Everglades

[snodsy]

I've done some deserts and forest lately and wanted to try my hand at some shallow water areas, swamps or some other areas with coves, bay and other waterways.

So this morning I got up and started the drawing an area of the Everglades and Key Largo to get some real life examples to practice. Went pretty well and happy the way it turned out. 8 hours total. The cypress knobs and heron are illustrations I've done in the past. Comments welcome, but probably not going to do much more, was just for practice.


EvergladesKeys2.jpg

[darcycardinal]

Looks good, the waterways help to show the area where water is mostly going. I would have thought swamp/marsh area would have been difficult to portray on a map seeing how the colors used would either mimic a forest or grassland.

-darcycardinal

[snodsy]

Looks good, the waterways help to show the area where water is mostly going. I would have thought swamp/marsh area would have been difficult to portray on a map seeing how the colors used would either mimic a forest or grassland.

-darcycardinal

Thanks Darcycardinal, maps are representative, so taking liberties to convey information allow you some flexibility. The blue swamp waterways have a green tone to them, but I wanted to show them, I am sure there are many ways this could have been done. It's a good comment and needs to be taken into account when designing maps - what purpose do they serve and what information needs to be conveyed.

Thomrey; I just keep plugging away, actually every morning before work for an hour or two, I work on maps, then when time permits Sat/Sun mornings, I do seem to be getting a little faster, keep up the great work yourself, you seem to be producing a few yourself.

[snodsy]

well I took darcycardinal's comment to task and tried a different way to show the everglades. I used a bevel with a real soft spread, I like it better than the color change, that darcycardinal pointed out. Thoughts?
EvergladeKeys3.jpg

Looks good, the waterways help to show the area where water is mostly going. I would have thought swamp/marsh area would have been difficult to portray on a map seeing how the colors used would either mimic a forest or grassland.

-darcycardinal

[darcycardinal]

well I took darcycardinal's comment to task and tried a different way to show the everglades. I used a bevel with a real soft spread, I like it better than the color change, that darcycardinal pointed out. Thoughts?

After taking a look at the "before and after" shots, i can see the improvement made already. The bevel addition gives the map, specifically the marsh area a more natural feel. I get a more "wetter" feel from the second map, sounds kind of strange, but its true. Are you going to include a map legend eventually? Thanks for the reply back.

-darcycardinal

[ThomasR]

Do you ever stop ? That's great and it would have been a perfect location for last month challenge too !

[Josiah VE]

Great job! That's a fabulous map for one day! I love the beaches on this.
I went to Florida with my family last Christmas. We were planning to go to the Everglades but we didn't get to it.

[Ilanthar]

The color palette is really good and I LOVE what you did with the waters. Inspiring.

[Mouse]

I actually prefer the first one, but both are extremely high quality and well worth pouring over, because they are so beautiful.

[P38 ace]

I always wonder what a map of a swamp would look like.Good map. I feel like staging my next RPG adventure there.