Hakun Tribe Settlement WIP

[Barek333]

Hello everybody,

After doing my big atlas type continent map for my D&D campaign I needed to zoom in a bit and for the first session I have made a map of a settlement based on the nice and easy to follow tutorial from Lerb.

This is my first go at a more artistic approach and also a first settlement type of map. I looked at a lot of finished maps and I have to say that I like Lerbs style a lot. So I tried to use his photoshop tutorial in GIMP and I am pleased with the result so far.

In the future I will implement a different approach for drawing roads since they are in my opinion the biggest thorn in the eye..at least at my current level. Shadows worked nicely with my cattle(lol) while they were too thick before while I made the tents and houses.

Constructive criticism is welcome and even though I will use this map like it is for my session tomorrow I would still like some help with making the title and marking/numerizing the places of interest on the map and showing them in a legend. I tried now for over an hour to find a nice/not bland method but failed. Any tips are welcome

hakun_tribe.jpg


And just a bit of info: Hakun are nomadic farmers. They travel the plains of Lotair with their herds and usually settle on ruins of an ancient civilization which remnants they consider to be sacred. This is the main Hakun settlement and the only permanent one. Currently they are under a constant attack of a gnoll horde that suddenly appeared in the area. Their lives are very much in the hands of the passing band of adventurers who are in search of a powerful artifact located in the mountains some weeks away from here. They usually wouldn't care since their mission is of a much greater importance but a companion of theirs is cursed and the Hakun shaman might be able to save her. Will a compromise be made?

[Meshon]

I agree, roads are a tremendous challenge, but I think you're on the right track with adding some shading to them to connote ruts. The dark lines on the trees stand out a bit; maybe try using a slightly wider and softer brush at low opacity to fill them out.

The cattle are great (they look like burly bison to me) and I like the go at hide-stitched roofs you've made.

cheers,
Meshon

[Barek333]

Thank you Meshon!

With the trees I really like how Larb does them and I am trying to get close to that,I think the full opacity here isn't a problem..when I learn how to properly sketch it out..heh.

And yeah cattle was kind of spur of the moment thing and it turned out great The roofs were first intended to be wooden which later didnt make sense so I added the stiched look while being to lazy to remove the wood lines. But I am happy that there is a difference between rounded tents and straw huts sketching and the hide tent ones. It is so obvious which ones I done first.

I am currently trying to combine inkscape with GIMP for a similar style map. Will soon open another WIP.

Thanks again for the comment, it really gives a dose of motivation when someone comments on what you have done.

Cheers,
Barek

[Meshon]

Sorry, wasn't totally clear on my comment about the lines on the trees. I don't think you need to change the lines, rather paint under them with a low-opacity brush to fill in a bit. However, I had a look at the tutorial you followed (as well as some of Larb's other maps) and decided to try the trees out for myself, so I'll let you know how it went, in case it's useful to you.

First, the outlines. The outlines don't have to be a solid line, but they should suggest the overall shape of the tree. I also found that if they described the (circular) shape of the tree it worked better than lines that were off at weird angles. Thirdly, I think in this step, less is more. The shadows and highlights later will do more to express the texture of the tree. I've tried four different versions here.
tree-outlines.jpg

Next is the fill. I was a bit clumsy with my brushes here, but basically I made sure that the outlines I'd drawn described the edges of the trees. I think this is what made me comment about your trees in the earlier post; you don't have a solid outline around the edges of the trees which, I think, is what makes the lines you do have less harmonious.
tree-fill.jpg

For the shadows I just basically tried to replicate what you did, although I also put a few strokes of the brush around the interior lines, in the direction towards the light source, in hopes of giving the tree more depth. I think I probably could have used a higher opacity brush (I think I was using 5%, sometimes I'm too timid )
tree-shadows.jpg

I didn't do much for highlights, but just tried to add a few on the side of the lines away from the light source. I was also experimenting with using different strokes for the different trees; straight in from the edges for the conifers, and more loopy for the deciduous. I think they're deciduous.
tree-highlights.jpg

Finally I added some shadows on the ground, which I just brushed in, rather than using a drop shadow. Not totally happy with how these worked out. I think I need to get a drone and then do aerial photography of trees and their shadows. I have no idea how they're supposed to look
tree-groundShadows.jpg

I figured I'd share my process since you inspired the experiment, and maybe it will be useful to you. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!

cheers,
Meshon

[Barek333]

Now I get what you meant

And this is great, it really will be useful, especially steps 3 and 4. I was trying to do something similar, but now I have a nice example with a bit more detailed explanation so it will definitely come in handy.

Also I think a lot of people wanting to draw trees in this way would like to see this.

Thanks again for the help and nice words.

Cheers,
Barek

[Larb]

I have to admit my tree style can be a bit inconsistant but I think Meshon did a great job with his "mini tutorial" (you should probably put that on the "how-to" or tutorial forum by the way).

Barek: I am glad you have found my tutorial useful although it looks like your base texture size has been increased a lot which makes it look a bit blurry. Also I notice that your round building stroke looks a bit pixelly. In the tool options at the top did you have the anti-alias option selected when you used the line and elipse/circle tool? I forgot to mention that in my tutorial.

Also I like the stitched-hide roof effect you have gone for. It does work and I want to try it myself on a future map as I never have!

[Barek333]

@Larb: You are right, I increased the size of the texture a lot since the original tutorial size was to small for this village. (at least for me it got way to pixely when trying to depict all of that).

And you are right, I didn't have the anti-alias selected. I am still new to all this so had no clue it made a difference. Will note for the future. Also downloaded some great brush/dynamic/tool preset sets so those will also help me out a lot in the future. At least I hope so, since on the 800x800 tutorial map your brush strokes on the roofs and on the trees look so much smoother than mine. I assumed it is either good brushes or different software you used...or both.

And thank you for the stitched roof effect comment. Will try to improve on it. And since I really enjoy your style you will see some new (hopefully better) town/fort maps coming along in the next months.

Also I second that the tree mini tutorial from Meshon is linked/posted in the tutorials section. These kind of small ones are actually most helpful when one is stuck with a 'minor' map detail.

Thank you again for the constructive and motivating comments.

Cheers,
Barek