Slope study

[Ceraus]

Being new to mapping, I often find myself blocked by apparently simple things... things like slopes.

I'm used to using omnidirectional shadow to imply depth, like for stairs or building levels (see my ships), but slopes still elude me.

Most maps I've seen seem to shy away from slopes too. They either mark them artificially (like with topography lines), use surrounding elements (like stairs) to suggest their existence or forgo them entirely.

So I've browsed through many maps, tactical and geographic, spanning many art styles, to see how slopes are conveyed. Here are the elements I noted:

- Approching the top of the slope, terrain gets progressively lighter.
- Terrain becomes abruptly dark just before the slope begins, showing a clear demarcation.
- The whole slope has uniform darkness, slightly darker than its surroundings. More "cartoony" styles usually sport lines here, getting more numerous at the bottom.
- After the bottom of the slope, terrain progressively goes back to its normal lightness.

I've tried applying those observations and am looking for feedback. The first image is the sketch and the second one has the underlying textures removed, showing only the shading. Both use 64-pixel tiles, 6 by 6.