Drawing nice mountains

[Ptakub]

There are some tutorials on drawing mountains, but none of them leads straight to the effect we can see in many, many works, like in map of Hyborian Age, Telduria or Yar-Zun (to just note the three I found on the first page without searching). These don't look actually hard to do, have some kind of three-quarters view and aren't meant to be realistic in proportions, just very aesthetic - you can clearly see important tops and overall lines of the ridges. But I didn't find anything about drawing those, so I tried to figure out.

And now I wonder - what's more effective in the long run - to start from the mountains and add ridges or to start from the ridges and then draw mountains to them?
It may sound unclear, so I created an image.

mountains.jpg

Option 2 looked much better when I was doing it on paper than here. But it usually gives more sense of the mountain line, while option 1 tends to visualise them as seen from side, doesn't really show connection between mountains very well.

So, what do you think, people? What, from your experiences, is better?

[Chick]

You might also take a look at this thread: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=28985

and this website: http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2012/03...awn-mountains/

[xpian]

The links that Chick provided are good.

I also recently created several tutorials on mountains here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=32668

You might find "Basic Mountain" and "Basic Connected Ranges" useful.

[Ptakub]

Thank you, people, these are some very good tips and tutorials. I'm stuck with the coastline and overall plan now, but I can't wait until I can use those in action. : ]

[darcycardinal]

Thank you, people, these are some very good tips and tutorials. I'm stuck with the coastline and overall plan now, but I can't wait until I can use those in action. : ]

Keep us updated Ptakub Want to see your improvments!

Darcy

[Chick]

The links that Chick provided are good.

I also recently created several tutorials on mountains here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=32668

You might find "Basic Mountain" and "Basic Connected Ranges" useful.

Sorry, xpian, I forgot about those! Yes, they are Excellent with a capital E