# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Town/City Mapping >  High Horn Keep [reanimate]

## J.Edward

[I started this thread during the Jan Reanimator challenge and then moved it over here to Town/City after.
It wasn't IN the challenge, just working alongside those who were.]
As I said, I can't join the challenge, as this all started way before this challenge.
But i can join in through the month with everyone else.

I think I actually started this map back in January of 2019.
So, it's been slowly being messed with over the year. Which was a busy year.
I ended up messing with the little High Horn Keep map.

   -   

Which was a sort of thing I used to do as a teen, pyramids and those sorts of things along with obelisks and such.
I knew back then that it was a sort of borderland town, out on the edge of some wild land.
There's no date, but I'm sure this was back in the 80's

After a Year of messing about, here's where I'm at.
I guess I'll use the wip tag, just because. ;P
### Latest WIP ###


I decided when I started this piece that High Horn Keep was part of Luma.
That said, I am still not entirely sure where in Luma this is situated.
But I do have a general rough idea. Maybe this wip will get me to put together a rough map of Luma, or some of it anyway.
Oh, and it changed a bit. No longer square, it went sort of pentagonal.

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## Bogie

Beautiful work, I don't know how you keep it all straight going from one perspective to the other.

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## J.Edward

With a considerable amount of difficulty, sometimes.  :Wink: 
This was one of those times.
Usually, past 10-12 buildings and it becomes more trouble.
But, the more i do it, the less trouble it seems to be.

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## MistyBeee

Aaah, always so fond of those double perspective...! This one looks totally awesome, of course. For some reason, I'm especially fond of the horn asymmetry ^^
Don't you wish you could show this to the teenager J. ?

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## - JO -

You're so good at this double perspective thing !!! And I thought you just started the new map a few days ago... So, that was impressive !!!!
I'm trying to do a double perspective map, but it's far from yours...

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## J.Edward

> Aaah, always so fond of those double perspective...! This one looks totally awesome, of course. For some reason, I'm especially fond of the horn asymmetry ^^
> Don't you wish you could show this to the teenager J. ?


Hehehe, yeah, teenager J would not believe some things I could tell him, and show him.  :Very Happy: 
Asymmetry... I haven't always liked it so much, but it has grown on me.



> You're so good at this double perspective thing !!! And I thought you just started the new map a few days ago... So, that was impressive !!!!
> I'm trying to do a double perspective map, but it's far from yours...


It just takes practice. It is not easy to do.
Especially if the scene is complex.
I hope to get some more work in on this this week.

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## Domino44

The line work and perspective is just incredible! I don't know how you pull those off so well. It will be a fun one to watch progress.

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## Larb

I like the reimagining of the horny tower. Is there a backstory why it has two giant horns on it?

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## J.Edward

> The line work and perspective is just incredible! I don't know how you pull those off so well. It will be a fun one to watch progress.


Thanks Domino  :Smile: 
I hope it will be fun. 



> I like the reimagining of the horny tower. Is there a backstory why it has two giant horns on it?


Thanks Larb  :Smile: 
It's not written out yet, but.. there is a statue in there that you might have missed...  :Wink:

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## ThomasR

This looks amazing, John. Reminds me of the prep art for the Conan the Barbarian movie (but better if it is possible).

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## J.Edward

> This looks amazing, John. Reminds me of the prep art for the Conan the Barbarian movie (but better if it is possible).


That is a compliment I can really relish  :Very Happy: 
I have always loved the Conan movies and books.
No shame in having Howard as an influence.
Or Ron Cobb, for that matter.  :Wink:

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## ThomasR

> Or Ron Cobb, for that matter.


Oh ! Thanks a lot for reminding me his name ! I had lost the link to all his treasures, thanks to you, I have it back  :Very Happy:

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## J.Edward

I believe he has recently redone his website. 
Or at least it appears to have new stuff I hadn't seen before.

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## J.Edward

Here's an update on High Horn.
I spent today working on shadows. Not complete, but a good bit is done.
This one has quite a lot of shadow work.
Due to the complexity, I decided to do the shadows before the color, which is reversed from normal.

### Latest WIP ###


And remember, this is not in the challenge.
I'm just mapping along with everyone.  :Wink:

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## Tiana

Freakin' amazing, it's unreal how great it looks. If this was colored in a pleasing fashion I would put it on my wall and I don't say that too lightly, this isn't just great city art, it's just charming in so many small ways. Really well done.

Though I don't personally think the seamless double perspective transition would be hard. I guess I'll have to prove it eventually, but I used to do panelless comic pages which had transitions into tons of different perspectives, so I imagine the concept will be similar. By hand it would suck but digitally, you have the ability to layer and clean up the transition if you don't nail it on the first go, and also, you could do the two separate maps on two different files and then bring them together and just draw the transition.

