July 2018 Challenge: Somewhere on Knightswall Road

[Greason Wolfe]

Go Aesh! Go Aesh! You are just all over these challenges, and that is a good thing. As far as this goes, it's looking good so far. I can't offer much help with the grass texture, but hope you get it worked out. To be honest though, what you have right now looks fine to me, fits in stylistically for the most part.

[aeshnidae]

That's gas, I too saw the Umbrella Corp as having set up on the outskirts of the village Don't change it Aesh, have them conduct experiments that go horribly wrong!

It's looking great btw

Thanks, Weery! If I leave it red and white, my D&D campaign might have a whole new twist. But we've already fought a zombie army, so it'd fit right in!

Go Aesh! Go Aesh! You are just all over these challenges, and that is a good thing. As far as this goes, it's looking good so far. I can't offer much help with the grass texture, but hope you get it worked out. To be honest though, what you have right now looks fine to me, fits in stylistically for the most part.

Thank you! I'm using a lot of the challenges to try out new styles and learn new techniques, which has been surprisingly fun. Plus mapping relaxes my brain and having a deadline forces me to put work and chores aside and relax.

I've updated a bunch of stuff but still have a bunch more to do. I mostly played around with the grass texture, colored the houses, and improved the pond and river details. The hills need a ton of work - I have to add in the brown and fix the line work (still in very draft form).

I still have the old version of the grass saved and may fiddle around with adding it back at super low opacity. I like the feel of the hills better on the old version, but I may feel differently after I add the brown.

### Latest WIP ###
Hillside v4 (sm).jpg

[AzureWings]

I like how detailed and individualized all the different sorts of buildings in the town are. It really gives it the feel of a place for adventurers to explore, with interesting interactions with NPCs and side-quests grand and petty. I'm not too familiar with the Biohazard/RE series but I think the Umbrella logo has fewer divisions than your market tent - so the lovely village of Hillside might have a reprieve... at least from that threat! Now, as for what's really in those barrels in the castle's cellars...

The grass texture now feels a lot smoother, or perhaps 'airier'? As it is I'm not sure which I'd call nicer (just in my own opinion of course), but my two cents on the matter are that using this version as a jumping-off point might lead you to a better result than the old version in the end. This version's grass texture and building coloration etc. match up nicely in terms of the palette and level of intensity; it all feels nicely congruous. The old version also had that sort of match, but that was with the buildings uncolored; I'm not as certain that the old grass texture would mesh so nicely with the building colors you have now (my thought is that the old texture would feel too much less vibrant than the buildings).

[MistyBeee]

It's a good job you made on harmonizing the linework, Aeshnidae ! And I really love the new water details !
However, I must say your grass is really too blurry for my taste in this version : the previous one maybe needed a little more work, but I have the feeling you lost some authenticity here (sorry, sorry !!)

Hope you won't mind if I try to give you an advice, but it's something I learned some years ago when I was more in 'real' digital painting (portraits, animals, landscapes, etc.) and I would have loved to learn earlier : gaussian blur and soft brushes are false friends in many situation and should always be used cautiously because they make things always "too perfect to be real", so really artificial (maybe have a look to #9 here). I learned hardly the virtues of a digital painting method called "blending", which helps to create "alive" textured gradients. And now I just hope you're not hating me

[Tenia]

For someone who never did top-down building maps, it is excellent ! I particulary like also the inset, nice towers ! The first version of the ground needed polish maye be but perhaps you went too far with the blurring ?

[aeshnidae]

I like how detailed and individualized all the different sorts of buildings in the town are. It really gives it the feel of a place for adventurers to explore, with interesting interactions with NPCs and side-quests grand and petty. I'm not too familiar with the Biohazard/RE series but I think the Umbrella logo has fewer divisions than your market tent - so the lovely village of Hillside might have a reprieve... at least from that threat! Now, as for what's really in those barrels in the castle's cellars...

