Voradin WIP

[Steel General]

Those mountains are very nice, though I agree with Lathorien about the transition from snow to stone, it seems a little abrupt. *shrugs*

[Tom_Cardin]

Gidde - thank you! I can't recommend Wacom's or other stylus peripherals enough. They are really invaluable for how I approach these maps.

Steel General - Thanks for the feedback. I am hoping that when I get the rest of the details of this map in that the snow lines will "work" right with the feel of everything.

And now for a new update: Forests. This is the basic lay in of the forest texture using a layer set to 100% overlay. I am using the forest texture I created and posted in my "forest texture" thread over in Mapping Elements - though I am using it at only 25% original size. There is still a lot needing to be done with the forest edges, if you look close at the detail map you will see that some of the trees at the edges of the forest are cut very strangely. The paths cut in the forest are for roads and rivers and there are some clearing where towns, inns and farmlands will be placed.

[landorl]

I love it! The forests look great! One comment is that I am not sure that there would be that much woodlands in the valley between the two ranges of mountains. When you have two ranges of mountains that close, they often serve to cut off rain to the area. However, that might not hold true if they are as close as the mountains you have there.

[Tom_Cardin]

Thanks landorl! Glad you like it.

I may have to do some sort of weather pattern display to show how the wet air from the great ocean to the west funnels down that valley. Perhaps I should zoom out more, but really I don't have any more of the world in my head than what I have put down so far.

Sorry for lack of updates. I have gotten really busy at work and my time at home with family is becoming pretty precious these last couple weeks. I am still working on the forest at present, cleaning up the edges. Should have an update soon.

[Tom_Cardin]

Ok you've had this coming. hehe. It was a late night tonight with my map. Actually I am going to run a game with this map tomorrow and I thought I would get it somewhat further along. Still have cities, inns, roads and other points of interest to add. Then I need to do all my labeling and final clean up.

[Ramah]

There are a lot of things I love about this map but I'd be lying if I said I loved it all.

Your tree texture is really nice, kinda cartoony, but around the edges it doesn't look great. I can see you have cleaned it up somewhat since the work in progress shot you last posted but it still looks a little untidy, especially where there are lots of little seperate trees like on the west side of the map. They kinda just look like blobs but it's hard to see at this resolution. It maybe exacerbated by the drop shadow.
I also don't particularly like how the colour of your land shows through your trees, although it looks more like you've painted over them, turning large swathes of forest a kind of sandy colour.

I do, however, really like your mountains and the coast and the rivers with their bevel which kinda maintain the cartoony vibe.

Sorry if this post sounds too negative, it really is only the trees that, for me, are letting this down a little.

[Ascension]

The tree green is a lil too vivid and neony for me, maybe try something darker and more muted with gray or brown. Not a whole lot darker just a lil. Not sure if the black stroke trees fit with the mountains all that well, style-wise, but they don't look all that bad either, just the color. My 2 cents, and this is still really nice, just minor nits.

[Tom_Cardin]

Ramah - thanks a ton for your critique. You point out a lot of features I still need to tweak and pull my focus back to elements that have issues. I don't want things looking cartoony nor do I want a geological survey map...my goal is to create an inviting and provocative fantasy map, something players will look at and feel juiced up for adventure. Don't worry about negativity, I can take it, it goes with trying harder and growing.

Ascension - I think I can solve this issue with some more color tweaks and overlays, easy 'nuff. I am wrestling with trying to keep colors rich and vibrant and it seems I have wandered too far into the cartoony look that Ramah mentions. It's not what I am after and I will smack it around more until I get there. I am gonna rely on you guys for feedback because it is such a subjective look I am after.

Thank you guys!

[philipstephen]

It would be super sweet of you to share the tree making technique you used... they look brilliant!

I'd give you more rep, but i have to spread it around first.

Phil.

[Tom_Cardin]

I shared the tree texture on the mapping elements thread...called "Forest Texture".
It is a seamless tiling texture that I applied to a pattern brush and just painted it in and turned the layer to overlay. There are some additional overlays I need to add to mine so that the color gets muted out a bit more. There is also a lot of clean up work that needs to be done alone the edges of the forest where partial trees get painted in. So its not perfect but it is workable.