Grant & Karst - The warring Kingdoms

[Abu Lafia]

In the attempt to tackle some of my many unfinished maps before diving deeper into this month's challenge, i just finished this map of the warring Kingdoms of Grant and Karst. It was made for fun, trying out some new things, but in the process i began to like the map more and more, so i'm happy to present it to you now. Enjoy!

Grant&Karst.jpg
While Grant, the northern Kingdom, is built on it's fertile lands along the rivers and a long agricultural tradition, the ragged landscape of Karst made it often necessary for the karstian people to drive out not only for fishing, but for raiding along the Tincoast. That's why the largest grantian cities are wisely built in the interior and the few coastal cities (like Schlageln, Knork and Sandern) are heavily fortified. The ongoing centralization of the Kingdom of Grant (compared with the rather loose vasaldom of Karst) made it more and more possible to defend itself against the constant aggressions from the warmongering neighbours, so that many grantians are now calling for preventive actions in the south. The coming war might not be the last one between the two Kingdoms, but it could be decided by the mercenaries from Vasnic, hardened in battles in the eastern steppes and only waiting for the highest bid...

[DanielHasenbos]

Nice map and I like the cliffhanger (:

-Dan

[Barek333]

A very nice map indeed. You have such a reckognizable style

[Abu Lafia]

Nice map and I like the cliffhanger (:

-Dan

Thanks a lot Dan!

A very nice map indeed. You have such a reckognizable style

Oh, really? Damn, i have to do something about it! Many thanks Barek, much appreciated. As i said before, it's not something i'm intentionally longing for, just riding my onetrickpony hell bent for leather...

[Tom]

A very nice map indeed. You have such a reckognizable style

I agree!! but it's a good thing! great map Abu!!

[Diamond]

I really love that method of doing forests; I may have to try that technique.

[Mouse]

I love the mountains. I must learn to draw like that

[ThomasR]

Those mountains are really amazing and I really like the composition and color palette. That's a beautiful piece, again.

[Abu Lafia]

I agree!! but it's a good thing! great map Abu!!

Thank you Tom, much appreciated!

I really love that method of doing forests; I may have to try that technique.

Glad to hear that Diamond, would love to see you trying it out! I nearly forgot about the forests, although they've been a major obstacle for me (not only) on this map. I first wanted to go with another style of forests, but it was even more time consuming. This technique is rather simple, but i'm nonetheless not really happy with the result. The consistency of the forest linework is somewhat lacking. The most northern Forests (with some empty space between the trees) look better than the fully packed ones imo, but this way it takes some time too, to think about the dispersion(?) of the trees/treegroups.

I love the mountains. I must learn to draw like that

Thanks Mouse, i can only say: just do it! No need to be afraid, as i started drawing this kind of stuff only roughly a year ago, and i had no substantial training/education in drawing before, only a huge amount of great inspiration .
There are many wonderful tutorials on drawing mountains. My favourites are:
Torstan's Mountain Tutorial(s) might be THE reference, a lot of useful information about shading included.
Xpian made a wonderful series of video tuorials lately. Very informative and he covers different styles of mountains (Torstan's too).
Max's mountains are (as his whole work / style) a thing many people are looking up to (me included ) and orient themselves on here at the guild.

Those mountains are really amazing and I really like the composition and color palette. That's a beautiful piece, again.

Thanks Thomas, always greatly appreciated!

[Ilanthar]

Another excellent map !