Nostapyrax

[Wingshaw]

Yep. And your technique looks good, although I think there's a chance the detail will get lost when other features start getting added.

THW

[fifty]

yeah I know.. One thing I definitely struggle with as an amateur is knowing what sort of scale to create my maps.

On the one hand I want to do really big maps that are like a zillion pixels wide and that you can zoom into to see more and more detail (assuming I had the patience for such a task),
But on the other hand having recently used the world map I created in an RPG publication, I realise that "what is visible at A3" is a equally important measure?

and I won't bore you with the "why does my map look really dark when printed" discussion and realisation that i had after doing this the first time!!

[fifty]

Made the comb-contour a bit more robust on the next ridge and added a shadow.

Looks a lot better now I think.

ridge2.JPG

I'll re-do the first one when I've finished all the others (just in case I change my mind again!)

[Ilanthar]

It works for me, I would just remove the cracks that pass the bottom line. Excellent and subtle work on the shadows.

[fifty]

Done the comb-contour lines around the large hill and a bit of detail at the river edge on the far right of the map just to see how it went.

I've also coloured in the water, I don't actually know if I'm going to go colour or not at this point, I was just playing about to see what it might look like.
What do you guys think?

Nostapyrax1.4.jpg river1.JPG

[fifty]

Done a bit of shadow from the large hill, some more comb-contouring and the 1st pass on the cliff edge and beaches.. not sure how these will develop though.
Nostapyrax2.0.jpg

[Wingshaw]

This is looking good, fifty. I like the river edge detail a lot. I also think the shadows on the large hill are well-done, and the colour of the water is better now.

One thing to point out, perhaps, is that the style of contours you're using implies hills with steep, cliff-like edges, rather than gently curved hills. That might be what you are going for, of course. Just food for thought.

THW

[fifty]

Hmm yep I take your point THW, I was going for hard ridges with a man-flattened landscaped hill.. mostly because this is sort of what I drew originally.

That said .. I might try a smoothly rising hill, or maybe some combination of the two.

Not sure my skill is up to a convincing rendition of this though!!

[fifty]

Well I've tried a few things on the sloping hill thing, several looked horrible and a couple more or less seemed to work.

I finally went with this:

Nostapyrax4.0.jpg

I think it kinda works? - also decided me on going colour whilst I was trying different things!

[fifty]

Just been mucking about trying out a few quick ideas on the main city castle.

WitanKeep test1.JPG

This is probably the style I'll go for in terms of buildings - with the finished version being a lot more, err.. finished!!!