WIP Lake Village map

[saria]

**WIP**

Hey All! Happy new year.

This year I've taken up mapping and this is my first Map as a Work in Progress!!

I'm so grateful to have landed here on this site. I've been using the tutorials listed here to see what I could get.

Let me know what you think! Love to hear any criticisms and suggestions - I'm still missing the details on this map: Trees, bushes, barrels, possibly some water effects, etc.

Thanks!

[snodsy]

Really nice start, like the layout a lot. Your mixing a drawing style- buildings, with a textural style for the roads and forest, which may not pull the drawing together as you develop it. Maybe tone down the road texture some to help?
Whipstache just put a good post on color overlays that may help pull the color together a little better - Palette Selection yesterday. Great start!

[saria]

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

I tried to tone down the textures and fix up the colors. Let me know if anyone thinks this looks better

[Shyvver]

I really like the way you changed the road and turned the bridge into a small pier! I also love the plowing fields in the south - I was trying to do something simmilar but it didn't work, so I went with the awkward corn fields on my map. You did a great job with the highlights on the buildings and your 'hightmap' looks so much better than mine. I hope to see the finished result!

Regarding tablets: I have my eye on the Ugee M708. People I know recommended it and it's not at all expensive, so good for me being on a budget and all.

[arsheesh]

Nice line work on this piece. I agree with Snodsy that as a general rule hand drawn elements and textures tend not to make good bed-fellows. However in your latest WIP the textures are more subtle, so they may just work OK in this piece.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Larb]

I agree with Arsheesh. This is my tutorial and I think you have done a great job. I am glad you found it useful

I have actually moved away from using the grass texture mentioned in my tutorial and prefer to paint in the grass shades by hand these days. You will probably find once you buy a tablet (something I highly recommend if you really want to pursue mapmaking) that you will prefer to do the same thing too eventually.

[saria]

Larb, thank you so much

Would you mind posting an example of the grass shades by hand? I happen to be doing a grass piece right now and would love to see which one you meant

Really appreciate your tutorial, its really what started me on this journey, I felt it was not too intimidating and very well written so thank you!

[Larb]

The village I did in this thread was all painted by hand if that helps. There are several images I posted as I went along. I still use the building stroke technique and such - just use a lot more hand-drawn elements.

As you do more maps you'll find you do a lot more things your own way too. It's a never-ending journey really and while you might be using the tutorials more right now, you'll quickly develop your own unique style. I'm glad you are having fun with it!