# Community Participation > Mapping Challenge Archive >  February 2020 Challenge: The Scarlet Canyons

## XCali

Hello everyone!  :Very Happy: 

Been a while since I partook in a challenge. This premise tickled my fancy, so here I am again with something quite out of the box for me, but it feels like it is going to be a fun challenge.  :Razz: 

So, as it stands a bunch of settlers found a mysterious canyon with giant crystals stretching across its width and wanted to stay and discover its secrets. Thus the small town Scarlet Rock was founded. Though, alongside the incredible discoveries made in the early days including old ruins deeper into the canyon within the first year, several people went missing. This, as an obvious side effect, drew the attention of adventurers to investigate its many caves and ruins to find out why this place was claiming people for itself. 

It would be fun to hear your thoughts on the idea.  :Smile: 
Cheers
Omri



Here I started giving the crystals their first go over.
### Latest WIP ###

----------


## XCali

Ahoi!

It is quite a story to highlight and burn the crystals until they start to look like well, crystals. But it is an interesting challenge and it is coming along apart from a few things I'm not entirely certain how to change. 

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## XCali

Whoops!! Completely forgot to add the title tag. February 2020 Challenge: The Scarlet Canyons.

If a mod can please change it, I would greatly appreciate it.  :Smile:

----------


## Ilanthar

Very nice shading on those scarlet crystals  :Smile: .
And change is done  :Wink: .

----------


## Tiana

The crystals look great. Just make a new layer and paint over anything you don't like.

----------


## Kisachik the Wanderer

Hi XCali, it's nice to see some new artwork from you.

At first I was just staring at it in confusion, not seeing the map, so I read the description again and realized this is just the canyon so far, and the settlement is not on the map yet. Those crystals are gigantic; it takes a while to realize just how much. Their scale will probably be much clearer when you add some buildings or whatnot.

You took exotic way further than I'd expect. Normally crystals of this size occur in the form of glaciers or icebergs, but though translucent, you would never see them in such colour. That makes me wonder: just what mineral is this? The red brings cinnabar to mind, which, since it contains mercury, is toxic, and has some unpleasant effects. You mentioned mysterious disappearances?  :Very Happy: 

I hope you share some story along with the progress of this map.  :Very Happy:

----------


## arsheesh

Those crystals are coming along nicely.  This should prove to be a great entry.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## XCali

> Very nice shading on those scarlet crystals .
> And change is done .


Thanks a bunch!




> The crystals look great. Just make a new layer and paint over anything you don't like.


Hehe, in the end I just scrapped an entire layer and started from the beginning.  :Very Happy:  Tx for the advice.




> Hi XCali, it's nice to see some new artwork from you.
> 
> At first I was just staring at it in confusion, not seeing the map, so I read the description again and realized this is just the canyon so far, and the settlement is not on the map yet. Those crystals are gigantic; it takes a while to realize just how much. Their scale will probably be much clearer when you add some buildings or whatnot.
> 
> You took exotic way further than I'd expect. Normally crystals of this size occur in the form of glaciers or icebergs, but though translucent, you would never see them in such colour. That makes me wonder: just what mineral is this? The red brings cinnabar to mind, which, since it contains mercury, is toxic, and has some unpleasant effects. You mentioned mysterious disappearances? 
> 
> I hope you share some story along with the progress of this map.


Indeed they are! A map with big crystals is something I have been hoping to do for quite a while, so this challenge presented a perfect opportunity to just go for it.  :Smile: 
I did base the crystals of Pruskite, the ruby version. As far as I read, there is iron in it somewhere? Not too sure what gives its red color, but it is what I wanted to go for in this one. 
I do hope to expand the story! I'll see if I can do it justice. 




> Those crystals are coming along nicely.  This should prove to be a great entry.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Thank you Arsheesh! Appreciate it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyhoo, 

Today, I wanted to have another go at the cliffs, they had been proving somewhat temperamental, but this version is better for me. 
And I finally added the settlement. Still a lot of shading and highlighting to do there, but the scale comes through now.  :Smile: 

Hope you enjoy.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Kisachik the Wanderer

Hi again. I didn't expect the settlement to be at the bottom of the canyon. Wow! This is not a place for the faint of heart.

The cliffs may seem temperamental because their texture is so different on top than on the bottom of the canyon where it resembles sand.

