unexplored Lands

[Voolf]

So this is just one of the style tests that I've been working on lately, the rest are just too awful to show. Hand drawn isometric still isn't out of the question but I thought I'd try hand drawn relief first, though I'm really not all that impressed with the results so far ...I'm still on the fence. This is just a small section and if I decide to go this route I'll definitely start from scratch and do a better job it... You can consider this a sketch, just testing a new technique and I think I have some ideas on how to improve it and make it work, but until then this is just one of those half baked ideas that may or may not see the light of day again.

Attachment 100915

I posted without even reading your last post lol. That is one great hand drawn relief Kacey, Way to go ! If you want it to be more prominent you can add darker shadow here and there where the mountains are steepest, but it already looks very good.

[Warlin]

I like it Kacey, but you should take care of your parchment, they are dirty . Hope to see you back at this project, and for the tectonic, it's a hard part after all that won't affect the beauty of your work but make it more realistic. And who care about it for fantasy world, a map should be plausible at last . Cheers.

[davoush]

I really like it - if only I could draw such good shaded relief! Do you use a specific technique?

[kacey]

I like that.

Thanks Chashio!

I posted without even reading your last post lol. That is one great hand drawn relief Kacey, Way to go ! If you want it to be more prominent you can add darker shadow here and there where the mountains are steepest, but it already looks very good.

Thanks Voolf that's a good idea when I restart this today I'll definitely take you up on that advice.

I like it Kacey, but you should take care of your parchment, they are dirty . Hope to see you back at this project, and for the tectonic, it's a hard part after all that won't affect the beauty of your work but make it more realistic. And who care about it for fantasy world, a map should be plausible at last . Cheers.

Yes I definitely need to clean up the parchment I just threw it on quickly to post, it's actually a piece of butcher paper, normally when I use this one I remove the blood stains.... I'll get around to it don't worry and I'll have that land mass ready for you today I just have a little clean up to do first, I'll post it on you're thread.

I really like it - if only I could draw such good shaded relief! Do you use a specific technique?

Thanks Davoush, I just set an inner bevel and used the standard speckle brush in photoshop. I picked a colour from the background and filled the layer then filled a mask with black and just painted it on the mask in white. I blurred the mask a few times and then painted on it again but I'm going to use separate layers and do things a little differently when I restart it... This was just a test.

[PaGaN]

Hey Kacey.

My email alert for this thread must have stopped working as i stopped by and see that i've missed some awesome updates! Those mountains are going to be great, i love the direction! they look like a lot of work but at least this is part of the fun stuff! C'Mon...who doesn't love mountains???

Awesome

PaGaN

[kacey]

Hey Kacey.

My email alert for this thread must have stopped working as i stopped by and see that i've missed some awesome updates! Those mountains are going to be great, i love the direction! they look like a lot of work but at least this is part of the fun stuff! C'Mon...who doesn't love mountains???

Awesome

PaGaN

I've decided not to go this route for the mountains because it just doesn't give me the height information that I need for doing the climate. At most it makes it a bit prettier, but not enough for me to keep it, I really want to do a contoured height map that actually gives me some information that could be useful.

I've also decided that I don't like these land forms anymore which is why I haven't been updating it... I'm trying to figure out a new world coast right now, well I've done three world coasts since the last update and haven't been happy with any of them. It's important to me that there aren't areas that bug me, which there are many here, and that I can make interesting regional sections and I found that regional sections from this map are just kindof blah so I'm pretty much back at square one for now.

I'm sure I'm being entirely too picky but I want a project that will last for several years, and that my non mappy creations can live in.

[PaGaN]

Hey Kacey

You're a perfectionist, I get it. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water. The technique you were using looked great. Definitely keep that in your tool box. Regarding your land forms, What's bugging you? I like the proportion, the spacing, the lines.

[kacey]

The thing that's bugging me isn't the map as a whole, for a world map it doesn't bug me so much. The problem comes when I try to make regional sections, cutting the map into smaller parts just doesn't give me interesting coastlines for smaller areas that I'd like to do in hand drawn style. The goal for me is to have a reasonably sound world map that I can make several smaller regional maps from and this just isn't gonna work for that. Either way I have a new world planned out now, I just have to tidy up the coast before I can move on to topography, I will post once the coastline is done, though I'm not getting into tectonics' this time around and if I do it will be minimal because doing that the first time really made me feel like a crazy person... Who knows though maybe I'll make enough world map coasts that I don't like to create a whole universe.

[PaGaN]

LOL, I get it, I really do.

Can't wait to see what you're working on. Don't keep us hanging.

[Chashio]

Yeah, I get that too. :] Just try to not get mired in things you can play with later, at the cost of all progress. I try to remind myself of this but it's not easy to follow when I just want to get right into the little details and all the things.

also.. World maps often have very average coastlines [and other things] compared with detailed regions... when you cut up the world map into smaller sections, you could use it as a rough guideline to work from... maybe that helps a bit to look at it that way, maybe not. Good luck