Commission: Amedir

[Wingshaw]

This map was actually finished late last year, but I didn't get round to posting it to the guild until now. I have a bit of a backlog of unposted WIPs and finished pieces to post up here, right now, so expect to see more in the next few days...

It is a commissioned map of the continent of Amedir, drawn freehand and then coloured and annotated in Photoshop.

The drawing was completed slowly over the course of 5 months, and then all of digital work was completed in 15 hours in November and December (I began tracking my progress in Toggl partially through this project - I really like these kinds of statistics ).

I'd be keen to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions.

Wingshaw

[Lilian Oake]

I like it! It's very Zelda-esque.

[Kellerica]

I have to say, it looks great when zoomed out, but at 100% it looks awfully rough and pixelated. The layout is still very pleasant to look at, mind you, and the colors create a very harmonious feeling. The design of the compass rose and the border are simple yet beautiful.

[ThomasR]

I have to say, it looks great when zoomed out, but at 100% it looks awfully rough and pixelated. The layout is still very pleasant to look at, mind you, and the colors create a very harmonious feeling. The design of the compass rose and the border are simple yet beautiful.

Exactly my thoughts.

[FrancescaBaerald]

Nicely done!

[Ilanthar]

I kinda agree with Kelleri and Thomas about the pixellated feel when zoomed in. I guess it's a drawback of the initial scan.
Apart from that, it's really great, Wingshaw. I especilly like the colors and shadings on this one.

[- JO -]

I find it beautiful... Just in the style I like (and hopelessly try to replicate... ) !
I love the cliffs, hills near the water, the tower and volcanos... It's all elements that bring some changes to a regular coastline or regular map !
You made a good job with the different reliefs !

I hope you can re-scan it or change parameters to upload a new version, to better see the details of your amazing work !?

[Wingshaw]

Thanks for the comments.

With the zoomed-in pixellation, is it just the linework, or do you think it is a problem in the colouring and shading, too? If it's just the linework, I don't know what I can do about that to make it look better - for future reference...

Wingshaw

[ThomasR]

Shading and coloring are perfect to me. May I ask how you proceeded for the linework ? How you scanned it ? As it is, it looks very pixellated. Maybe a too small scanning resolution or the output file. I've had problems when scanning in black and white for instance, ending up with pixellated lines like yours. Trying color could perhaps help.

[Greg]

I think Thomas could be right about the scanning. I've included how I usually scan below, but feel free to ignore it if it's not helpful.

I usually end up scanning in a custom grayscale mode or colour with either zero or a low level of sharpening. I can't remember exact settings as my scanner's not the best and it took a load of playing around with before I was happy.

The other thing could be how you deal with it initially in PS. I've had similar effect happen if boosting the contrast too much. After the scan, there are often plenty of grey-white areas than need to be dealt with (and the occasional shadow if my piece is too large for my A4 scanner). I usually use the Select -> Colour Range option (or the Magic Wand tool with varying levels of tolerance) and use that to select the grey areas and the white areas. I just then plain delete them. I experiment and repeat this until I get a satisfactory result, which should just leave me with the black lines left. I might boost the contrast a tad, but it's important not to overdo it.

It's a shame, as it's such a beautifully coloured and stylish piece. If the scanning/initial PS is the issue, then it might be possible that you could just rescan and use the colouring you've already done and put the two together.