----------


## XCali

> Hi again. I didn't expect the settlement to be at the bottom of the canyon. Wow! This is not a place for the faint of heart.
> 
> The cliffs may seem temperamental because their texture is so different on top than on the bottom of the canyon where it resembles sand.


Hehe, it does seem brave. Though, I think the water being closer is their reason.
Also, I wanted the sand like texture for the bottom, the rock itself gets shaped by the wind erosion and it settled on the bottom as a finer grained sand.

----------


## XCali

Heloa.

Here is the next installment. As I tweaked the map, I was wondering if I should add trees? What do you all think?
### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Kisachik the Wanderer

Hi again.

I wouldn't put trees here, as it looks like shrubs and grasses would be doing better in such rocky, low amount of sunlight conditions. The vegetation would probably be most dense near the river. 

Now that I look at the river, it actually seems strange that it ends in a rock. It feels like it should be going through the settlement instead. If you look at your earlier images, you can imagine the water flowing lazily near the center of the canyon, and then the settlement being built on the banks afterwards. Did you draw them in the opposite order?

----------


## XCali

> Hi again.
> 
> I wouldn't put trees here, as it looks like shrubs and grasses would be doing better in such rocky, low amount of sunlight conditions. The vegetation would probably be most dense near the river. 
> 
> Now that I look at the river, it actually seems strange that it ends in a rock. It feels like it should be going through the settlement instead. If you look at your earlier images, you can imagine the water flowing lazily near the center of the canyon, and then the settlement being built on the banks afterwards. Did you draw them in the opposite order?


Hey, I think the shrubs idea to be good. Will see if I get to adding those.  :Smile:  

About the river, I drew it first and then started added it the settlement. I kind of feel if the river went through the middle it would suggest that the canyon saw big water somewhere and thus how it came to be, but I didn't want that for this one. It is a tear in the crust that revealed this canyon a underground river just maybe got exposed in the process. Hope that explains a bit better. (The tear just makes it more plausible that they decided to go live down there instead of water having shaped the place)

==================================================  ==================================================  ================================


Anyhoo,
Here is my next phase, adding the title and a few banners as a start, also did some shading.
### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Tiana

> Hi again.
> 
> I wouldn't put trees here, as it looks like shrubs and grasses would be doing better in such rocky, low amount of sunlight conditions. The vegetation would probably be most dense near the river.


Ditto that, that's where I'd put any vegetation too, unless they're weird alien trees that emit light. It just isn't the conditions for trees to grow with ease. It feels warm and arid when I look at the map.

I'd put like, some moss and mushrooms and maybe some fungus. Hm, I'm sensing a theme. Maybe some mould. What trees tend to do for a map is add visual interest, which can be achieved with things other than trees. You might have fallen rocks, even artistically arranged, a rock maze perhaps. If people are surrounded by stones, they're going to arrange them. Also as this is a tight space, these settlers must be doing something with their trash and their dead, so you might see a charred area or a refuse pile in a corner from where they deal with their input/output. They're getting food from somewhere, so perhaps they have hanging gardens fed by water pumped from the river or a pen of animals that extends out to the grassy shrubby area by the river where their goats can feed.

These are ways you could get some of the visual clutter lent by trees without using foliage.

Shrubs, in the lighter areas, I can see there being a few clusters, around the river where the light is most likely to hit, their roots stretching out into the water through the stony ground, and grass is stubborn, I'm sure there'd be a few chunks of it for a select amount of livestock to graze, or chickens to root around for insects.

There might be a few rocks sticking out of the river, that would also give some of the visual stop that a tree does.

I am into the lighting. It's great. Such a mood to it.

----------


## XCali

> Ditto that, that's where I'd put any vegetation too, unless they're weird alien trees that emit light. It just isn't the conditions for trees to grow with ease. It feels warm and arid when I look at the map.
> 
> I'd put like, some moss and mushrooms and maybe some fungus. Hm, I'm sensing a theme. Maybe some mould. What trees tend to do for a map is add visual interest, which can be achieved with things other than trees. You might have fallen rocks, even artistically arranged, a rock maze perhaps. If people are surrounded by stones, they're going to arrange them. Also as this is a tight space, these settlers must be doing something with their trash and their dead, so you might see a charred area or a refuse pile in a corner from where they deal with their input/output. They're getting food from somewhere, so perhaps they have hanging gardens fed by water pumped from the river or a pen of animals that extends out to the grassy shrubby area by the river where their goats can feed.
> 
> These are ways you could get some of the visual clutter lent by trees without using foliage.
> 
> Shrubs, in the lighter areas, I can see there being a few clusters, around the river where the light is most likely to hit, their roots stretching out into the water through the stony ground, and grass is stubborn, I'm sure there'd be a few chunks of it for a select amount of livestock to graze, or chickens to root around for insects.
> 
> There might be a few rocks sticking out of the river, that would also give some of the visual stop that a tree does.
> ...


