Ethran: Merelan City

[- JO -]

It's looking great ! Each time you add buildings and tracks, it's more beautiful ! Looking forward for the whole city...
For the shadows, it's difficult to say, because I think it will change a lot when the buildings will be there. For now, it looks good

[Mouse]

Thank you Jo

I'm going to leave the topography elements alone for a bit and bash on with the buildings. Quite apart from them I need to add a ton of boats - everywhere. Being an island city dependent on the sea for 70% of its food supply, I think it will have to veritably bristle with fishing boats of all different kinds - trawlers, line fishing boats, scallopers, dredgers, tugs... and all their nets and bits and pieces lying around the shoreline... although there's a bit of a snag to that aspect, in that I haven't drawn any yet to import them as supplements to the normal CC3/CSUAC/Dundjinni stock! LOL.

Time to get my good old fashioned sketch book out and go down to the harbour to see what's around for a bit of inspiration. Pity I can't use photographs. We don't have any of those nice old wooden boats any more. They're all metal and modern! (Unless you count all the visiting tall ships, but I can hardly turn one of them into a fishing vessel!)

EDIT: Mark just pointed me in the right direction to find more boats in the Dundjinni collection - already installed, so I can see myself having a fun time today. I love boats!

[- JO -]

Have fun, then !
Bring back a lot of fishes !

[Mouse]

Only paper ones, to be sure. Mark has just shown me where I already have quite a big stash of relevant objects, so I'll be dotting them around the map today.

Mind you, if there are any real line boats going out from Weymouth harbour today I might just see if I can cadge a ride and get some fresh salt air in my lungs.

Will mackerel do?

[snodsy]

Great job on this mouse, the texture on the hills are really, only thing I noticed was the roads look more like topo lines, maybe a little thicker with a small outer glow? Great job!!

[Mouse]

Thank you snodsy

About those very pristine white paths of mine... Hmm. Yes, they do look a bit 'glowy' don't they. I don't think it helps that there are so many of them, nor that they are so bright now I've dimmed down the land colours. There's too much contrast. I think I shall also have to dim down the paths so they don't look quite so much like an endless magic carpet of fairy lights!

[Mouse]

Version 22

This is going to be the last 'daily' post on the Merelan City map. I have a heavy real life commitment to bear as of this morning, but I won't be leaving any map unfinished. They will all get done, just not as quickly as before. I'm hoping on 2 new versions of MC a week after this one.

Changes to this version from the last: a whole new underwater sea scape (which started with a bunch of rocks at Isk Point and just got thoroughly carried away!), a return to the orange marsh (I got fed up with everything being green and fawn), another re-scaling operation back to smaller buildings, an adjustment to the path brightness to stop them glowing quite so much on the new darker grass, and a clearing of the northern marina area, ready for a greater variety of boats, some of which will be the ones that Jo drew for his Alycrau map (thank you so much for those Jo, they're beautiful).

I promise I will try to get more than 1/4 of the rest of the city sorted out before I post again! LOL

[- JO -]

Nice touches ! The new underwater seascape looks fine ! I still like the way this island is becoming alive each time you put buildings and paths on it : what we see now is full of promises ! Looking forward to the next WIP !

You're welcome for the boats, no need to mention it...

I wish you well !

[Mouse]

Thank you, Jo. I will still be around keeping an eye on things, but I just won't have as much time to do the drawing work

As for the boats - why shouldn't I thank you. They really are very beautiful, and it is such a pity that they will look so tiny on the MC map, due to the scale

.

EDIT: Things to do -

Thicken the paths a fraction to reduce the contour line effect and make the mainland paths less "spider web - thread-like".

Add new parts of the city, and stop fiddling with what's already there!

Draw geodesic dome for the temple, decide the actual layout (taking account of the story and the need for flying buttresses and a curved glass gallery/museum) and set the boundary wall for the Sayer compound on the top of the island.

EDIT2: Oh yes - I only just remembered I meant to say something about it when I uploaded the last WIP - Thank you for your much earlier suggestion about taking the glow off the base land layer, Jo. It worked beautifully once I added the shingle and the rocks. I now have an island that sits nicely on the surface of the planet, instead of one that appears to be slightly floaty in places!

Thank you!

[Mouse]

Version 23

I know! I promised more than 1/4 of the city, but I think all of the roads must count for something... even though I have yet to add the footpaths. I'm a little concerned by the... "round and round and round" nature of the road system, but then, these slopes are steep, and there are some practically vertical 'inclines' if you care to take a vertiginous short cut . These are in massively long flights of steps, but I think it would be too much to try and represent them as such at this scale.

I'm hoping to get the bulk of the buildings in over the weekend, although I know that might be a bit of a tall order!