Tornalia (WIP - later stages)

[Scott Livingston]

In these stages, the digital map is starting to take shape. I sketched rough ridgelines along the places where mountain ranges would be, then drew in rivers and lakes in the valleys (tracing those shown on the hand-drawn maps and adding many more), and filled the ocean area with a blue color.

Next, I used an airbrush to draw mountain ranges. The map's light source is to the south and west, so the south and west faces I drew in white. In order for the white to show up, I changed the background color of the landmasses to a light gray. I used a darker gray airbrush for the shadowy north and east faces of the mountains. I then switched to a finer airbrush in order to add detail and sharpen the peaks, and repeated this process several times, using a slightly finer airbrush each time. As you can see, the shape of several mountain ranges (particularly the major chain in the center of the map) changed several times over the course of the project. I wanted to make them look realistic, but still a bit stylized. During this process, I used this tutorial for guidance: http://www.zompist.com/howto2.htm. By the third image in this set, most of the mountain ranges were done, and the central one was on its way.

I improved the ocean around this time as well, using an airbrush to add a second color around the coasts (I highlighted the water area in order to avoid coloring onto the land).

[Scott Livingston]

Next, I turned my attention to coloring and labeling the landmasses. In the first image in this set, you can see a rough color scheme for the main continent (the islands are still gray) and some regional labels. At the same time, I was tweaking the mountains, rivers, and lakes. Note the change (yet again) in the shape of the Elder Mountains, and the addition of the Zarra Sea (a salt lake) to their east.

The colors of the map represent the various ecological and climactic regions. I was influenced by this map of biomes (near the bottom of the page): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome. The colors themselves were inspired by satellite photos and by other maps I found here at the Guild. However, this version of the map is not supposed to be photorealistic...rather, it is a compromise between more realistic-looking and more antique-looking map styles.

The next image has a lot of new labels - almost all of the places named in the original sketches now appear on the digital map, and I created many new names as well. Creating all of this detail for the map has also helped me think of new cultures and societal details.

[Scott Livingston]

In this stage, I completely redid the terrain colors, tweaking the colors themselves and painting the continent and islands with somewhat finer detail. I added another layer for the icecaps, which had simply been left uncolored in the previous version. Now they are colored white (the layer is slightly transparent).

I also added some texture to the map by adding two new layers. One is filled with a cloud texture (Filter>Render>Clouds) and the other with a fibrous texture (Filter>Render>Fibers, horizontally stretched). I learned to do this from several tutorials I found here at the Guild, including this one: http://www.jezelf.co.uk/tutorials_map02.htm. The cloud layer is set at 5% opacity and the fibers layer at 3%. I felt that by using both, the texture looks more natural than it would with one or the other.

Also, I made one more change to the lighting of the Elder Mountains--note the southernmost spur.

In the second image, I added a legend. The scale bar was taken from the hand-drawn one in the original (composite) sketch. I digitally altered it to make it "fit" with the rest of the map. The dark color used for the scale bar and the labels is actually a very dark gray...pure black looked too stark. I also started a compass rose, which I traced from an old map of Brazil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Capitanias.jpg

Finally, I added an additional layer to the map to darken the color of the Arvenwood, a temperate rainforest/redwood forest that is home to the Elves. In a later stage (see the next post), I would also darken the tropical rainforests in the southwest using this layer.

[Scott Livingston]

This brings us to the present version of the map, which I basically consider complete (at least until I decide to make additional changes). I do think there is some room for improvement, which is why I'm posting it here, rather than in the completed maps section. The final changes that took the map to this point are as follows:

1. I finished and colored the compass rose.
2. I darkened the tropical rainforest (as described in the previous post).
3. I tweaked the colors, adding detail along the mountain ranges and in other areas.
4. I made the terrain color layer somewhat more transparent, lightening the colors.
5. Uncomfortable with the idea of a region called "Dornalia" in a continent called "Tornalia," I changed the name of the region to "Dornalujia."
6. I altered some of the other labels a bit.
7. I added a border around the legend box.

So...thoughts? Reactions? Ideas? How can it be improved?

I'm also thinking of making a couple of different versions...one more topigraphical/realistic, and one more stylized and ancient-looking. Those are projects for another time, and would complement rather than replace this version, but any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.