Sagus Cliffs

[Mouse]

This is most interesting. How long does each stage take you, Hugo?

[Hugo Solis]

This is most interesting. How long does each stage take you, Hugo?

My longest process is precisely the base coloring, and more often than not is because sometimes I can´t decide on the colors and I waste a huge amount of time going back and forth deciding.

Also it doesn't help that I like to add lots of different colors, in the end is the same amount base coloring but my palette indecision adds to the looong process of base coloring.

BTW texture laying count as base coloring for me.

Lets say that if a map like this takes me about 16 hours to do, 6-8 of those hours were using base coloring.
Some 2-3 hours sketching and some 4-6 hours finishing and lettering the map.

For me, base coloring is a most tedious and boring process, I enjoy sketching (the creative part) a lot and then the finishng because there's when I see the map come alive. Some times I even get a bit discouraged on the base coloring because it can look quite crappy, but I've been long enough at this trade to know that the end result will be MUCH better.

[Mouse]

Gulp!!!

A far cry from the month or so it would take me!!

WOW

[snodsy]

Thanks for sharing your process, really nice seeing this come together. beautiful work!

[arsheesh]

Nice to see your workflow, thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Hugo Solis]

Sometimes I get "lost" with the color assignment and then I just put whatever color just to move forward (after 10-20 mins of frustrating color picking), I make sure that it's a very noticeable color so I know I have to change it later on. Doing this also helps me separate the stuff that gets me stuck from the rest, and then when I go back to it, it's quite common that I can chooe a right color in a click or two, the trick is not to get stuck for too long and to let it "breathe".



After all the main layers/areas are colored, I proceed to paint the secundary areas, in this case the trees on the cliffs and the pools between cliffs. At this point the map starts to develop a proper (yet crappy-looking) shape.

You may notice that I already added a Bevel & Emboss effect to the lower cliff's layer, that was me jumping ahead to take a peek to the coming look.



I have something important to say about bevel & emboss, coming on the next post...

[Hugo Solis]

And I keep adding the shading and color details.



On the wasteland to the North I add trails and shading to the land and paint the debris bits. I go light with the volume shading in here not to steal focus from the cliffs.

I darken the chasm to the East and shade its cliff. I color it slightly differently from the city cliffs for a mild visual separation.

A (shameful) layer of Bevel & Emboss is added to the firts (lowest) city cliff layer. Again, I don't like using this effect but it's a HUGE time saver, and if the area is small of not too important, then I swallow my shame and go ahead an use it. (Still, shame on me). I'll elaborate on Bevel & Emboss on the next post, where I shamelessly abuse it.

I add volume (with lighting) to the threes and green aeras on the city cliffs.

The central city cliffs start to get shaded. Right now these volumes pop out real nice because they are quite isolated... thigs will get busier soon.

I start adding details to the small pools between the cliffs. (I'll elaborate on water detailing later on).



Here I'm almost done with the cliff's shading. You may notice most cliffs got detailed with jagged (vertical) fractures, and the areas on the east and the chasm have an erosion-like shading and a different color.

I add the volume to the debris on the wastland to the North and a layer of mist to the chasm on the East to obscure the bottom.

PERSONAL TIP!
When detailing, I try always to start with the smallest details, because usually these are the fastest layers to finish turning into a visual relief (for me, at least). Sometimes I start with the layers that will make a major visual reference (in this case, the cliffs) to help me work the whole map based on that layer's details. This is something that helps me to develop momentum on the map's detailing, because I'm "finishing fast" with the layer's detailig, but obviously this is a mind trick because after all, these are the smallest layers. This is what works for me.

Next:
Water and building city levels.

[Diamond]

Dang, it's been too long since we've seen your stuff around here! This is fantastic, and I for one really appreciate the insight into how you're doing this, your tricks and tips etc.

[Ilanthar]

Wow, that's pretty impressive! I really like the way you're doing the surrounding lands! Looking forward to see more.

[Hugo Solis]

Sorry for taking so long between posts, I've been rather busy at the dayjob and home lately...

In the next step I just add a bit more bevel effects, but then I get saturated of so much building detailing and decided to continue with the water

So, I begin detailing the water. I start giving the general feeling of lights and shadows and throw some textured brush into it so that it doesn't look so plain (more texture to come later). At this point it's only general detailing so no big on details yet. The rules are as usual, deep water go dark and shallow water goes light, with the gereal exception of cast shadows (cliffs, bridges, etc). This is all that I'll do on the water at the moment, since I wasn't soppose to be working on it just yet (I cheated and skipped to it!). The color looks hideous (to my personal taste) and with too high a contrast, but that's to get fix a bit later on.

Why wasn't I suppose to be working on water yet? Well, because for me, switching between different areas before finishing them makes me lose focus on it, but sometimes is also important to let some areas "breathe" before continue working on them, especially when they are very extensive, because then I get bored/saturated and start skipping details or simply doing a not-so-good job because I just want to finish it and move on. That's when I stop working on the map for a day or simply jump into another "fun" area so that I can shake the stress out.



Once I dismiss the stress and sate my desire to look at a more complete map by doing the water, I go back to tedious building detailing

In this next step I detail 4 levels from bottom to top, leaving only the two topmost levels undetailed. Same bevel effect, also I start to give some highlighting to the ground streets mostly only on those areas that deserve highlighting (eyecatchers or important detailed areas). The map now starts to take on a finished look, yet this is just a bit over half way.



NEXT!: Water detailing