November/December 2013 Lite Challenge: Give Me Liberty

[fabio p]

I'll go for a fantasy map; I would have done an AH one, but I feel not ready. So It will be fantasy mixed to something that could recall slightly actual history.

The WIP background:

Give Me Liberty

With the discovery of a new southeastern continent , called Adrusia, by the will of the kings of Pridayn, numerous settlements were founded within a few centuries, in order to expand the possessions of the Crown and to spread the word of the High Father.
Prosperity, intellectual ferment and intolerance towards the monarchy, less and less respectful of the rights of the people, has recently created a new sensibility among many settlers.
Following the Edict of Faith, which imposes the cult of the High Father, proclaiming compulsory veneration even in the colonies, some of them, tired of the constant harassment and not recognizing the authority of the Crown anymore, are openly rebelling.
The loyal colonies have varied positions: some are to attack the rebellious colonies others are for "live and let live ", but the royal army is embarking in the Mother Country and could sweep away even those who are loyal but do not cooperate.
Meanwhile , in the lands to the far east and south, the indigenous shamanist orc tribes, refractory to accept human presence and the worship of the High Father, are putting aside old rivalries to fight the common enemy.
But which is the common enemy ? Will it be a war of all against all ? Will the tribes join the rebellious colonies to drive away the presence of the kingdom from the mainland ? Or rather, will the tribes work together with the loyalists and the king to eliminate the rebel force, who openly wants to found a new nation even at the expense of the tribes ? Or maybe the rebellious colonies will make peace with the Crown and overcome differences to deal with the tribes?
Who will achieve Liberty, in the end?

And the

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dammi la libertà wip.jpg

[feanaaro]

Nice start. However, the sea lines could be less pixelated, and perhaps also a little more subtle.

[Lingon]

I agree with Feanaaro, but the coastline looks awesome! The texture is pretty blurry, I like that it looks like the map is painted on a cracking stone but it'd come across better if the texture was sharper. Still, great start!

[fabio p]

Thanks guys,
I'll try to incorporate your suggestions.
About the texture, I still have several options, I can lighten this or change it altogether.
About the sea lines, make them thinner is within my reach (or at least I think so), make them less pixelated, I do not know .. but I’ll try.

[Psylence]

Well for making them less pixelated you might want to work on the coast. By reducing its pixelation(as it seems that your lines are off of that) you should be able to smooth out the sea lines and you might want to lower their opacity a bit as well to blend them in. Also did you want those lines in your lakes? Because ya got 'em! Easy fix by just deselecting the area when you apply the stroke.

Last bit, love the cracked rock texture/paper/parchment that it's on, it has a nice look but I think it's a bit too pronounced. I dare say, your background is overriding the foreground - the texture draws the eye more than the rest of the image.

[fabio p]

@ Psylence: Thank you.

So, now I have less pixelated coastlines and I opted for striped contours of sea/body waters when near the land.
I changed the background texture and started to place some mountains (I'm testing some freshly done brushes).

Next will come some other mountains and some rivers, I think.

You if have any feedback, let me know!

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dammi la libertà wip 2.jpg

[Psylence]

Couple comments(I know, I always criticize). To start with, my first comment: WOOOOOO! Nice! Love that paper background and now it's just f'n snazzy! I love it. Definitely like it over the almost stone look of the last one. =) Mountains are looking good, and the coastline is an improvement.

As far as those waterlines(I forget what they're actually called) it's a neat idea, though I feel like you might be going for something more like.... this? It might be worth looking into, it's pretty easy to knock out, and has a pretty nifty result(Food for thought as an alternative). Either way, I think you might want the lines to be bigger, you have to zoom in, lean in, and squint to pick those bad boys out at the moment.

Mountains, neat brush! I like it, except it's a bit repetitive(Of course I say that, and then quirk an eyebrow, and think to myself "it is a brush..."). I would be curious in seeing the brush, I might play with it a bit as well.

[Lingon]

I liked the idea of the previous texture but this new one is nice too The mountains are pretty cool, though I suggest making them fade into the land, and also lightening the lit side so it's brighter than the land – makes them stand out more and look more three-dimensional.

[fabio p]

@ Lingon and Psylence:Thanks!

Psylence if you really like my mountains I think I can give you a copy of the abr file for photoshop, maybe an email? It’s a really small set and that explains a little bit of repetitivity. One day if I'll expand the set and it's appreciated, I could upload it somewhere.

Ok some slow progress:
another change for water near landmass (the way Psylence suggested), some other mountains, some rivers a border and a box.
I'm still looking for an effective way of letting mountains fade more into the land; for now I just tried to erase a bit of the light side; also i still don't know if/how effectively "light" the "light side" like Lingon said.

Next will come trees/forests, maybe other boxes, and I'm working on colonies/settlements etc.
Suggestions and critiques are, as always, highly appreciated!

###LATEST WIP####
dammi la libertà wip 3.jpg

[Psylence]

Sure, I'd definitely like to give it a look. I'll send ya a PM in a couple.

As far as the mountains and what you've done to them, I'm not really sure what Lingon is meaning either when it comes to fading them into the land. I'm curious to hear as well. But as far as lighting them, I think he means...

Make a new layer(under the mountains would probably be easiest so long as your mountain brush doesn't have any color in the "lit side" of the mountain),
take a brush set to white and low opacity(or flow, or both),
and brush along the light-side of the mountains to accentuate their highlights and show the direction of the light.

The white/highlight color should be subtle and not too strong as you're just trying to show off the light direction, not overpower people with it. Now if you have your paper set to multiply and you're finding that the white isn't adding any additional color you have a couple options. One is to put the highlights over-top of the paper layer, but then you have to use a really light touch. Your other option, and probably just as easy, is darken the land a little by using a color-fill of a light gray. You'd probably only need like 5% black 95% white sort of gray to accomplish it. Just enough so that you can make highlights pop a bit.

OH! The water! Forgot to say! I, personally, think that the water looks great. It adds a good 'old map' vibe to it which fits along with the rest(But that's just my opinion).