Reply With QuoteHere's the original sketch:
Westbridge-Original-Sketch.jpg
WIP--Westbridge
So I'm developing another town map. My second attempt at making something for my own campaign, and I'm using Larb's tutorial on Town building as a base but incorporating a lot more hand-drawn elements into it, inspired by his latest work Raedirk Freehold. I am really really impressed by his initial sketching and his layering of hand drawn detail into the development of the map. It reminds me very much of Mike Schley's Red Larch map, which I am also a fan of.
So this time around, I'm putting in layers over the top of the basic outlines that Larb's tutorial has suggested. Instead of trying to make everything happen on a single layer, I'm letting the details happen on their on own layers. This has allowed me to go back in and make things a lot more organic-looking and textural.
My goal is to add a mottled texture to the rooftops, more texture to the ground and roads, and overall create less "similarity" amongst all the buildings in the town. Thanks to Larb's wonderful sharing of his process images for Raedirk Freehold, I'm wrapping my head around how things can happen.
I think, ultimately, only some of this may end up remaining under all the layers. It's a good initial guide, but I am terribly intrigued by line drawing now that I've seen how Larb has used it.
I've also learned that maps simply take time. There's no way around it if you want to make it more expressive, and I have a LOT of work ahead of me. I haven't learned how to do these things quickly, so I'm probably doing things the hard way when there are easier methods I don't know yet. But I'm excited about the potential for this one.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my initial stages thus far. Going to be working on this one for a while... hehe...
Westbridge-Step1.jpg
Last edited by Coreyartus; 07-20-2015 at 06:43 PM. Reason: gammar
Here's the original sketch:
Westbridge-Original-Sketch.jpg
Last edited by Coreyartus; 07-20-2015 at 06:45 PM.
Finished The rooftop textures and details, fleshed out the road system bit more. Next, I may move on to some groundwork drawing.
Westbridge-Step-2.jpg
More her than his btw... =P Layers are SUPER useful because they let you edit stuff you might find unsatisfying a week or a year or more from now. Also if you do things like have only the tree colour on a separate layer it is easy to globally adjust the colour for it using Photoshop's hue/saturation/lightness tools or whatever.
What I really like though is that your buildings look your own even though you followed my tutorial. They have their own style which looks good.
D'oh! <blush> Sorry, Larb. <face palm> I obviously didn't look at your post threads closely enough. Color me embarrassed.
Yes, levels are wonderful! I was able to put my trees in on 3 different levels--the first with a basic green hue that I put on a color jitter to provide some variation, the second I used to color dodge their highlights in, and the third I used to color burn their shadows.
Next I have to figure out how to have them all create their own shadows, so I'm gonna read up on that. I'm hesitant to use a layer style drop shadow on it, but hey with the history feature I can give it a shot! I suspect it's about creating yet another layer, shifting its saturation down the to nothing, blurring it, and then nudging the entire layer. I have to figure out how to then delete everything that's covered up by the layers above it, but I think I'm gonna have to do some experimenting.
Gotta love layers.
But here are the trees!
Westbridge-Step3.jpg
Last edited by Coreyartus; 07-22-2015 at 06:04 AM.
Alrighty! This is it for tonight--I did end up using a drop shadow layer style on everything, but I changed it from a regular one to an Overlay, which changes the color of the shading to match the tones the shadow is being cast upon.
I also changed the fencing and added a stone wall around what will be the cemetery. I also penciled in some wells--it struck me that there is no water source here, so I have to plan on some wells so everyone can have some water... It might be part of the constabulary's responsibility to do a "well check" once in a while... hehe...
I also added in a border and a title--because those things help me feel like it's more like a map. I'm mulling around different types of compass roses in my head, and contemplating what the style of the map itself is going to look like...
Haven't got around to any type of "ground layer" yet, but there's going to be a lot of shading and detail coming, including some suggestion of fields. And a big cliff on the western side. I'm also planning a "details" layer that will involve barrels and miscellaneous things to flesh out each area and give the locales some personality.
Anyway, here's the latest step. More soon.
Westbridge-Step4.jpg
Last edited by Coreyartus; 07-22-2015 at 06:13 AM.
Added the beginnings of the cliff. Also adjusted the background. Some other minor details.
Westbridge-Step5a.jpg
Wow, this is looking great! I really like the new green background. It looks so much nicer than the previous background and gives a lovely textured feel to everything. I guess your cliff isn't finished yet? I sorta feel like it needs some more line work, though it's off to a good start.
Overall, this is a really attractive map and I'm interested to see what you do next.
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
Thanks, ChickPea! I finished up the cliff today, and added a compass rose and scale. Still much more to do. But it's getting there!
Westbridge-Step6.jpg
Blocked in some fields and gardens, but it's just the beginning. the compositional balance is off as a result, but I'm going to be doing more with the area up on the cliff to balance it all out. Plus I have a lot more to do on the fields. But it's coming along.
Westbridge-Step7.jpg
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