Reply With QuoteThe new trees looks outstanding! I like the lines and small open areas between the clumps. The hills look pretty nice, too, of course.
Oooh me likeys! Out of curiosity how many different tree and hill brushes did you have to make?
The new trees looks outstanding! I like the lines and small open areas between the clumps. The hills look pretty nice, too, of course.
The hills are completely done by hand. There are I think 15 different tree brushes, ran them through ramah's version of the automagic forest generator.
I like the lines behind the trees too. One of the new members had posted a map with that effect and i just *loved* it. Gave me a way to re-use the lined pattern I'd made for the broken up woodcut effect on the New Empire map, too. [edit] found it! Credit where it's due to JammyMatt.
Got ahold of a filter that does a sort of intaglio engraving effect, and ran that across the hill shading layer, yay! Tried that on the mountain shading too, but really, it didn't help it look any better.
Last edited by Coyotemax; 02-16-2010 at 01:44 PM.
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Fluesopp: incidentally, I went through and organized my file today, cleared out the duplicate layers I was keeping as backups for testing purposes and the things I'd turned off after trying and not removing them when i stopped using them etc.
Hills (4 layers)
Mountains (5 layers)
Forest (3 layers)
Colour Adjustments (3 adjustment layers)
Water (3 texture/colour layers, 2 adjustment layers)
Terrain colours (5 layers)
Land/Map Base (3 textures, 2 adjusment layers)
6 active masks (don't feel like going through to list which ones are where)
30 layers total.
(after you asked the other day, i got curious and totalled everything, so figured i'd let you know the exact numbers instead of the off-the cuff remembering)
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Interesting. It's actually not far from what I tend to have when it's nearing completion.
On an unrelated note, I found out that having a a outer glow on the landmass layer is killing the performance..
The trees look good, but now I think the ground shading is a bit dark there. It kinda drowns the wood cut effect, and makes the trees hard to define. The western forest shade is good, but the northern and the eastern is a bit dark.
(And a little more nitpicking, now the hills and mountains don't quite fit. I think it's the different amount of shading.
...It's easy to criticize when you can't draw yourself.....>_<)
Heh, i know where you're coming from.
I'm filling in the spaces between the hills right now with fine detail work. Ti's a bit like the detail work on the light side of the mountains. This is probably going to be that part that drives me insane, if anything. There's a lot of work to do for this part
I did up some texture work on the deserts too while I took a break from the hills. And got the rivers worked over too. I'm also going to work over the mountains a tad to make them fit the hills and trees a bit closer, got some good ideas for that now.
thanks for the point about the trees, I do see what you mean. It should just be a matter of adjusting the green layer under them.
Progress!! At the rate I'm going i should be done by the end of the week. (and now i've put that where other people can see it, I gotta try to live up to it, heh)
Last edited by Coyotemax; 02-16-2010 at 06:22 PM.
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Oh boy. You shouldn't have said thatOriginally Posted by Coyotemax
Meh, oh well if it's not at the end of the week. The map looks gorgeous!
Well I did get the hardest part done, filling in the little hill details.
I'm going to work over the ocean layer a bit more to see if I can get it to match what I see in my mind's eye.
After that, start adding the fiddly bits, give it a border and a scale and such, and see what else needs to be done!
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Nice work - that's a lot of patience you've got there! I like how this has developed. There's a very big desert to the right of that northern continent. Is that going to stay featureless? It's quite a dramatic contrast to the beautifully detailed mountain ranges.
I love the use of those tree brushes - that forest looks great.
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