The Lost Land of Vallonda [commission]

[Tiana]

Dragon frame, lovingly rendered mountains... and some hand lettered calligraphy. This one took quite a while.

vallondar low res watermarked.jpg

And some close ups to appreciate the detail that went into the map:

vallondar portal and delta closeup.jpgvallondar wreck and dragon.jpgvallondar desert closeup.jpgvallondar mountain closeup.jpg

[Turambar]

Dragon frame, lovingly rendered mountains... and some hand lettered calligraphy. This one took quite a while.

vallondar low res watermarked.jpg

And some close ups to appreciate the detail that went into the map:

vallondar portal and delta closeup.jpgvallondar wreck and dragon.jpgvallondar desert closeup.jpgvallondar mountain closeup.jpg

Great map! I love your mountains in this style, especially.

[Tiana]

Thanks, Turambar, they take a VERY long time to do in this style but they're my favorite mountain style too!

Also... yeah I forgot the 'R' in my title! T_T

[Valterink]

Love the textures!! Would love to see a process video or shots, looks amazing!
Kudos on the visible hard work on it!

[Tiana]

Love the textures!! Would love to see a process video or shots, looks amazing!
Kudos on the visible hard work on it!

Thank you!

Well, there is no process video, I don't usually take them as the storage required for the footage would be obscene... this map probably took 80 hours of painting... but I can show you the process shots the client got for critique.

progress on vallondar.jpg

And here's a video of what happens when all the layers are turned off and then back on again.

[Peter Toth]

I'm always noticing mountains, for I have a deep love for topography; that said, those mountains are absolutely beautiful! I'm guessing you use an artist's pen and touch pad as opposed to a mouse for your art, and I'm considering doing the same. And as always your work is inspirational.

Peter

[Tiana]

I'm always noticing mountains, for I have a deep love for topography; that said, those mountains are absolutely beautiful! I'm guessing you use an artist's pen and touch pad as opposed to a mouse for your art, and I'm considering doing the same. And as always your work is inspirational.

Peter

Thank you, yes, I used a Wacom Tablet + Pen setup, I think this one is back when I still had the 13WX but I use a 24HD now. I do recommend a tablet, it doesn't have to be a screen tablet, I started out with an entry level Wacom Graphire 6x8, which was second from the bottom tier at the time. I would go no smaller than that, but screen over a non-screen tablet is up to you... I sometimes miss having a non-screen tablet due to its secondary function as a mouse replacement, rather than a TV sized art tablet... but I use a very nice mouse now that could handle painting like this, with the exception that it has no touch sensitivity, so you will have to key both size and opacity adjustment to your keyboard or mouse buttons. If you do so, you can mimic painting with a mouse, though it will be slightly more time consuming.

This particular mountain style is done primarily by setting up some blocky highlights and shadows with a textured brush, using the fingerpaint tool to smear it around, and then photobashing in realistic texture by using a stock texture or photo of your own with good rocky texture, set to something like Hard Light on a low opacity, to enhance select areas. And then just kind of go over it again and again and again and again and again and again. This is like a 5 minute demonstration on a single mountain but it should give you a sense of how to build a mountain up in this style.

mountain shading tutorial.png