[WIP] Roof Top Sketches and Designs

[darcycardinal]

Hello, So recently I have been dabbling with smaller scale maps. The usual kind of maps that I have been creating up to this point have been large scale city maps with not so much detail up close. Over the next few months, I've decided to switch things up and go small scale. Now this is a whole new ballgame. To be honest, i am not used to drawing on a much smaller scale, other than the odd concept sketch. So I am pretty much going to have re-learn how to do maps at this scale. First things first, rooftops are going to have to mastered, as future maps will be mostly top down. The style that I (eventually) be aiming for is old-world Japan. There is something about Japanese architecturek, especially the titled rooftops and gardens that get me excited. However, going for this style won't be easy as I will have to do some considerable studying of Japanese history and designs. Challenge accepted! In the meantime, I have started to practice rooftops, with these hipped/gabled roof tops. The angles needed to create hipped roofs takes a bit of geometry and practice, but its not impossible. Shading is secondary at this point, however that too will be worked on. Here I have opted for a little landscaping. These sketches are just with lead, i haven't even touched them with my Copic's or Prismacolor's yet. My first focus will be on roof tops, then trickle my way down to walls, temple design, gardens/landscaping then finally city planning, which I am fairly good at. Along the way I will be looking for a city name and potential place/world to create for future maps. I did want to request some advice in regards to drawing rooflines and landscaping. I know there are many members here who draw on a similar scale and would appreciate some advice/critique. As more sketches are drawn, they will be uploaded up here. Thanks! -darcycardinal

[Ilanthar]

Looks fine to me, really clean work, actually. And, once again, I'm wondering why I'm one of the rare to place the light in the top right .

[darcycardinal]

Looks fine to me, really clean work, actually. And, once again, I'm wondering why I'm one of the rare to place the light in the top right .

You mean shaded darker to the slope? I am experimenting today with different shading styles.

Josiah VE - The best way to tackle complex shapes is divide the roof into sections and then go half way. Still complicated to do.

-darcycardinal

[Josiah VE]

These are really awesome looking! Those are some pretty complex roof designs, I honestly would have no idea how to do designs like that.

[Ilanthar]

Well, no, I just meant that I tend to put the sun or the light source in the top right corner when a lot of people are placing it in the top left corner.

[darcycardinal]

Well, no, I just meant that I tend to put the sun or the light source in the top right corner when a lot of people are placing it in the top left corner.

I see... yeah, I'm going to have get this shading pat down before going further on any maps. I was creating this last night off of one of my other maps, and was fooling around with different shade types. I'm think just going from the bottom of the roof to the top for shading isn't going to look very good on a larger scale.



The type of roofing lines that I will be going after are these:



I also found out that my next big mapping project will have to shed the grid, or use it sparingly, something else that I have not done before.

-darcycardinal