Page 1 of 16 1234511 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 157

Thread: The Garnok region of Baldimar

  1. #1
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Apex, NC USA
    Posts
    3,057

    Post The Garnok region of Baldimar

    So.. I was messing around today at work during lunch and playing with some filters and effects in GIMP. What do you guys think of this forests? I especially like the "smear" on the forest edge near the bottom of the map. Pay no attention to the horrible tree trunks as I was using a trackball and could not draw straight with it, but I wanted something to get an idea of how it might look.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Forest Test.jpg 
Views:	191 
Size:	27.3 KB 
ID:	8176  
    Last edited by jfrazierjr; 12-05-2008 at 04:01 PM.
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  2. #2
    Community Leader Facebook Connected torstan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    4,199

    Post

    I don't quite see what you mean by the smear you mention. Can you elaborate?

    It's looking good. I'd suggest moving the drop shadow to just below the forest rather than a universal all around glow. I'd also suggest darkening the vertical edge of the trees. At the moment the canopy looks like a flat layer on top of the trunks. You need to give it body. You could do this by having the pen texture just on the edges towards the viewer, or by running a darker green brush around the bottom edges.

    Nevertheless, good stuff so far.

  3. #3
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Apex, NC USA
    Posts
    3,057

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by torstan View Post
    I don't quite see what you mean by the smear you mention. Can you elaborate?
    Ah fudge... I screenshoted this instead of exporting at full res from the original file. It's kind of hard to see at 100%, but if you zoom in more, you should be able to see the smudges near the highest part of the outline and also mid way or so on the bottom edge. Of course, it's a bit harder to see the one on the bottom with the shadow....


    Quote Originally Posted by torstan View Post
    It's looking good. I'd suggest moving the drop shadow to just below the forest rather than a universal all around glow.
    Done

    Quote Originally Posted by torstan View Post
    I'd also suggest darkening the vertical edge of the trees. At the moment the canopy looks like a flat layer on top of the trunks. You need to give it body. You could do this by having the pen texture just on the edges towards the viewer, or by running a darker green brush around the bottom edges.
    hmmm.. not sure how what you mean. This is the first time I have seriously tried anything that "looks" hand drawn and it kind of came about it on accident. I was actually playing around trying to put my own twist on your Dreeston region map. I included the xcf file in case you feel like showing me what you mean....
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Forest.jpg 
Views:	133 
Size:	162.9 KB 
ID:	8180  
    Attached Files Attached Files
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  4. #4

    Post

    Nice forest. I'd apply some texture pattern to the canopy if I were you, but it can look fine without one. If you want/don't mind perfectly straight tree trunks, here is a trick that could save you a lot of time and work:

    1. Create a small image of vertical stripes (the trunks) that extend from the top of the image to the bottom of it, so that it can work as a tiling pattern. Save it as a GIMP pattern file in the folder where your GIMP is set to look for patterns.

    2. In the map image, make a new layer called "trunks" or w/e. Apply a pattern-fill to this layer with the pattern you created in step 1 (you'll need to close and restart GIMP first). Create a black mask for this layer.

    3. Make a selection of the forest canopy on what ever layer you have it, switch to edit the mask of the trunks layer, and fill the selection with white.

    4. Float the selection and move it some distance down (depending on how long you wish the trunks to be).

    Now you should have a neat 'outline' of trunks visible below the canopy, in similar manner as a drop-shadow would be. Of corse, you'll need to keep the canopy layer above the trunks layer for this to work as intended.

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ft. Wayne, IN
    Posts
    9,530

    Default

    I love the colors, but I agree that the canopy needs something, it looks a bit "flat".
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  6. #6
    Community Leader Facebook Connected torstan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    4,199

    Post

    Yep, I'll take a shot at this. One way to deal with that canopy question is to set the size of the fuzzy brush you are colouring with to be smaller. Then the colour variation will be more on the scale of what we would expect of the trees.

    As for the canopy edges, I'll see what I can pull together tomorrow morning.

  7. #7
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Apex, NC USA
    Posts
    3,057

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by torstan View Post
    Yep, I'll take a shot at this. One way to deal with that canopy question is to set the size of the fuzzy brush you are colouring with to be smaller. Then the colour variation will be more on the scale of what we would expect of the trees.

    As for the canopy edges, I'll see what I can pull together tomorrow morning.

    Heh.. actually.. i am not using brushes at all except to stroke the outline and to make the trunks...
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  8. #8
    Community Leader Facebook Connected torstan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    4,199

    Post

    I see that now.

    Right, here's a quick edit:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Forest.jpg 
Views:	125 
Size:	40.7 KB 
ID:	8190

    I've included the .xcf so you can see what I did:
    Forest.zip

  9. #9
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Apex, NC USA
    Posts
    3,057

    Post

    Ok... I moved the shadow to the other side, added some highlights to the right/top and low lights to the left/bottom. I also added a canvas texture overlay just for the heck of it.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Forest.jpg 
Views:	141 
Size:	1.56 MB 
ID:	8198  
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  10. #10
    Guild Artisan Facebook Connected
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Atlanta, Georgia, United States
    Posts
    928

    Post

    I think the highlights and shadows addressed what the others alluded to.

    I can't say I dig the canvas texture, as yet.
    I think, therefore I am a nerd.
    Cogito, ergo sum nerdem.

    Check out my blog: "The Undiscovered Author"
    It's the story of a writer... follow me in my simple quest to get published, and share your own writing stories, adventures and writerly tips.

    Pimping my worldmap here. Still WIP... long way to go, but I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far...

Page 1 of 16 1234511 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •