Village of Fuervald

[J.Edward]

ah ah!! chimneys!!

Great work John, I love al the tiny details! the carriage traces, the flowers, and the dotted arrows to show underpasses!!
I agree, v2 text blends better

Thanks Tom
I wasn't sure about the dotted underpasses but I did want to try something so people knew that was what they were.
The flowers were for Larb. She had done some in one of her maps that I commented on and I wanted to include some in more of my maps.

Looks great - you seem to have a thing for circular layouts! Reminds me I need to actually get some stuff done/finished.

Yeah, I realized when sketching it that I was sort of 'Sagemounding' it a bit.
It was more to do that central round building - like the one at top in Haerlech. It's fun to do the round roof lines but a pain to do the shadows.
nd yes - need more new Larb maps. It's been a while. I feel like something is missing in my life
Oh, and like I said to Tom - the flowers were a nod to you - you remind me to include more flowers in my scenes.

As I mentioned on DA, I think you've got a nice attractive style here with just the right amount of detail for the objectives you set. I can't offer any advice on how to speed up your work-flow since I myself have exactly the same problem as you. My town maps take entirely too long to create, something which I hope to work on in the near future. Very nice job on this, sorry I can't rep you just now.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

Ah yes, it is the classic quandary - how to shorten the time of city mapping to make it more cost effective.
It's still a problem. I have some work coming up with larger cities and I really need to find a way to reduce that time requirement.
People see Menzheim and Haerlech and they're like can we do that? And I think - sure, if you can afford to pay for that many hours.
Which is usually no. So yes, must find faster ways that don't compromise too much.
This was a good test. Helped me see where my time is spent most - line work. Well, and maybe shading.

[- Max -]

Great work J. And true, time is always the hard part for city maps hence most people can't afford commissionning detailed ones :/

[J.Edward]

Great work J. And true, time is always the hard part for city maps hence most people can't afford commissionning detailed ones :/

Yep. There are a fair number of times where an eager client turns me down when they hear the cost for what they want.
I'd love to offer more for less but it's just not feasible, considering the time investment.
I try to find compromises - maybe less detail or not doing shadow, but then their expectations are lowered. It's a problem, to be sure.

[DanielHasenbos]

Great work J. It amazes me how fast you have done this map. And you have a website too I see. It looks great!

-Dan

[- Max -]

Yep. There are a fair number of times where an eager client turns me down when they hear the cost for what they want.
I'd love to offer more for less but it's just not feasible, considering the time investment.
I try to find compromises - maybe less detail or not doing shadow, but then their expectations are lowered. It's a problem, to be sure.

I feel exactly the same.

[Corilliant]

I love the style you use for these small maps. Larb is right; that circular layout seems prevalent in your better worlds

[Larb]

I love flowers - my favourite flower is the bluebell, but I'm very fond of common flowers too - even dandelions. (and you can make wine from those by the way...) So it has always seemed natural for me to add them in. I also think they add extra subtle colour to a map too but mostly I like them.

Ah yes, it is the classic quandary - how to shorten the time of city mapping to make it more cost effective.
It's still a problem. I have some work coming up with larger cities and I really need to find a way to reduce that time requirement.
People see Menzheim and Haerlech and they're like can we do that? And I think - sure, if you can afford to pay for that many hours.
Which is usually no. So yes, must find faster ways that don't compromise too much.

I see this a lot particularly from people who are all "I want a village/town/city map that looks schleyish/like whatever but that I can do/can be done quickly". I just don't think you can do them quickly outside of plopping down predrawn buildings and things. It's one of the reasons I love settlement maps so much - they are more intimate with great room for characterful features, but are obviously more work as a result. Sure anyone can do them (and I encourage everyone to give them a try!) but there is a lot of time and effort involved. My own process is pretty refined but it still takes ages. So the cost should reflect that if you're going for the level of detail as in this map.

[Abu Lafia]

MercatorSagemounding.jpg

Great job John! Can't get enough of your city maps, so it's good to hear you try to figure out a way to make even more...

[Tonnichiwa]

Even using a program like Campaign Cartographer that uses pre made buildings can take quite a while to make a city if you are looking for one to be made well (ask Clercon about that )

From my experience, making cities is the most time consuming style of map to make, especially when people always seem to want you to put in very specific looking buildings and have the streets laid out a certain way. Then there is the problem of rivers. How do you make the city fit along the waterway, yet still get it too look like the vision the person who commissioned the map wants it to look, because often they have no idea what it should really look like. They always seem to want extra weird things to be happening near the water, like extravagant city/waterfall interactions, and weird, elven like structures near the water that defy the laws of physics, even though the rest of the city might be an Italian theme.

[tilt]

Beautiful map once again. Love all the small details that fills is and makes it whole. And like the underpass arrows as well it is a map after all And thanks for the description of your work - always interesting to see how peoples process are