WIP: Falmardor island

[Barek333]

I decided to further work/train with Krita and hand drawn color maps in the direction of the last map I posted here.

For my next project I will use a map I made some time ago for a D&D setting using brushes I found here and the artistically challenged tutorial and remake it in this style while hopefully improving. I will post most of the steps here for public scrutiny, comments and suggestions.

Here is the old map:
falmardor_map.png

And the first step of making the new map: I drew in the coastline and the river as one and am using a background made from several layers and textures in GIMP.
Falmardor_wip_1.jpeg

[Barek333]

Just a bit of clarification on the first post. The background was made with a background basic color layer and three overlay layers: randomized desaturated plasma layer 100% opacity, two pattern layers(50-70% opacity) for which the patterns( a concrete one and wooden one) i found in one of the many free textures packs available online. Side note, concrete and wet/moldy wall textures can do wonders. Those two layers were also slightly bumped and one of them had the gimp canvas effect added. Usually I also implement a grungy brush on a fourth overlay layer for some darker spots but this time I wanted to leave such a light paper texture.

Ok, now to the next update. After drawing the coastline+river layer I did the line work for three additional layers. Mountains, hills and forest. I am trying out a mountain style similar to the line -minimalist approach Max sometimes uses and since this is a forest heavy map I needed to somehow draw it around some hills without it looking totally awful. So far I am happier with the results than I thought I would be..yay.

Falmardor_wip_2.jpeg

So there, comment, criticize, suggest, anything is welcome and appreciated. Next update will hopefully be on Friday

Cheers,
Barek

[Romeinoneday]

I love how it looks! I can't wait to see what you do next.

[Barek333]

Here is the next update

I made two layers for the sea color: multiply for the main and a normal for the lighter color around the land. Additional layer will follow later to add a darker blue color to represent the deeper seas.

Then I made 4 layers for mountain color: Three overlay ones and one color one. Since my background is very bright I needed more layers than usual to manage the shading properly. So the first layer was for the baseline black background, second one was to make the shaded part darker and the light part lighter, third was the color one to add the blue/grey color and finally another overlay for final shades.

Afterwards I did three layers for the hill color: This time I tried a normal layer to add some darker color to the background so I wouldn't need so many overlays and it worked. The two overlays were one for light and overall shade and the second one was for the additional shade on the dark side.

And here I'll probably stop for today. Tomorrow the land, forests and the final sea layer will come.

Please comment, suggest, criticize, whatever you wish it will be appreciated!

Cheers,
Barek

Falmardor_wip_3.jpeg

[Chick]

The mountain colors good great! For me, there is too much green in the sea, but I do like having the two colors to show the shallows and the deeps. Keep going, you have the makings of a really nice map here

[Abu Lafia]

Great work so far Barek! I agree with chick on the coloring, very nice.
I somehow missed this thread before...and the Savion di Darastix one too it seems... It's always nice to read a detailed step by step process like this. Good to hear you are happy with Krita. I also switched over to it for the same reason, it just felt better with the tablet. But in the meantime i switched back to gimp, because i finally figured out to customize the brush dynamics . But the main reason was, i had some trouble with the selection tool in Krita i couldn't fix and ofc the much broader palette of filters/functions in gimp to make textured backgrounds like you did for example. With bigger projects it's pretty ennerving to export the work from one program to the other just for some tweaks (at least if it takes hours to load). Well, who knows, maybe i'll come back to Krita soon... What were the troubles you had with the tablet and gimp? I'd like to help where i can!

[Polkadot]

Love how it's coming along and appreciate that you're posting your process as well!

The colouring on the mountains looks great! A few small things I noticed is that on the peaks of some mountains, there is a little bit extra of one of the lines. (The easiest place to point out is in the northern range, the third mountain from the bottom on the right side) Also, the beginning tips of the rivers are missing their water.

The forests by the northern mountains are throwing me off a little bit too. I think it's the way they approach the mountains doesn't quite work; the forests are saying top-down view, but the mountains and hills are telling me otherwise. Maybe once you add the shading and if you are adding ground shadows/tree trunks it will help make it look less top-down.

Looks great though and I can't wait to see your next update!

[snodsy]

Love it looks great, pleasant to look at, I like the color palette alot. Hills maybe a bit vibrant right now, but wait and see. This has the makings of a very nice map!

[Barek333]

First of all thank you guys for the wonderful comments and suggestions. This made my evening

Chick I agree about the sea but as I wrote there should be another layer coming and it should cover those regions with a darker blue color..at least in theory. We will see how it turns out.

Abu, uff..i spent hours upon hours with it. (the tablet problem) Most of the things I sorted out following every possible troubleshooting guide I found. But my biggest problem still stands, and that is that when I draw my brushes suddenly start to rapidly change between two styles..and also after like 15+ minutes of drawing the cursor starts lagging behind my strokes. So for me it isnt a problem to do the lettering and the borders in GIMP and the rest in krita since time efficiency isnt something I will concern myself with for the next few years I guess..waaay down on the priorities list of becoming a good map maker But ofc any help is welcome.

Polkadot, yes the forest I'll try to solve with shading because I want to try to do it without using little black tree trunks, and the rivers I am aware of, will correct them later

Cheers,
Barek

[Chick]

What tablet are you using? I have a similar problem with my Wacom, and I have to periodically reset it, especially after I reboot. I've talked to the support and they told me, yes, you have to reset it after every reboot. I find that hard to believe, and it will probably keep me from ever buying another Wacom.