My first real attempt at a map.

[Pestilence]

Hello everyone, despite being here for a few months i haven't really done much other than lurked around the tutorials section and posted a few, rather half-hearted maps to my own profile. But here i am, in a WIP thread finally.
so some backstory, recently I've begun playing D&D with a few friends on the site well, a few days ago our DM sent a message to my curse client asking about a map. So i asked him a few questions, and despite being a beginner he asked me to make a regional map for him.
that map is the one i'm posting here, constructive criticism and feedback are very much accepted and appreciated.
i'll be updating this thread as i continue working on the map, though it's been a slow process so far, I've only been spending a bit of time each day on it.
The program i'm using is Photoshop CC 2015.5.
-P

[Mouse]

This looks like a fun map

You might want to encourage your curse client to comment freely on this thread if he/she wishes, so that you don't at any time wander too far away from what he/she wants? (and the rest of us don't start making suggestions that end up contradicting his/her wishes )

If you need any help later on refining the shading on the ends of your scrolls, which is just a tiny bit off right now, just yell. Otherwise - looking forward to seeing the progress

[Korash]

If you need any help later on refining the shading on the ends of your scrolls, which is just a tiny bit off right now, just yell. Otherwise - looking forward to seeing the progress

Yeah this looks off to me too. I think that the rolls on either end should have a hard edge in the inside between the rollers, as most scrolls are on the INSIDE, because it is much easier to open and close that way when placed on a table. I would suggest doing it sooner than later so you don't spend too much time with something that would be covered by the rollers.

That is about the only thing to comment on until you advance the map, but I like the idea of a scrolled map, and you do have a nice parchment for it.

[Pestilence]

thanks for the suggestions guys i really appreciate the feedback, it just so turns out i actually am looking for a way to shade the edges and make it look like the remaining pieces of map are wrapped around some kind of dowel. Being new to not only mapping but also to using Photoshop (and doing anything that is really considered "art") it's a long road a searching for, watching, and failing at tutorials until i finally get things right. So once again any and all help is appreciated.
Also if anyone has any suggestions on how to place large river that takes up a decent part of the main landmass and facilitates trade i'm all ears.
Thanks Again
-P

[Mouse]

I agree with Korash that the rollers would look more natural in front of the map. Where they are at the moment has the tendency to make me feel like I'm looking at the back of the scroll, rather than the front of it.

Bringing them to the front would also make them easier to define as cylinders with the shading and shadows. A gradient fill across the width of the cylinder, with dark edges and a highlight running down the front centre face of the cylinder would probably work best, though you would have to shade the rods the same way, or it might turn out looking a bit odd with different lighting on the paper and rods.

The other thing you might like to consider is that the rods themselves do seem a little on the bulky side. I've Googled scrolls and seen many variations on the theme, but all of them have quite slender shafts, the broader end pieces appearing to act like caps to prevent the rolled up scroll from sliding lengthways off the shafts. In most cases the bulk of the end of the scroll is rolled up paper, and not the wooden shaft.

As to how you go about doing this in PS - I'm hoping Korash or one of the other PS users can jump in here with a few pointers to useful tutorials or instructions, since I know less than you do about PS, and despite spending quite a while on YouTube looking for either a scroll tut, or a cylinder shading tut, I came back empty handed.

[Pestilence]

Hey everybody, sorry i haven't posted in a few days, i ended up getting busy with some other things, here is what I've done since then. Once again feedback is always appreciated.
-P

[Pestilence]

i should probably move the finials behind the dowel that i used so it doesn't look like i'm using two different images (making the note here so i'll remember to do that later)

[Mouse]

That's looking much better already

I hope you don't mind but I borrowed a snapshot of the finial to show you what I meant about adjusting the shadows on those finials to match the shadows on the rest of the scroll. I've also cut down on the width of the dowel, and added shading to all of the visible wood to give it a bit more shape and form, and bring the highlight to the front, rather than the side of the piece - to match the work you have already done on the scroll, which is highlighted at the front.



This is an incredibly crude sketch I did in about 5 minutes flat, and no way perfect or polished enough to use. I bet you could do a lot better!

The shading itself was done in 3 layers set to overlay mode, painting in black with a plain soft edged brush and at about 33% opacity to get the blend right. You might need to use the eraser on those 3 layers, again with a soft edged brush, just to add a couple of highlights back in when you've done, and tidy up the parchment if you haven't been able to mask it out of the process

This is just one way of trying to match up the shading of the scroll with the shading of the finials. Please feel free to disagree, or use an alternative method that might be suggested by someone else

[Pestilence]

wow, thanks mouse. i don't think i could have done that if i tried xD at least not in 5 minutes flat haha i have some experience with photoshop but i am still learning. It's a long road, that of acquiring knowledge, i just hope i'm up to the challenge.
By the way while i'm here, i'm also making another map for myself in the same style as this one, I've searched for tutorials all over but so far have not been able to find a good way to make canyons, if anybody could help me out with that i'd appreciate it.
-P

[Mouse]

Oh I'm sure you can do it. The answer is just to have a go. Don't put any pressure on yourself, just make a mask from the finial, add a transparent layer over it, set the mode to 'overlay', and start shading in very transparent black - painting just outside the edge of the mask so that only the feathered edge of the brush laps over into the masked area and fades out nicely into the interior of the finial. Go further into the interior where the area is larger. Make another layer and do the same thing, but don't go as far into the interior as the first time, and again with the third layer.

I wish I had saved the file now so that I could render the shading layers on their own - so that you could see just how crude they really are. The human brain does a marvellous job of enhancing 3D effects. The shading doesn't have to be perfect in the slightest - just a suggestion... and your there. The real artists who tried to teach me how to be Da Vinci when I was very young (and failed! LOL!)would scoff and call such edge shading 'bean can shading', but real artists like to do the shadows in a seriously complicated and realistic way, even though they know the brain is more than capable of interpreting the illusion no matter how crude the shading is

As for canyons?

I think you might have to ask the pros about how to do those. I haven't even really worked out my mountains yet - never mind my canyons, so we're in the same boat where that's concerned