Map of Greece (around 5th century BCE)

[BlindBlake]

Here is a map of greece, well, a start at least, which I intend now to enhance with Photoshop. It's made with pencil on A3 paper (29.7 x 42cm).
My drawing skills are not that great, the main problem is I lack consistency. For instance, I started the edge with Medusa's head on the Aegis (Athena and Zeus' shield on the bottom center) and drew the olive trees with all the other god's attributes from bottom right to bottom left. And I have to say, I was really happy at first, but then I started drawing wider tree branches and smaller leaves... And in the end, olive trees don't look the same all around the map, too bad... Also, the same thing can be noticed for the seas strokes :'(

But anyway, I still want to finish that one, so I start a WIP thread for you to comment as you want and help me build the map on those uneven foundations. Thanks in advance!

Greece1.jpg

PS : I only have a A4 scanner, so I had to scan the sheet 4 times and reconstruct it in Photoshop, thus some artefacts of the operation might still be visible.

[Lyrillies]

That looks lovely!
And honestly, I think the variations in the olive tress give the map a lot of life. It makes it more dynamic than it would be if everything was exactly the same. I really like the olive branches the way they are. I do see what you mean with the sea strokes, but maybe here you can even it out a bit with careful use of colour? I don't know in which direction you want to go with this, but I think it's a great foundation for a lovely map and I'm excited to see what you will do with it!

[BlindBlake]

That looks lovely!
And honestly, I think the variations in the olive tress give the map a lot of life. It makes it more dynamic than it would be if everything was exactly the same. I really like the olive branches the way they are. I do see what you mean with the sea strokes, but maybe here you can even it out a bit with careful use of colour? I don't know in which direction you want to go with this, but I think it's a great foundation for a lovely map and I'm excited to see what you will do with it!

Thanks a lot, this is very nice of you. I will colour and shade the map and I'll try to even it out.

[Ilanthar]

Very nice work ! The frame is full of promises.

[BlindBlake]

Here's an update with some colours. I'm not really sur about some of them, mainly the anvil and the helmet's panache which kind of pop out of the frame.
Also, I'd like your opinion on how to apply some kind of shading, I tried some photoshop layer effects with beveling and that sort of things, but the output looked odd as it didn't fit with the hand drawn style... So, if you have any advices or tutorials you know about, I'd be thankful if you could direct me

Any comments are welcome as well!

Grèce_WIP.jpg

[snodsy]

Nice job, really like the layout. Bevel and emboss hardly ever looks good on hand drawn maps, as you stated. The nice thing about the bevel and emboss feature though, is to use it as a guide - then add shadow and highlight to the elements. Look forward to this one, went to Santorini, Paros, and Athens for my honeymoon, many moons ago.

Maybe add some ships, this was a major element at this time.

[BlindBlake]

Thanks! I'll try to use them as guide, that can be a good way to shade in a believable way. I wanted to add some greek triremes in the Ionian sea and some phenician ships further east but I need to learn how to draw them first
I sadly never went to Greece but probably one day. One never knows, do one?

[noachian]

This is really beautiful! Medusa is my favorite part!

[BlindBlake]

This is really beautiful! Medusa is my favorite part!

Thank you noachian, I'm really proud of her

----------

Here's a quick update, nothing major there, I just want to know if you have any comments on the render. I just made some experiments on the Peloponnesian part of the map (relief and forest) and I want to know how I could make it better. Don't mind all the toponyms, they are just here because I couldn't help myself from placing them, but the're not in their final position.
I've experimented some brush and I found that airbrush with grain works great with shading, problem is I still don't have a graphic tablet, so it's kind of a pain to draw with the mouse... I'll probably work on that later, when I'm decided to buy one.

Thanks in advance!

Greece3.jpg

[BlindBlake]

Here's an other update with topographic features, main regions, islands and seas toponyms. Now I need to add cities and probably some more physical features (mounts, gulfs, etc.) but I don't know if it'll fit...
For those interested, fonts used are : JSL Ancient and Dominican. Both can be found on Dafont.com

Greece4.jpg