How was this done?

[Ninefingers]

Good day,
Thanks again for a great community, long time lurker, seldom post.
I am trying to understand if the hills in the d&d 5e map for the town of Phandalin were created in photoshop, cc3+, or a combination of softwares?

It anyone knows of a tutorial for this type of effect a link would be appreciated.

Regards
Ninefingers

[waldronate]

If you mean something like https://prints.mikeschley.com/p85608...1121#h18591121 , then you're looking at lots of talent, lots of practice, and a good bit of Photoshop. See https://www.behance.net/mikeschley for some good information.

[Ninefingers]

If you mean something like https://prints.mikeschley.com/p85608...1121#h18591121 , then you're looking at lots of talent, lots of practice, and a good bit of Photoshop. See https://www.behance.net/mikeschley for some good information.

Thank you. I understand he is an incredibly talented individual. I was just curious if it was large hills were done in CC3, photoshop, a combination of both, or something completely different.

[DrWho42]

i too am a lurker. i learned from tutorial videos to get a grasp on CC3+ which was recommended from probably this forum?

[waldronate]

I would hazard a guess that Mike doesn't use CC3. He has made symbol sets for CC3, but that map is not one of them, I think. The somewhat inconsistent lighting and the tapered strokes suggest something a sophisticated drawing package like Photoshop (which the behance site lists as one of his preferred tools). I would also expect that there is a pressure-sensitive tablet/drawing surface involved as well, because getting solid line dynamics in other ways (e.g. using a mouse) is rather difficult.

Getting the broad shaded hills in CC3 can be done in a number of ways. A simple one is to use a bevel effect on a polygon representing the base of the hill with a good blur to soften the sharp edges. You can also directly draw the highlights and shadows and apply blur and transparency if that's more your thing. Both the ProFantasy forum and Facebook page have descriptions of these techniques.

[Tiana]

Definitely drawn with a tablet, though it could have been done in any number of digital art programs other than Photoshop, this map could be done in Clip Studio Paint or Kritia or Affinity or Paint Shop Pro probably just as well as Photoshop. It's clear it's been hand-rendered to me. No shortcut for a map like this, I'm afraid you just have to place down every stroke. The best way to learn to do it would be to copy the hill style on one of your own maps. I would start by mapping out circles for the hills on a different layer, and then filling them in from the bottom up.

[Kellerica]

Yup, will have to echo Tiana on that. It is definitely hand-drawn. Most likely produced with digital tools (like Tiana said, with a combo of graphics tablet and an art software) but hand-drawn none the less.

[Badger]

Ya, Mike does all his stuff by hand. As already stated here, he does his work in Photoshop mostly and as other's have already surmised, I must agree that this map was probably done in Photoshop. As to his style, he do post some tips on how he does his maps with Photoshop right here