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Thread: Elven Castletown on waterfalls....

  1. #1

    Default Elven Castletown on waterfalls....

    Since both my March challenge entry and my Kitsumura village, both done in Isometric style turned out so well, I thought I'd experiment creating an elven castletown built right onto a set of cascading falls - kind of Rivendell-ish. Then I might follow with several top-down maps of specific structures and locations within the Sylvan community. These kind of tall towered castles are difficult to depict in a top down, so isometric seems to be the way to go.

    Again, I will most like hand-draw this in my current style, but for starters I needed reference and angles, so I created a Nendo made 3D model of my proposed elven castle - first draft. This is the 3D model only, long way to go.

    Also since I'm busy on multiple projects, this will probably be done more slowly as I find time between projects.

    Just playin', but this of course could turn into a commercial project eventually. The posted 3D reference is structure of the main castle, no waterfall except in my mind's eye, plus houses built on cliff sides surrounding the falls and castle once complete. It may change overtime, but this is the idea for now.

    GP
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    Last edited by Gamerprinter; 03-25-2010 at 02:58 AM.
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  2. #2
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Hmm... great start.. I would love to see this as more of a hand drawn thing though and think it would be a great contrast to have each of the two outer towers have a waterfall between them and the main castle. I was kind of thinking that the one on the right would be higher(longer drop), while the one on the left would be a multiple level waterfall affair either spilling into the waterfall on the right, or perhaps on back to the right into the same body of water. Anyway..looking forward to seeing this develop!
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  3. #3

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    Yeah, I was planning to have falls between the towers, in fact if you look at the main citadel at the center, notice the archway at the bottom center. I was planning to falls falling there too. Yes, the right or left would have a longer falls and the other a cascading falls. More to do, will get to it tonight.

    GP
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  4. #4

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    Looks great. What is the overall scale of the towers?

  5. #5

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    Haven't really nailed the scale down at this point - I tried to keep the machiolation on the wall tops the same size, also there are four doorways exposed on the central citadel. I imagine those doorways to be large or at least much taller than necessary. You can probably guess at structural size based on machiolations and doorways, but again, I just whipped this out last night shooting for a distinctive look. I'll determine scale over the next few days. Good question, though!

    GP
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  6. #6
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Hmm... that got me to thinking about waterfalls since my current project will have a few I have to sketch in. Soooo.. using your towers as the base for location, I did a quick-o test just to see what it might look like (first time I have attempted waterfalls.) and am fairly pleased with the quick-o results.

    I am looking forward to seeing how you approach this so as to possibly help my depiction also.
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  7. #7
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    I really like this.

    However, and I know this is fantasy, so laws of physics need not necesarrily apply, but looking at the height, I expected to see some buttressing going on. Stone is VERY heavy, and achieving great heights without buttressing is quite hard. Perhaps you could throw in some thin spires, that look like towers but act more as flying buttresses. Just an idea.

  8. #8

    Default Update - more 3D

    Not that I don't disagree with you, the-Golem, I think I can get by without obvious flying buttresses. My plan is to build the castle against a rock/cliff perch behind the castle, as it is built right into the rock at the base center of the falls - as shown in the posted image below.

    You might ask, "Is this castle floating?" and it is at this time, as I need to model the ground beneath the main citadel and that small outer tower to the left side. The 3D model helps in showing that I need to add more foreground before the castle. I plan to create some ground bank on either side of the castle-falls, to place some town homes, shops and trees, at the base of those cliffs.

    As stated, this will be hand-drawn, but I learned doing the Kitsumura map, that not creating the landform especially for a waterfall adds technical difficulty, so it helps to build as much in 3D to get it right. And the landform and falls behind the castle really helps the end drawing.

    Once I create the castle base, and banks in 3D, place them in the final image, I will be ready to begin the hand-drawing stage.

    GP
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  9. #9
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    Ooooohhh...that's pretty cool already.
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