Travar (3-pt-perspective metropolis)
Hey guys! =)
This is a long time coming, but now I can finally show one of the greater challenges I tackled this year. Travar.
I'm sooooo proud of this one! *___*'
Travar is a metropolis (dammit, a typo in the title - can any Mod fix this?) on the continent Barsaive, the world of Earthdawn. It was build as a heavily fortified circle which used to have a protective magical shield around it. This was incredible to work on since a 3-Point-Perspective isn’t usually what I would recommend on a city especially of that size. But I wanted to do this, we go in a new direction with it, and I’m happy to do more!
There is an article in German here about the making of, a few steps and so on that I will translate as soon there isn't 100°F / 38°C any more... (done, see below)
The German readers can find it here. There are also some WIP I will post here with the necessary context.
If you have any questions, let me know - happy to answer. =)
You find this map on my DeviantArt-Account, too!
There is of cause a German version, versions in Black/White, and one without key; I made variants.
(c) Ulisses Spiele & Distribution, 2017
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Thank you all!
Best wishes, Steffen =)
Edit:
My translation maybe isn't that polished, but I think it is clear enough as a translation. Here you go =)
TRAVAR
Travar was a challenge. Not only because it was my first work for this world, but also because Maik Schmidt with its wonderful, older and, above all, striking works for the book already had an excellent direction we wanted to go.
Maik and I then agreed, in which style I’d imaging maps can take for this and after all the descriptions were sighted, I started. During my work on the map, I always got just finished illustrations of other artists working on the book, which in turn influenced the style of the Travar card in the development process and made it more precise and well-rounded. Ideally, a map binds all elements together in this case.
This map should definitely be a different type of city map. And of course it should fit appropriately in the world - with its intricate patterns and angular elements, a world in which the inhabitants have the opportunity to see and measure everything from above, it was also possible to capture exactly these achievements of this civilization.
We decided to use the 3-point perspective. This is very close to how the human eye perceives. It is also exciting that I could show the whole inner part of the city. This even allowed us to locate the most important buildings, as they really look, right on the plan. Since many of the buildings already existed as illustrations, I were able to include them directly.
Travar was (in many respects) the map, which has set the mapping style for Earthdawn for us. We want to keep the principle of showing cities and locations in this kind of perspective. This allows us to capture much more content and provide a good sense of the place we want to depict. Something Earthdawn deserves.
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Often times I start with the frame - just to know how much space I have. Some drawings and references already had iconic patterns, which I included directly. Travar is divided into 10 parts, two of which are joined together. There is also the arena in the middle (the ‚Eye of Travar') and a little bit of periphery such as the harbor, the tents, etc. It went in the right direction, but I really understood at the moment (just after the first tenth), the amount of work still was ahead of me. And the realization was sobering ...
wip2_A3q_Travar.jpg
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I reached for the phone. The work on this map would take longer than expected. Fortunately we were able to push the deadline. And this was necessary; Two 80-hour-weeks were following this conversation. I have never worked on a city this size. To draw individual buildings in a large city in a perspective will let you inquire about the many decisions that have led you there. ;)
If we wanted to do this, lets go all the way. The compass and the coat of arms had to be in perspective, too. Every street had to make sense, the clear construction had to be seen. The people of Travar have moved away from the wasteland and further towards the river (fewer cabins and houses have to be at the lower left), the buildings towards the old town are bigger, etc...
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I had then indicated the wasteland, a few waves and fog rising from the water. Then I added a lot of hatching. They bound the various elements together and created a rounder image. Without the lines I used as the grid, it even looked quite clear already.
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The key was made, the textures were already done. As is always the case without the necessary contrast, the map was relatively unclear at this point. So, as you can see right now, this had to change.
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It took another afternoon, then I had created the necessary contrast. The variants were made (with and without legend), in German and in English. And even a complete black-and-white version has emerged. This is Travar!
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And yes, this is the German version. Why not, you know the other one already ;)
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I am already looking forward to the next works and I am sure that Snake River (an adventure) will provide me and the players with other challenges.
Thank you for your interest and the incredible feedback!
Best wishes, Steffen
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Wow. 
