3D map of Dragon Lands of Glorantha

[Darran]

So here is a map I did a while back.
It is of the Dragon Lands of Dragon Pass in Glorantha and is the setting for my HeroQuest campaign.

I was fairly happy with it but it still unfinished and doesn't quite convey the combination of flat lands, swamp, peaks and craggy hills.


Dragon Lands of Glorantha

I have sketched out an isometric grid and drawn some of the new map already.
I'll post that up soon.

[Darran]

So here is the pencil sketch I have done so far.
I am trying to get an isometric view of the landscape showing the hills, mountains and flatlands.


Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch -01

The labels are just temporary at the moment just to give an idea for comparison of the two maps.

I still have quite a bit to do to finish it off.

One thing I may struggle with is doing the large swamp as I haven't got a clue how to represent it.
Any ideas?

[jfrazierjr]

Please say you'll do a bigger version of that hand sketched map! That's just beautiful and I am eager to see more detail....

Rep++

[guyanonymous]

Your hand sketched map is of a stunning style - I hope we can see more on those lines as well!

[Ascension]

You've made a very envious fan out of me...I love this style. I might just put this under my pillow and hope the sandman brings me as much talent. Excellent stuff.

[torstan]

This looks really lovely.

Be a little careful about elements going vertically in the isometric view. Those elements tend to break the illusion of 3D in an isometric view. The river at the top would tend to wander more left and right than go straight up.

For the swamp, broken horizontal lines with tufts of grass are traditional.

Just small comments really - it looks great!

I'd certainly suggest moving this over to a digital map. If you don't have one, invest in a tablet. You're pencil work certainly suggests you'd get a lot out of it.

[Gamerprinter]

Excellent isometric map! Nice hand-style - great pencil work! Have some REP!

GP

[Darran]

Be a little careful about elements going vertically in the isometric view. Those elements tend to break the illusion of 3D in an isometric view. The river at the top would tend to wander more left and right than go straight up.

For the swamp, broken horizontal lines with tufts of grass are traditional.

Just small comments really - it looks great!

I'd certainly suggest moving this over to a digital map. If you don't have one, invest in a tablet. You're pencil work certainly suggests you'd get a lot out of it.

I have a nice Tablet - I use it constantly instead of a mouse, though people struggle to use my computer because of it.

I'll have a look at that Northern part of the river as I am not happy with it.
The main features have been exaggerated in size.

I am going to try a few techniques on the swamp.

[torstan]

Sounds good, I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

With the river, when it's going straight up, there's no way to show the foreshortening that you'd expect in an isometric view. As soon as you introduce bends in the river, make sure that the deviations left to right are larger than the vertical deviations. This will pound home the illusion of a 3D view.

[StillCypher]

::going away to drool privately over the hand-drawn map::