Manzil, a desert town

[Rochnan]

Hi ARockabillyRhino,

I like putting the European styled houses in a desert environment, as that's a rare thing

There are some real-world locations that you can draw from for inspiration though:
Historical Malta is a nice bridge between Italy and Africa
Likewise, medieval Cyprus places western architecture in a warm climate
And let's not forget Italy's Sardegna has the Piscinas desert

I hope those images/links will help you

[ARockabillyRhino]

Hi again everyone!
Sorry for being so absent while you all have been so nice and helpful! Real world got in the way of my very realistic goal of making maps for 19 hours a day forever.

@SteelGeneral, you are totally correct about the roof colors being... just no good. I'm planning on changing the hue, it was just easier to paint with higher contrast colors.

@Rochnan, those are great links! A lot of the architecture is pretty set in stone at this point, as I have a soft time limit on this map (and I just graduated from stick figures a few months ago!). But they have given me two things: great inspiration for world-building, which I definitely need right now, and a sudden urge to move to Malta, which I also need right now. It's much appreciated friend.

Speaking of, totally not necessary, but if anyone has a quick bit of lore or world-building that they want to add to Manzil, I would love to hear it! Right now it is a tiny fishing/crossroad village in a North Africa themed desert, but it has recently been thrown into the real world and is struggling with its first growth spurt. I will be using this map in a RPG I'm setting up for some friends, so the more inspiration the better!

And here is the update. Updates, rather. First up:

manzil_06_grass.jpg

I added green to the map! I'm colorblind so that was harder than you'd think. The land around the river floods most years, and as such, the soil is fairly fertile, especially the first few hundred yards around the banks. Hopefully my shading gives that impression, but PLEASE help if you know any hot painting tips in that regard. I also spent way too much time shading the road to embed it into the background a little.

Second up:

manzil_07_legend.jpg

Not much changed except I added a legend. Most of the areas I made up while writing, so none of them are set in stone. Just wanted some interesting places for my friends to explore. Keen eyed and nerdy cartographers might recognize the name of some Pathfinder pantheon members, I'm using them because coming up with a bunch of fantasy Gods is way less fun than spending all my time drawing lots of geographically inaccurate homes.

But the real big deal here is that I drew that parchment. Like by hand! Might not seem like much but I'm so dang proud of my little paper buddy there, I'm not kidding when I say it was stick figures last July. Really, getting into map making has been such a cool way to get my creativity out, I wish I had found you guys years ago!

Now that it seems to be wrapping up, here is what I would change, if I had lots more free time:

• It feels a bit empty in some spaces. I'd like to add more ground texture, so that the sand and grass don't look SO painted on. Also a lot more rocks and little barrels etc.
• The map doesn't communicate that the river is giant on the right side of the island, which is a big part of the island's ethos.
• I really wanted to add farms. Most of the farms would be off map along the river, not in the city centre, but just to show that the land is fertile there.
• And yeah, the freaking houses look like log cabins....

Thanks for all the hot tips, and for letting me use this thread as a journal after two long weeks learning photoshop. I probably only have one more update before I need to finalize the map for the game, which will be the new house colors. I'll definitely keep working on it after, if'n I hear any feedback.

See ya soon!