WIP - The World of Ascadia

[Steel General]

Lookin' good Rob, great job!

[RobA]

I have decided to take this in a different direction. Things are getting too unwieldy in Inkscape so I have switched over to Gimp.

Here is a (1/2 size) of where I am, with a different mountain and hill style (The water effect is just a placeholder and will be replaced with something more hand-drawn, eventually):
ascadia_revisited_1_scaled.png

Where I am stuck now is the circled area. The description I am working with is:

Frontier Area:
"with its massive canyons and rocky formations, is rough terrain. Think Grand Canyon/Mesa/Badlands with scattered woods and Texas-like prairie/desert."

I have come up with the following:
detail.png

but am not 100% sold on it, so suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks,

-Rob A>

[jfrazierjr]

I have decided to take this in a different direction. Things are getting too unwieldy in Inkscape so I have switched over to Gimp.

Here is a (1/2 size) of where I am, with a different mountain and hill style (The water effect is just a placeholder and will be replaced with something more hand-drawn, eventually):
ascadia_revisited_1_scaled.png

Where I am stuck now is the circled area. The description I am working with is:
I have come up with the following:
detail.png

but am not 100% sold on it, so suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks,

-Rob A>

I think that looks great! How much size wise do you have to play with (in terms of area). I would say make the mesa's on top a bit smaller in total size and make more of them and throw a few more canyons in there. Granted, this is representational scale, but those mesas would be like 150 miles long (or so).


BTW, I rather like your water effect, so I don't think it "has" to change.


GRRRR.. I keep editing posts instead of quoting them!!! Damn these new Mod powers!

[Karro]

I think that looks great! How much size wise do you have to play with (in terms of area). I would say make the mesa's on top a bit smaller in total size and make more of them and throw a few more canyons in there. Granted, this is representational scale, but those mesas would be like 150 miles long (or so).

Agreed. I think it looks good, and that it meshes well with the new mountain style.

[Steel General]

I think it looks fantastic.

When I read the description you provided, the first thing I thought of was the way they drew cantons, mesas etc. in the old Looney Toons cartoons (especially the Road Runner).

[RobA]

Thanks for the suggestion, JR! (or should I just call you Joe?)

I took your advice and enlarged the main plateau a bit... it has to fit between the river systems... I'll go back and try to change out the mesa's on top and make them smaller and more varied, though as you say it is representational...

I also filled in a large forest area using the random density fill script I created...The brush has 12 different shapes, but at this scale they all appear the same... I might have to change that...

Here is a detail of the forest area and the wider plateau...
detail2.png

-Rob A>

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks for the suggestion, JR! (or should I just call you Joe?)

I took your advice and enlarged the main plateau a bit... it has to fit between the river systems... I'll go back and try to change out the mesa's on top and make them smaller and more varied, though as you say it is representational...

I also filled in a large forest area using the random density fill script I created...The brush has 12 different shapes, but at this scale they all appear the same... I might have to change that...

Here is a detail of the forest area and the wider plateau...
detail2.png

-Rob A>

Joe is fine. Or, if your in a rather flippant mood... you can bastardize it to jojo like Del does (it's ok with me....)

I just got to thinking.... IF this one is going to printed out in a book, you may want to view it at the intended size before spending to much time with a lot of detail work. Not sure if you have thought of that (I assume you have) but I bring this up for others who may be following the thread to think of if they also are doing some print work. I have found sometimes that stuff that looks good at zoomed out scale looks like crap zoomed in and visa-versa. And likewise, if its printed at small scale and all your details are lost (or worse bleed together!!!) then you have wasted a lot of time putting the detail work.

Of course, if your mapping for the sake of mapping the large scale version and the print version at print size looks good to... just ignore everything.

It's a shame you cant tell the distinct trees, though they look good anyway. I am almost thinking that having more than 2-3 distinct trees on a small scale print map might detract from the layout as the eyes focus on a pattern of different trees. hmm just thinking out loud. Note, this is not a critisism, but the trees remind me of the pushpins from mapping software applications to mark points of interest...heh...

[Karro]

It's a shame you cant tell the distinct trees, though they look good anyway. I am almost thinking that having more than 2-3 distinct trees on a small scale print map might detract from the layout as the eyes focus on a pattern of different trees. hmm just thinking out loud. Note, this is not a critisism, but the trees remind me of the pushpins from mapping software applications to mark points of interest...heh...

While I think the forest looks good, generally, one way to change this would be to extend the base of the trunks outward just a tiny bit, like a font serif. It would imply the ground in which the tree is planted.

[StillCypher]

That mesa/canyon area is looking most excellent! I really like it. The trees, however... At the risk of sounding completely irreverent, the first thing that came to mind when I saw them was, "Oh, my! Balloons!"

[jfrazierjr]

While I think the forest looks good, generally, one way to change this would be to extend the base of the trunks outward just a tiny bit, like a font serif. It would imply the ground in which the tree is planted.

I agree(that I liked flared tree trunks).. but at the scale the trees are in the image, I am not sure it would be noticeable in the final image.