The Isles

[Coyotemax]

So I picked up a new comission, this one kind of came at me from nowhere, but it's such a cool project I couldn't say no!

The name of the project is MILA'S FOUNTAIN and they also have set up a Facebook group (when I first started working with them last week, the webpage was nothing more than a graphic with Coming Soon - they've made a lot of additions in the last week!)
They're traveling to a large fantasy/sci-fi expo in Canada at the end of August to start spreading the word as well, and get people following the project and will enter production and release the episodes next Fall.

I'm LOVING getting back into the mapping. My favourite part is that I finally got things sorted out so that I'm not letting work stifle my creativity.. My only complaint is that I need to a) work at the dayjob and b) sleep. One of the things I love about this map is that I'll get to go nuts with decorating it, and have been given a wide latitude for artistic leeway.. I'm doing at least 3 versions, the ornate wall-hanging size, chart type, and fold up in the pocket. I've been playing around with the terrain features, I think I've settled on a mountain style.. I've expanded a bit from my last hand-drawn map and added a few subtleties as well as some brushwork that made it a LOT less time consuming without compromising the quality.

The outlining around the shoreline is a placeholder at the moment, I've been working on a few interesting effects that I'm starting to really like.



I've got a mockup of one of the islands with all the terrain features added and coloured on the other computer, I was working on the desktop until I switched to the laptop (the laptop has better ram and processor than the desktop plus the 64 bit OS/photoshop.. but the desktop has better monitors.. argh!). I'll post that one in a bit so I can show off the direction I'm headed

[Ascension]

So far so good, man. Glad to see you mapping again.

[tilt]

looks like a good start... I like the mountains

[Coyotemax]

Thanks to both of you.

Ascension - it's great to be back! Not that i really stopped - just took an extended break. I remember swearing i would never let work get in the way of art again.. i almost fell off the wagon there but I managed to keep my grip

Tilt - thanks.. wait till you see them in colour!

I found the test images.. The chart version of the map is going to stay monochrome, but I was playing with colours for the tapestry version, and I'm SO looking forward to working on that for the full map! And I have to say I'm kind of pleased with the ripples around the shoreline for the one (that was intended to be initial mockup to get an idea of geological features).

[ravells]

Oh wow, that is looking quite beautiful! I love the coastline ripple texture too! The only thing that looks a bit odd to me is the southern tip of the island in the second picture.

[moutarde]

Looks gorgeous, but the coastline looks too dark/strong. Like ravells pointed out about that southern bit, it makes it look like the details (mountains, forests etc) are below the sea. Some woodcut (or something similar) might help, or even just the occasional mountain or tree whose top rises up and over the coastline, since that style of symbol is semi perspectivy.

Edit: Also just realized the coast in the colour picture is blurry, while all your other lines are sharp. In the other image, the coast is very thick and solid, while your other lines are all delicate. I think that might be what's throwing me off more than anything - just that the coastlines feel like they're not really part of the same map.

[Ascension]

The mountains in the second one look a bit heavy and crisp compared to the other soft and/or thin lines but I like where it is headed. The mountains and trees in the first one are black while the other lines are brown, simple fix there, though.

[Diamond]

Hey, glad to see a new map from you, man. I like the direction you're going; really like those farmlands in the second picture.

[Coyotemax]

Yes to everything that's a great idea for that one peninsula - if I move the mountains up a bit that will help the perspective, I may do something similar to a few of the other islands as well.

The one with Island Three was one of the first layout plans, I just used one of my mountain brushes and a tree brush so i could lay out ideas on where to place the mountains and forests, i had a kind of colour scheme to help differentiate things - black for mountains,green for hilly areas and trees, I had a few things not on the thumbnail like teal for swamp, yellow/green for the farms etc. I like the wavy lines out in the sea on that one better, I just have to crank up the desktop so i can do it again - i've got the only the 64 bit photoshop on the laptop, and the eyecandy version with the Jiggle filter isn't compatible with the 64 bit


Island One was the "now I have the terrain planned out, should I take this in a b/w or painterly direction".

That's when we come to the picture in the first post - I haven't brought the wave ripple back in yet, but I have the island shapes finalized - but not the stroke - and the final look for the line drawing versions of the mountains themselves. Eventually I'll lighten the opacity and blending for the shading so I can do a painterly version as well

Yeah, it's kind of all jumbled, I likely should have been more clear about the order and what each image shows off

[Tony.m.meijer]

A quick question, could you point at a tutorial for the lines around the islands or give a quick explanation on how you do them?