Thank you!  :Smile: 

And thanks for the ideas. I want to really flesh the map out if I get the time. But for now, i did some things  :Smile: 

==================================================  =================================

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## PaperGriffin

I absolutely love the crystals you've drawn on this. Great looking map  :Smile:

----------


## XCali

> I absolutely love the crystals you've drawn on this. Great looking map


Thanks a bunch  :Smile:  Crystals have been something I wanted to figure out somewhere, so this was a great opportunity to see how they turn out.

----------


## XCali

Hello! Howz it going?  :Very Happy: 

Anyway, I'm about at the polishing phase of the map. A tweak here and there and a few additions like the rock and the livestock pen. 
Is there anything you want to see me tweak or add before I call it done?

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Kisachik the Wanderer

Hi there. Would you be willing to tweak the shadow layer? The walls of the canyon are pretty dark, but the bottom is not, as if the light didn't follow the rules of physics in there. The sharp shadows on that surface don't match the soft shadows created by diffused light on the canyon walls. Also the contrast between light and dark makes the settlement less readable. It's an interesting effect, but it seems to make the illustration a bit too busy.

I like how you're always taking requests, as if performing on stage.  :Very Happy:  And your maps are so unique.

----------


## Tiana

I like the tweaks to the labels and the addition of small amounts of foliage quite a bit!

----------


## TimetoDraw

Creative idea, nice colour scheme as well.

Take this or leave it, but I feel like the crystals are too overpowering. How about blurring the crystals so that the settlement is in focus and draws your eye to it. It would really add depth as well.

Could the labels be bigger so as to be more easily read, this would also help draw attention. 




> Also the contrast between light and dark makes the settlement less readable. It's an interesting effect, but it seems to make the illustration a bit too busy.


I agree, really nice effect but it's harder to see the settlement. I feel like making the settlement more the focus would really improve your map, while it is already looking good  :Smile:

----------


## XCali

Hi all!

So, today I worked on doing the memorial border? Hehe, and I added a note from the Expedition team before they disappeared. 
(about the shadow layer. I don't exactly know why but its not doing what I wanted it to be doing exactly, being that its across 4ish? layers. Somewhere there is something I want to find the time to figure out there. Hopefully soon.)

Anyway, hope you enjoy the whole thing I did since the last. It was quite fun to do.  :Smile: 

Edit: After posting it, I realized there are some small mistakes in the text. I will see to changing it.  :Razz: 

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## XCali

I think I might have sorted the contrast problem a bit. I hope the settlement is better seen now? 
Also, I tried to root out all the grammar problems from the text.
Anyway, from here it is probably just touch ups. 

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## XCali

Helloa! 

Well, I was looking at the thing yesterday and I felt the reddish brown of the border added to much of the sameness of color to the whole thing. So I wanted to rectify that little tidbit.  :Smile: 

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## PaperGriffin

I've just zoomed into you latest WIP and noticed the roofs are made of crystals! Amazing attention to detail  :Smile:

----------


## Kisachik the Wanderer

I love the new colours but the composition is way off. The settlement ended up in the corner. But it can be fixed by switching the layout of the extra elements around a bit. If you put the text paragraph on the right of the map, the crystals will be moved to the left, and the settlement will be more centered.

----------


## XCali

Hmm, good point. Though a bit complicated to switch around. It came out alright.  :Smile: 

I think this is about done. Hope you enjoyed the journey.

### Latest WIP ###

----------


## Levtrona

this is still way too busy to me. Such a nice idea, beautiful map and than you bury it under what would make another two maps.  :Smile:  
The version you posted on 2/23 looks best to me. maybe crop it a little tighter, "scarlett canyon" in that sandy color bottom right, done. 
It is like you got lost after the finish line.  :Wink:

----------

