First map : Les îles de Kalte

[Warlin]

For my first wip, i want to show you my first attempt using procreate on iPad.
It's a map of the Kalte isles, a very small part of the Djaïa's world. There is a lot of things to be finish and for what i expect some advices :
- Inland sea borders,
- Cities and settlements forms and locations,
- Names (fonts and color, size...)
All comments and advices are welcome.

[soggymuse]

IPAD?! Are you kidding me?! I can't wait to see how this winds up. They keep saying iPad is the way of the future for art, but I wouldn't want to try drawing a map on mine. (Although, I guess you're using a stylus rather than your finger? That probably makes it like drawing with a graphics tablet, huh?)

Well, I don't know anything about Procreate so I don't know what limitations the programme has. And I'm not entirely sure what you mean with your list of requested advice, but so far so good. The mountains look great to me. There's a few spots of river that either break off from what looks like lakes or that are broken in several places, which doesn't quite make sense, so I'd suggest taking a look at the thread about how rivers work (it's around here somewhere, not sure where). Also, the tree-tops inside of the coniferous/pine forests kind of look like tiny mountain ranges, so you might want to round them off or shrink them down a bit. The other trees look great, though, and I like how you've woven them around the hills.

People tend to settle where there's fresh water and natural transportation routes, so frequently in the forks/bends of rivers. Unless your world is populated by winged species or people who can magically/technologically manipulate rock and stone, they also tend not to settle on the top/sides of mountains, so it's usually best to put your cities and towns on flat land. That said, miners often settle at the foot of mountains/hills or a little way up. And if they know how to build boats for fishing and sailing, there'll be a lot of port towns on the coastline, especially near rivers, bays, and estuaries. Most people don't settle on marsh or swamp land, or regions that flood, but there are historical exceptions such as Egyptians along the Nile where farmers relied on annual flooding to rejuvenate the soil, and there are places in Southern USA with stilt houses in the bayou so you could possibly populate your marshes/swamps if you can explain how they survive there.

Basically, settlements need three things: fresh water, food, and building materials. Security is at the top of the list of priorities for any settlement, too, but can be artificially built as long as the first three things are present.

[Warlin]

I've never use tablet, and yes i'm not drawing with my fingers . In the top of the map, i try to figure glacials lakes, similar to those in the north of scotland. Tanks for the explanations.

[Chick]

That's some really nice mountains and forests and an excellent coastline! You even got the rivers right (although some of the lakes should probably be connected with rivers)! Really good start on this map.

For ideas about how to finish it, I suggest you to go the Gallery (link at top of this page) and just look at a lot of maps. Find ones you like and then look at the details of how they were done. Eventually you'll find styles and techniques you want to use as you develop your own.

Have some rep for a very fine first map post!

[Durakken]

Tablets with styluses that respond quickly and accurately should be best for art outside of a direct mind link or AR projected imagery so its not surprising to see people start using tablets for art...

Anyways my 2 gripes with what you've done is 1) some of the features look, to me, darker than others of the same type of feature and 2) the features are done in a 3/4 top view while the land is directory top-down which can throw people if they notice.

Sent from my RCT6773W22B using Tapatalk

[Warlin]

I use my iPad for the beginning of the creation of the map, but I plan to go under gimp for further work (especially for names). I am more comfortable with the mouse to draw even if the reaction time is not top. For this project, I will make with, even evolve into a tablet later.
In terms of 3/4 perspective and coasts top view, well seen. I work with a simplified sub-layer map with flat colors. I will have to take account of this design error for my next map, thank you. I'll have to homogenize the grayscale of mountains and forests.
I will complete the rivers to supply glacial lakes and link all to the different seas.

[Ilanthar]

An excellent start so far. Your forests and swamps are particularly well done. Your mountains are a bit too curvy too my taste maybe (I confess I like spiky ones). Are you going to color and/or texture it?
Looking forward to your next steps.

[Warlin]

Thanks for the feedback.
I pursued the forests and mountains. I'll draw the coasts later to improve the integration of rivers and distinguish them from lakes .
For now, I try to add texture and color (It was actually the next step Ilanthar) but I have difficulty controlling the color palette. This is my last try.

[Warlin]

Hello there ! I have finished the tracks, and started coloring. I find it hard to visualize the final result. What will give the colors after the application of the texture ? I plan to give texture to the media (old paper, or canvas) last.
And then I had in mind what made me noticed Durraken for quite a time without being able to make abstraction. I have therefore revised the perspective by cheating a little bit with procreate (horizontal distortion and resizing).
The result satisfies me, even if he asks me a little bit more work. Next step : finalize the colouring of the land before starting the sea.

[Warlin]

Coloring worries and surprises from the computer (using gimp) to the tablet. The result to be tweaked by adjusting the color balance and saturation. I really struggled with the colors!