KB attempts handdrawn. . . film at 11.

[Kingbreaker]

So, here's something to occupy my left (drawing) hand for the time being as I blow off the thing I was attempting with flash. This is an attempt at an old-school hand drawn regional map. It's of nowhere in particular, just an eastern seaboard with some mountains.

My goal is to do the whole thing with (yikes) as little automation as possible - no stamped trees, mountains, or cities. It is, so far, entirely in photoshop, using my intuos tablet. I generated the rough draft of the coastlines using the clouds/difference clouds/dodge & burn/posterize method. I then traced the results on the tablet.

This image is 50% of the working resolution, which is a little pixelated for display. Enjoy.
KBhanddrawnWIP1.jpg

*Also, I need to credit Djekspek for his fine nd efficient tutorial.

[Ascension]

Looks like you're off to a fine start. Mtns and forests always take huge amounts of time when doing them by hand, or so I've noticed, but once you get through those parts the rest becomes fun again.

[Kingbreaker]

So here's an evening's worth of progress:

1) Mountains finished
2) Coast "waves" filled in
3) Rivers roughed in. The two big rivers in the west have been widened.

as always, CC welcome.KBhanddrawnWIP2.jpg

[ravells]

I really like it so far. I like that little plateau thing you have going with the coastal edge too. Looking forward t seeing this progress, no real crits from me.

[Kingbreaker]

Thanks!

At some point I may make the "plateau" a little less uniform, but it's good for the time being I suppose.

Now comes the fun part- trees.

[Gidde]

The mountains look a little on the blurry side, but that's not really a crit as it could just be the style. I'm also looking forward to seeing this progress

[Kingbreaker]

The additions should be pretty clear -

- forests
- towns/castlesKBhanddrawnWIP3.jpg
- revised coastline

[StillCypher]

The horizontal lines of the trees don't look very... treelike to me! I'm really digging the castles, though, and the coastlines. Mountains are pretty cool, too.

[Kingbreaker]

Thanks!

I may bite the bullet and do trees in a more standard style as these experimental forests look more like a carpet.

I also find myself running out of room. . . at the current resolution there won't be nearly enough room to do a decent labeling job.

So this afternoon I started a new map at 6x the size. . . and will be conceding a few steps to a more automated work cycle.

[Ascension]

I'm in agreement about the forests but you could keep the style if you made the lines more roundy instead of flat and use some empty space.