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## MistyBeee

Great progress, J. I love how the shadows make the town pop up. It looks like irradiated with magic. 
 :Smile:

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## ThomasR

This is gonna be brutal  :Very Happy:

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## - JO -

You're so good with shadows... So you use sketchup, or it's juste a special mind ability you have ???
(same question for double perspective illustration...  :Very Happy:  )

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## J.Edward

> Freakin' amazing, it's unreal how great it looks. If this was colored in a pleasing fashion I would put it on my wall and I don't say that too lightly, this isn't just great city art, it's just charming in so many small ways. Really well done.
> 
> Though I don't personally think the seamless double perspective transition would be hard. I guess I'll have to prove it eventually, but I used to do panelless comic pages which had transitions into tons of different perspectives, so I imagine the concept will be similar. By hand it would suck but digitally, you have the ability to layer and clean up the transition if you don't nail it on the first go, and also, you could do the two separate maps on two different files and then bring them together and just draw the transition.


Thanks so much, Tiana  :Very Happy: 
I'm hoping that the end result of the color is pleasing, but we'll see. ;P
I haven't completely decided what color direction I will go.

I can imagine doing comics would get you used to many perspectives of similar scenes.



> Great progress, J. I love how the shadows make the town pop up. It looks like irradiated with magic.


Hehe, yeah. The shadow part is arguably the best, most powerful bit. nods.



> This is gonna be brutal


I am already glad that I redid that old piece.
It makes me want to try some other ones.



> You're so good with shadows... So you use sketchup, or it's juste a special mind ability you have ???
> (same question for double perspective illustration...  )


Thanks Joel  :Very Happy: 
I did use sketchup and other 3d software for a number of years.
I used to do 3d stock modeling, so I got very familiar with thinking in 3d.
Sometimes I will use sketchup if I need to visualize something that I can't get with sketching.
Or if the time to model is less than the time to sketch and I have a tight deadline.
Doesn't happen often, but it can come up.

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## The Elderly Cartographer

The fortifications are clean and civilized, but there is irony in the primitive horns and Minotaur. Suggesting that maybe the civilization has come from primitive/barbaric beginnings, or maybe that their monarch is a barbarian?
There is most definitely a deep story involved here.  :Smile: 

Nice perspective and beautiful landscape.

Good job!

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## kozzie

The perspectives are amazing. Great work.

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## Bogie

The shadows really make everything stand out!  Can't wait to see this colored!

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## Ilanthar

Hum. Well, it's gorgeous and I agree with Thomas about the "Howard" look.

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## arsheesh

Wow, the level of detail here is really impressive.  I love the two perspectives, something you've always done very well.  The shading looks great so far as well.  Can't wait to see the finished map.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## J.Edward

> The fortifications are clean and civilized, but there is irony in the primitive horns and Minotaur. Suggesting that maybe the civilization has come from primitive/barbaric beginnings, or maybe that their monarch is a barbarian?
> There is most definitely a deep story involved here. 
> 
> Nice perspective and beautiful landscape.
> 
> Good job!


Thanks EC  :Smile: 
There's definitely barbarian influence, no doubt.



> The perspectives are amazing. Great work.


Thanks Kozzie  :Smile: 



> The shadows really make everything stand out!  Can't wait to see this colored!


Thanks Bogie  :Smile: 
Yep, shadows are always one of my favorite parts to see completed.



> Hum. Well, it's gorgeous and I agree with Thomas about the "Howard" look.


Thanks Ilanthar  :Smile: 
Howard has always been a big influence.



> Wow, the level of detail here is really impressive.  I love the two perspectives, something you've always done very well.  The shading looks great so far as well.  Can't wait to see the finished map.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Thanks Arsheesh  :Smile: 
I'm ready for this one to be done.

I only got a bit done over the weekend.
Hopefully I'll find more time this week.

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## J.Edward

I'm finally able to mess with this a bit.
Finished shadows and started to add some color.
A cool twist...
I decided to use the old paper texture from the original piece in here.  :Very Happy: 
I think this one will have a warm desert feel, maybe.
I'll keep this going after the challenge ends.

### Latest WIP ###

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## MistyBeee

It's just one color, but it already works so well to make the building stand out even more ! This one will look awesome !




> I decided to use the old paper texture from the original piece in here.


Such a nice touch ! ^^

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## ThomasR

This is magnificent ! I get a strong cold desert vibe.

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## Tiana

Great colors. Definitely got the desert feel.

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## J.Edward

> It's just one color, but it already works so well to make the building stand out even more ! This one will look awesome !
> 
> 
> Such a nice touch ! ^^


Hopefully it will continue to stand out. It will change as I add more color.
I'm always tempted to stay in the monochrome area, as it's so contrasty and simple.



> This is magnificent ! I get a strong cold desert vibe.


I already started adding some green, so it may feel warmer next time around.
I'm still not entirely sure where i want it to go.
Or if it is going somewhere all on its own. ;P



> Great colors. Definitely got the desert feel.


Thanks Tiana  :Smile: 
I'm trying to do more environments that I am less familiar with.
I have some winter scenes on the backburner. Scenes, not maps though.

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## MistyBeee

> I'm always tempted to stay in the monochrome area, as it's so contrasty and simple.


Hehe, it's maybe a good occasion to try something new ! ^^

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## Larb

Although the keep and town itself is great, my favourite thing about this is the background it's set against. It really grounds it I think.

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