EIP - Talstem Islands

[GlassSphere]

Well here goes another experiment. The water in this was by far the most difficult thing I have yet to make. I also ran into issues of scale, photoshop's render clouds filter isn't adjustable like the gimp's So in order to make larger features I had to do something along the lines of "not so random coastlines" X 2.

So the file is 2000x2000 with 200dpi.
The detail is really tiny in this. I couldn't think up of any interesting additions for the moment, such as caves or things. I know I should have attempted a volcano, but was wanting to finish the other details first.
I realized one of my problems is that I love zooming in too much too often. This causes me to focus on making really nicely detailed paths and rivers, then go back to actual size to realize that my nice brook is only 2px wide and a dull color that barley stands out. The same goes for the buildings. Yet then again I did try to keep it somewhat in scale.

This is the first time I really feel that I effectively created a hilly area with mountains. I found the effect by accident too!
There is a bit of history behind some of the areas, and many secrets to be found on these newly settled islands. But unfortunately, I am too tired of wrestling the oceans into a pleasant effect to bother inventing it Maybe later. Likely never.

Tell me what you guys think!

[Robbie]

I'll make you a co-admin of the site if you make a tutorial on how to make that water?

Just kiddin...but it would be quite awesome to know that secret.

[Skycast]

On an initial sweep the only thing I think it needs is something "below" the water to denote the reef. Also, a sprinkling of smaller islands here and there would go nicely.

[GlassSphere]

Yea ill Show how, yet im still unhappy with it. Skycast is right, and reminded me that I still need to figure some way out to create a more realistic underwater sand-area around the islands. Simply a ring of a lighter color in the water doesnt really do so well. I also want to figure out how to make realistic looking sand bars, as painting em doesnt seem to do so well.

I could put a few more small islands in. As for the reef, I understand, there needs to be at least some sort of interesting texture or color around that area. I was referring to the lighter colored area in the string of islands as the reef.

Another thing I just realized would make things look abit nicer is some trees on the beach, like palm trees.

Thanks for your all your compliments on the water though! I'll write something up for it tomorrow evening.

[torstan]

Those mountains are great - repped.

I'd actually like it if the sea went darker as you got further from the islands. It's a very light shade of blue - but then it is tropical

[Ascension]

The only thing I'd touch is making the water darker, love the greenery on the land. Many props

[jfrazierjr]

Yea ill Show how, yet im still unhappy with it. Skycast is right, and reminded me that I still need to figure some way out to create a more realistic underwater sand-area around the islands. Simply a ring of a lighter color in the water doesnt really do so well. I also want to figure out how to make realistic looking sand bars, as painting em doesnt seem to do so well.

So, what if you make two copies of your water layer, blur the heck out of your selection so the white is around the land fading out and the ocean is your mask part. Then, "paint" in your sand bar areas. Add your blurred water copy over top, add the mask layer and play with the blending mode and/or opacity and of course, the land layer above that. Hmmm I wonder how well that would work to make it looks like underwater sand bars....

Joe

[A. Smith]

Heh, am I the only one that dislikes the water? It looks too bumpy for me, at that kind of scale...

Ah well...

The mountains and farmland are magnificent however... I'm especially curious of the farmland. Did you do that by hand?

[GlassSphere]

I haven't forgotten about that tutorial, but the thing is, I feel bad about writing a tutorial on the one thing that I feel is incomplete. So I went farther experimenting with water. I also used Google earth as reference and now understand how water works with islands better.

So this is what I got so far! Never mind the lack of tons of things, I took out every unnecessary layer to keep the filesize down, keeping things abit faster (as one of the steps to this is making a 10,000x10,000px layer!! applying an effect then shrinking it down)

Now I'm kinda beginning to miss the blazingly bright sapphire colors of my crystalline ocean but It's still easily achievable with this.

jfrazierjr, I'm trying to interpret what your saying. Maybe im confused because I don't have a single water layer it was about 3 in the first image, now its at 6-7. But even after merging them into one, I'm still abit lost as multiple layers your naming have the same name- "water layer"

I agree A. Smith that it is abit strangely bumpy had already went through a process of get it as small as it is already, I guess I just needed to do it more.

The farmland is a really amazing discovery. It is actually a default photoshop rock texture! The island layer consists of a mayang picture of some concrete as the image, then for layer properties: color overlays, inner glows for the beach, slight bevels, and a texture overlay, the texture overlay is what makes it look like farmlands. To make it appear in that area, I simply blurred the mayang concrete image to make it stand out! Addition by subtraction! You can tell that this texture is everywhere if you look closely enough. It adds alot of great variety to the islands.

In the picture I also added a bit of coastal coloring to one of the islands. I'm not sure how I like it. I think it would fit better for a non tropical area, but here it needs to be lightblue/sandy rather than muddyness.

[jfrazierjr]

So the file is 2000x2000 with 200dpi.
The detail is really tiny in this. I couldn't think up of any interesting additions for the moment, such as caves or things. I know I should have attempted a volcano, but was wanting to finish the other details first.
I realized one of my problems is that I love zooming in too much too often. This causes me to focus on making really nicely detailed paths and rivers, then go back to actual size to realize that my nice brook is only 2px wide and a dull color that barley stands out. The same goes for the buildings. Yet then again I did try to keep it somewhat in scale.

If you feel the urge to make a nice hugh town or city with a massive level of zoom enough for a CTT, it would not hurt my feelings.

This is the first time I really feel that I effectively created a hilly area with mountains. I found the effect by accident too!
There is a bit of history behind some of the areas, and many secrets to be found on these newly settled islands. But unfortunately, I am too tired of wrestling the oceans into a pleasant effect to bother inventing it Maybe later. Likely never.

Tell me what you guys think!

Very nice map.....DARNY DARN..... I can't give ya any rep cause I must have not spread any out in the past 3 days or so since I last repped you... time to go looking for some nice older maps to rep people on. This is SWEET! and the water is to die for (well, not really)

Joe