night

[Meshon]

Thanks Meshon! Yeah i'm looking forward for working in the symbols and things too They also made some nice symbols for this particular set. I only fear i have to read pretty closely through all the pages of licenses and copyright stuff... don't want no mad wizards jumping through my bedroom window one night

Yes, that's why I was thinking you might want to re-draw them as heraldry. And for Urza's sake, don't mention tapping, whatever you do!

[Abu Lafia]

Another update:
Attachment 75476

Yes, that's why I was thinking you might want to re-draw them as heraldry. And for Urza's sake, don't mention tapping, whatever you do!

Why not mentioning it? I mean, my weakness in remembering to untap my cards was pretty much the reason i never considered getting into serious MtG business is it a common thing?
Btw: Yeah, maybe i have to redraw all of the icons and hope wizards lawyers have no problem with that

[ChickPea]

You're off to a great start, Abu. I really like your mountains. Nice to see that tablet being put to work!

[snodsy]

Abu those mountains are fantastic and fun. What size brush are you starting with? Your linework is so nice. Looking forward to seeing these mountain progress.

[Abu Lafia]

You're off to a great start, Abu. I really like your mountains. Nice to see that tablet being put to work!

Hey ChickPea. Thanks a lot! I'm glad you like it so far. This is actually the first time i'm really happy with something i made with the tablet. Although i think it might be a bit over the top?

Abu those mountains are fantastic and fun. What size brush are you starting with? Your linework is so nice. Looking forward to seeing these mountain progress.

Thank you snodsy, much appreciated! As i wrote, i'm still quite perplex myself with the stuff i came up ... it just somehow happened and i think i need a loooot more practice to draw other stuff (just failed miserably when i tried to make a building fitting into the landscape ). At the moment i'm working with krita (since i feel it works better using a tablet than gimp) and use the default "ink pen" brush (5px) on a 9904x7016 canvas. I am myself pretty new to digital drawing and all the technical stuff around it, but i hope you will find a good working solution for yourself. What programm are you working with? I really like your work and i think the technical means shouldn't be an obstacle.
PS: gladly accept your friendship request!