February 2018 Challenge: The Green Castle

[nopkin]

Since my chalkboard is occupied with another map which is going to take a while to complete, I thought I would try my hand at a traditional map for this challenge.

Prophecy: “When song becomes silence and the Gate of Crystal is opened, the Green Castle shall be found.”

The idea is something like this:

In the land of Valdoria there is an ancient cathedral, and in its tower, a water-powered automaton connected to a series of wind pipes plays a beautiful song, that is heard day and night over all the surrounding plains. That is, as long as the waterwheel keeps turning, under the force of the flowing river. But when a great and terrible drought hit the land, the river dried up and, alas, the Singing Plains became the Silent Plains. However, something unexpected happened as a result of the drought. As the river dried, under the eastern bridge, a chest was found on the riverbed. Inside, carefully hidden in a watertight leather wrapper was a set of old manuscripts, one of them showing the key to unlocking the Gate of Crystal in the North. What was considered for generations The Great Unknown Beyond the Mountains - as nobody has managed to reach it - turned out to be a beautiful, lush land, full of wonderful trees and peculiar little animals; and in the middle, a most magnificent emerald castle. So this must be the Green Castle that the legends of old were talking about.

Here is a rough (and dirty) pencil sketch for now. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

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[Del2me]

Wow this is pretty, the coast is so pleasing on the eye. Looking forward to seeing more

[ChickPea]

Great start, and I'm looking forward to seeing a map on traditional media from you. The chest looks fantastic.

Also, I'm very jealous of your beautifully neat hand-writing!

[nopkin]

Thanks, guys! Here's some progress...

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[Del2me]

Wow, I’m loving how this is coming along! The crisp lines really make your details pop out.

[nopkin]

Pretty much done with the inking; it's time for watercolor. Someone bring me my brown pants, please...

It's going to be my first attempt at watercoloring a map, so let's see if I'll manage to completely ruin it or not...

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[MapMappingMapped]

Oh nice! Love watercolour maps! And that chest
Those hand labels are super neat - they're inspiring me to try again lol.
But are you sure that the watercolours won't smudge the ink?

[nopkin]

But are you sure that the watercolours won't smudge the ink?

Thanks! I've used only waterproof inks: india ink and some Microns. I did some tests prior to that and it was all fine, so hopefully it will turn out ok on the map too.

[Abu Lafia]

Awesome work, especially on the icons and moutains nopkin! Lokking forward to see it coloured.

[nopkin]

Thanks, Abu!

So far, so good. Although it doesn't look exactly like I've imagined it, I think the watercolor didn't ruin it (yet). The truth is, most of the time, I didn't know precisely what I was doing... The watercolor is a really weird medium, almost like magic. It has a mind of its own, and unless you master it really well (which I'm definitely very far from), it does what you don't expect. Sometimes I was just wandering carelessly with the brush on the paper and it that part turned really great, while other times, when I was trying my best to achieve what I had in mind, the result was just meh, to say the least...

Anyway, here it is. I still have to decide what I'm going to do with the borders, write a description of the prophecy fulfillment and finish the sea, and I'll call it done.

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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