Twin River City [WIP]

[XCali]

For some reason, that last attachment didn't take. But I'm looking at the map you posted yesterday and WHOA, you've made amazing progress! Thanks for walking through your process for the roof shadows, too. It's always good to learn what others are doing. Adding the Gaussian blur was genius.

I'm absolutely loving the style, and I think Thunder Cliffs is a good name. I also just now noticed the beach/cove on the west side - fantastic!

Hehehe, thank you for the kind words.

I'll see to re-upload the map again tomorrow when I get back to my PC.

Thanks! Luckily, I've used gausian blur quite often for different things, so it was a no brainer. I was glad for it, otherwise I would have had to sit with low opacity eraser on each individual shadow 0_o

I am glad you like the style. It is definitely waaaaay outside of anything I have ever attempted. Fun, if a bit grindy of a challenge.

The cove was something I planned because I imagined it as one of the possible secret entries into the city. Maybe storm drains flowing out there, or an old forgotten cave system that runs deep under the city.

Still there are quite a few things I am coming blank on in the city.
Other than the Trees I have yet to draw and add, there is that circle in the Eastern part that has me scratching my head to what might work there. Any suggestions?
(Btw thanks for taking the time to post )

[XCali]

Ahoi!

I would like to ask, which one you all prefer:
Thunder Rock

Thunder Cliffs

It would be like the city of Thunder Rock or Thunder Cliffs. I was just thinking if it is weird if it is going to be referred to as "the city of" that the C in city might clash with cliffs?
Anyway, post your thoughts below.

Edit: This version of the city, I finished most of the cast shadows.

Another thing I am wondering, is if I should go with the color scheme I have now. This is a very new style of map for me.

### Latest WIP ###



(Previous contenders for name were, city of: Preaska, Akker and the suggested possibility Solace)

[aeshnidae]

I really like the color scheme as is, but if you want a bit more color you could do some muted dark greens for trees and grassy areas. For the circle in the eastern part - a temple? Tower of Sorcery? Great library? Mysterious ruins of some ancient civilization?

For name, City of Thunder Rock sounds slightly better to me than City of Thunder Cliffs. But I think Thunder Cliffs, on its own, is a perfectly fine name for a city.

I love the idea of having some secret passages from the cove into the city. That's especially good for in-game use; you could even create a map of the storm drainage system (or whatever it is) and overlay it on the city map for game purposes. The size of the city would easily support an entire urban RPG campaign.

[XCali]

I really like the color scheme as is, but if you want a bit more color you could do some muted dark greens for trees and grassy areas. For the circle in the eastern part - a temple? Tower of Sorcery? Great library? Mysterious ruins of some ancient civilization?

For name, City of Thunder Rock sounds slightly better to me than City of Thunder Cliffs. But I think Thunder Cliffs, on its own, is a perfectly fine name for a city.

I love the idea of having some secret passages from the cove into the city. That's especially good for in-game use; you could even create a map of the storm drainage system (or whatever it is) and overlay it on the city map for game purposes. The size of the city would easily support an entire urban RPG campaign.

Thanks. I'll be sure to experiment with a few different color schemes.
Also, thanks for the circle suggestions.

As I have never had the privilege to play a table top RPG yet, just listening to Critical Role; do you have experience with a urban campaign? Any tips to be mindful of would be incredibly helpful!

The storm drain layout is definitely on my list of things to try.

[rdanhenry]

The desert comment made me think of giving the buildings and the wall a more earthy color.
Solace? Sounds intriguing. I'll keep it mind.
It doesn't need the port. It is not a must have for a port city. Take Hong Kong for example, no port in the name. But, it is one heck of a sea trading city as far as I know.

While it is certainly true that a port city need not reflect that in its name, Hong Kong is not a good example for this, as it translates as Spice (or Fragrant) Harbor. Los Angeles would be a better choice... but the full name still references a river, so I don't think it is an ideal choice. Oakland or New York are good examples, though.

[XCali]

While it is certainly true that a port city need not reflect that in its name, Hong Kong is not a good example for this, as it translates as Spice (or Fragrant) Harbor. Los Angeles would be a better choice... but the full name still references a river, so I don't think it is an ideal choice. Oakland or New York are good examples, though.

Ah! Thanks for correcting me on that. It is just a name that popped in from the top of my head.

[XCali]

Ahoi all you awesome people!

I be happy. And if you know why I am happy, you'd probably be happy too. I do hope so in anyway. huehuehue.

While busy with a commission this week, I laid in my bed pondering my problem with Thunder Rock. City maps are a crazy amount of work as you might know. That is unless you like beveling and embossing a lot, that changes the workflow.

The shadows for the map took ages. It is intense repetitive work. Thus problem. For every next phase I had to go through every step again, manually adding stuff to every building... Like you all know, it is tiring. My next phase is incredibly important, so I HAD to do it, I had to put highlights in. But, like the roof shadows and the cast shadows even the shorter way to do it would require me to put a solid color stripe over every building one at a time and then afterwards play with the color and settings... I was not looking forward to going through the whole process again.

But, then while in bed, I was struck with an epiphany! There was a way! A way without doing it one by one. (There might even be some of you who know this already. But, for me it was big. Huge even. And I had to share it!) Hehehe.

Tut:
The hand drawn layer. I used the magic wand and selected the entire white space around the buildings. (Shrunk it by 1 -Can be Grown by 1... I am not sure, the INVERT confused me some.)(Because I didn't use a normal white paper, it was one with texture. So, it messed with it a bit, So, I had to Shrink/grow the selection.) Invert the selection. Now after this all my buildings is selected and then I threw in a bright color on a new layer below the Multiplied layer of my drawing, and whallah. All my highlights were in without having to do it one by one. Also, this sets me up for possibly adding individual color much easier to the buildings. It did cause some overflow, but that is only minor editing to fix it.
If anyway finds this useful, I am glad.

Okay, below is my main version with the highlights added and then there is the psychedelic version to showcase the idea.
Hope you enjoy the day. You are such a great group of people.

### Latest WIP ###

[XCali]

This is not a huge update. But between projects I am still chipping away at this one.

I added the main roads and main city roads. Alongside that, I started with the top half adding alleyways and smaller roads. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

### Latest WIP ###

[MistyBeee]

Oh, wow ! The colors are amazing, XCali !!

[XCali]

Oh, wow ! The colors are amazing, XCali !!

Thank you!! Coming from someone with your ability, it means a lot.