Reply With QuoteI'm likin this one. You need some hills around the mountains and then on to whatever is next. I like how you blurred the ruins while the towns stay sharp...cool idea. Dig the chasm too.
Okey Dokey, I put on the labels and tried to do something about the mountain color. With all of the transparency levels and my inability to see green from brown, I can't really tell if I got it.
###LATEST WIP###
Laramis2.jpg
I'm likin this one. You need some hills around the mountains and then on to whatever is next. I like how you blurred the ruins while the towns stay sharp...cool idea. Dig the chasm too.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
I've been thinking about hills and snowcaps too. My problem with noise is the tendency for hills based on noise to look a bit like a bit of a rash instead of something natural. I'll have to experiment.
Meanwhile, I'm going to send this off to Greg as there are some names of towns and such that he'll need to supply to finish up the labeling. I'm going to suggest he name more of the water bodies too.
Thanks for all your help so far everyone.
###LATEST WIP###
Laramis2.jpg
That is very nice. Looks very lush and believable to me. At first I was thinking it looked a little odd without terrain variations like deserts and such, almost too much green - but then i realized that was one of the things I liked about it. And with the scale, there's no reason or it not to have the same climate all over
Woot! I'd rep, but I gave out for something else recently it appears...
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"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Yep, you made some great improvements.
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Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
I'm with Ascension about needing some foothills around your mountains, but this is looking quite nice.
For snowcaps you can try (on a new layer) using a small, low opacity/flow air brush and just kind of dot the peaks of your mountains.
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I've added some hills and snowcaps. I hope I wasn't too heavy-handed with the hills, but I can't really "see" the color as I'm laying them down. The snow is a bit different so hopefully I did okay.
So at this point I'm "done" pending suggestions from you guys and any change requests from Greg. We're probably a good six months to a year from using the map, so I have the time needed to make any changes that sound worthwhile.
###LATEST WIP###
Laramis2.jpg
Hey, I think this is coming along pretty well. Here's what I think:
The mountain style looks good. The mountain shape almost looks good, but it's too linear and uniform. Make some offshoots, and stop trying to make it too realistic. This is fantasy, remember! Make it interesting, and make the mountain range warp and twist and go into crazy places. Let loose! Spray them mountains everywhere! (ish.)
I know you don't have the freedom to make huge changes to the original design, but I think you can get away with making moderate changes to the mountain shape.
For what you've got, though, calling the main range "The Spine" is awesome. Anyway, here's what I mean:
Also, your landmass shape is super duper. But shouldn't the mountains correspond (a little bit, at least) with the landmass? They seem too arbitrary and a little unbalanced. In order to make The Spine look like more of a spine than a massive mountain range, how about you add some balance to the other mountains in order to make them even less spiny?
Even if you don't change the contour of The Spine, change your other mountains to balance them.
To sum: making your other mountains crazy will make The Spine more spiny.
Just a suggestion, though. Break loose!
Edit: Just looked at your lastest ver that you posted while I was posting. It is good. I ought to scrap this post... don't bother changing what you have.
Last edited by Pank.HQ; 08-31-2009 at 07:19 PM.
Your suggestions are excellent Pank.HQ. My first impulse when I started this map some time ago was to "improve" on it by using my greater understanding of the physical realities of earth and water to create a model more in tune with how things work in the real world. That is how I started, and someone, I don't even remember who, called me to task for it.
Again, I don't remember who it was, and it doesn't matter. What they told me was true. Greg plopped down some mountains here and forests there and whatever worked in his imagination. He asked me to make his map look "cool" like mine do, but it was still his map. I really gave that a lot of thought, and in the end, I decided that remaining true to the author's vision was more important (not to mention guaranteed to increase their sense of ownership) than getting things "right".
Now I don't spurn science and common sense. Quite the opposite. I love learning about how things work and every bit of commentary I get, I seriously think about. Even the stuff that stings at first, I resist the urge to lash out defensively and wait until the sting abates so that I can accept the criticism in the spirit in which it was intended.
So your suggestions are both gratefully received, and at the same time will not change this map. I'm not going to suggest that I haven't strayed a bit here and there from the original, but it was surprising how little. Of course it didn't hurt to have the original superimposed over my recreation whenever I felt a bit too rambunctious.
Thank you for the rep!
Laramis, before and after:
LaramisBeforeAndAfter.jpg
You know...that overlay is kind of cool looking. It gives it that hand-drawn feel but with the realistic flavoring.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
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