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Thread: October Entry - The Isle of Eagles

  1. #1
    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    Wip October Entry - The Isle of Eagles

    Okay, as the person who inspired the Challenge... I feel a tiny bit compelled to enter. I don't have anything to show in this image, just going to discuss the concept I'm going to run with for my own map.

    A merchant's map.
    Similar to Coyotemax's map for the last challenge. This will be a map (with notes and potentially a journal/sketchbook entry beside it) showing the Isle of Eagles, the main caravan paths, dangers and other "merchant-relevant" information. There are some thoughts on the sketchbook entry... it will potentially be a carriage/cart design created by a moderately frustrated merchant... frustrations built up by the poor level of security provided by the local rulers.

    It's going to be significantly more ambitious than the last map (probably with a table background, map weights, perspective morphing and playing around with some other tools now that I feel I've found a reliable way of making those lightly coloured colonial and pre colonial maps that I tend to like). I'll see how it goes, I have three weeks of train journeys and potentially some time in the office downloading potential backgrounds.

    Wish me luck, I think I'll need it.

  2. #2
    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    Okay, so here is the preliminary map.
    It is NOT annotated, after filling in the details I decided that trying to squeeze in notes (even in a different colour) was asking for COSMIC cluttering. Hence, the new "package" will be:
    The map
    A short letter from the previous owner (a merchant)
    A set of notes about what to trade where and with who (and who not to)
    Possibly a diagram of some recommended transport (might save that for another time).
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Isle of Eagles - WIP.jpg 
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  3. #3
    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    Okay, so I've had a fair bit of time to kill at work. Here is a "finalised" draft. Not sure if and or what else should be done to this... really keen to get feedback as this is starting to get WAAAAY out of my usual comfort-zone for graphic editing. I'd just like to say thanks to GIMP and my Fujitsu Laptop...

    I'm more than happy to talk techniques for some of this... and also I have found a nice "new to me" font for handwriting... Jane Austen. So the notes have been written in that. I suspect some of the perspective warps are a little hinky... GIMP doesn't seem to allow numerical input into the transformation grid so I'd love to get more feedback on that or if there are other ways to do it.

    ### Latest WIP ###
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Oct Mapping Challenge - Isle of Eagles.jpg 
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  4. #4
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    This is looking great, juggernaut. I love the paperweights!

  5. #5
    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    Thanks Gidde. I played around with an image I found of some chess pieces... warped them around so they looked like they were standing and then fidgeted to get a shadow. Ironically, the wood was the hardest and most frustrating to get right.

  6. #6
    Community Leader Gandwarf's Avatar
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    Very interesting map, looks different than most of the stuff I have seen here.
    Even better, you are going for an auto-win at the moment, as you seem to be the only contestant
    Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.

    Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...

  7. #7
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Neat idea...and well implemented so far.

    It may just be me, but the paperweights look a bit 'off'. I know you had to warp them to get the look you wanted. *shrugs* Not really a big deal.
    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.



  8. #8
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
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    Bloody hell.,

    This is almost exactly what I was going to do for my entry. Right down to the table cluttered with notes and sketched maps.

    Great minds think alike I guess, huh? lol!

    Good luck with it! (i held off from entering right away due to current projects on the go, plus one that's time sensitive.. )

    My finished maps
    "...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."

  9. #9
    Guild Artisan Juggernaut1981's Avatar
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    @ Gandwarf & SG> Thanks for the compliments. I think it's mostly the lighting on the paperweights that's the issue. I'm not very good with doctoring real images so getting those to look perfect could be a VERY long fidgeting process.

    @Gandwarf> Thanks, I think in general I am working towards that general style of map. If you have pointers on the style, or want to see the original components (chess pieces or "flat undistressed map") just ask and I can post.

    @Coyotemax> I get the feeling that you and I are very much cut from the RPG DM Cloth Coyote...

  10. #10

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    I like your attention to the details of the place names. Solid work.


    Cheers,
    Roger

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