The grass texture now feels a lot smoother, or perhaps 'airier'? As it is I'm not sure which I'd call nicer (just in my own opinion of course), but my two cents on the matter are that using this version as a jumping-off point might lead you to a better result than the old version in the end. This version's grass texture and building coloration etc. match up nicely in terms of the palette and level of intensity; it all feels nicely congruous. The old version also had that sort of match, but that was with the buildings uncolored; I'm not as certain that the old grass texture would mesh so nicely with the building colors you have now (my thought is that the old texture would feel too much less vibrant than the buildings).

Thanks, AzureWings! I'm glad you feel like it's a good place for adventuring and meeting NPCs. That's exactly what I'm going for, since I'll be using this in my D&D game! And I'm sure those NPCs are breathing a sigh of relief at not having to worry about the release of a terrible virus by an evil corporation.

I still need to play around with the grass, but at least it's all Photoshop layers.

It's a good job you made on harmonizing the linework, Aeshnidae ! And I really love the new water details !
However, I must say your grass is really too blurry for my taste in this version : the previous one maybe needed a little more work, but I have the feeling you lost some authenticity here (sorry, sorry !!)

Hope you won't mind if I try to give you an advice, but it's something I learned some years ago when I was more in 'real' digital painting (portraits, animals, landscapes, etc.) and I would have loved to learn earlier : gaussian blur and soft brushes are false friends in many situation and should always be used cautiously because they make things always "too perfect to be real", so really artificial (maybe have a look to #9 here). I learned hardly the virtues of a digital painting method called "blending", which helps to create "alive" textured gradients. And now I just hope you're not hating me

I am super-duper happy to take any and all advice, and MistyBeee that goes double (or triple, or quadruple) for advice from amazing artists such as yourself! I have zero background in art; I was deemed helplessly unartistic by art teachers in middle school and high school, so I was never taught even the basics. I've been trying to learn as I go, from books and from studying Guild maps. I should spend some more time watching YouTube videos about technique, so I appreciate the link to the digital blending video. And #9 on the list is incredibly helpful. I still have my original grass layer, plus a version of it where I used Guassian blur, plus this new version, and I don't mind starting the grass from scratch again.

For someone who never did top-down building maps, it is excellent ! I particulary like also the inset, nice towers ! The first version of the ground needed polish maye be but perhaps you went too far with the blurring ?

Thanks, Tenia! I've done top-down maps but never with grass texture or hills, and I think I've only once colored any roofs. I'm glad you like the inset; I'm very happy with it. While it's not as good as some others could do, I can see I'm improving at drawing basic buildings. I'll keep working on the ground/grass. This version is totally separate from the first one; I did work on blurring the first version but it didn't look right so I went with a fresh start. I think I'll do another fresh start after watching the video that MistyBee posted. I can always return to the first two versions if I decide they're salvageable.

[aeshnidae]

Okay, I started from scratch with the grass, so here's version 3. I wanted to have more browns and rough it up, which I did by playing around with the brush color and shape dynamics and also by adding a layer of parchment for some texture. Thoughts?

Other additions: new line work for the hills, although I think it still needs some cleaning up; second draft of the farms; drop shadow to the trees and buildings (to see how it looked), and the some roof shading.

### Latest WIP ###
Hillside v8 (sm).jpg

[PeriphReal]

Looking good; can't wait to see what else you do with it

Awesome compass rose by the way

[Tonquani]

This is looking fantastic! Much much better effect on the grass. Just me personally, but I would probably try to roughen up the grass just a little bit more.

You may want to look at your layer order too, as the river bank line is on top of the short path between the jetty and adjacent house.

Unbelievable competition this month but this is one of my favourites!

[MistyBeee]

Oooh, congrats for your efforts, Aeshnidae !! The grass is superb now ! (and thanks for not hating me ^^).

*Trying to be hated once again* Maybe the river is too solid ? */Trying to be hated once again*