New Eldoran

[Ilanthar]

By Naima
Looks very good, natural and pleasant to the viewer.

Thanks !

By Diamond
My God that's beautiful.
(sounds of Diamond weeping in awe)

Thank you very much, Mr D ! And well, you're kind to not see the imperfections (I've corrected some mistakes here and there already...).

By Kellerica
I appreciate the names
Looks beautiful, although the northern areas are looking a bit sickly green to my eye in the coloured version.

Héhé, yup, I'm shamelessly using different mythologies here and there. By the way, the land far north of Thuvar is the Pohjola, and there's Lintukoto on Asylon .
And yes, you're quite right about the sickly green. The white snow turn the green this way. That could fit some of the weird cold lands, but not all of them. I did not find a way to deal with it yet. I can increase the opacity of the snow (going toward pure white), but it's hiding the rivers and moving the problem south somewhat... If you have ideas, I'll take them gladly!

Starting the shaded reliefs on Asylon, the continent south of Thuvar.
### Latest WIP ###
Eldoran NaR.jpg

[Diamond]

Do you mind if I use your color scheme for a map I'm working on? I really love the subtle gradations (which I'm sure I'll screw up anyway), and the way you do your coastlines and rivers.

[Voolf]

That is looking so nice already. Great colours for the relief.
I am very fond of this style of yours.

[Kellerica]

Héhé, yup, I'm shamelessly using different mythologies here and there. By the way, the land far north of Thuvar is the Pohjola, and there's Lintukoto on Asylon .

Nice!

And yes, you're quite right about the sickly green. The white snow turn the green this way. That could fit some of the weird cold lands, but not all of them. I did not find a way to deal with it yet. I can increase the opacity of the snow (going toward pure white), but it's hiding the rivers and moving the problem south somewhat... If you have ideas, I'll take them gladly!

What software do you work in again...? I can never remember.

For Photoshop or similar image editing programs, my way to go about situations like these is to enlist a pile of colour adjustment layers. Create a folder, paint a mask for that folder around the areas you want to colour correct (if the snow is already it's own layer you can probably use those pixels as the mask), and stack as many adjustment layers you need in the folder. I took the liberty of downloading your map from here and messing with in Photoshop a bit. This is what I put together in 5 minutes; it doesn't entirely remove the problem and the mask work is beyong sloppy, but it does hopefully at least demonstrate what I mean. I appreciate it does also make the rivers disappear a little, but I don't know how well that can be avoided if you want to have white rivers on a snowy area...

Untitled-1.jpg

My adjustment folder for this has three adjusment layers in it:

- 1x Vibrance, with both Vibrance and Saturation turned way down to turn the hue into a more neutral grey
- 1x Levels with highlight values dropped a tad down to bring the whiteness up
- 1x Colour Balance with the yellow-blue slider turned a touch up towards blue (I personally find that snow often has a slight blueish tint in anything but the brightest of daylight, so having snow have just a hint of blue in art makes it look more realistic to my eye)

With my own maps I often end up with a much higher amount than these in there to get shades be just what I want them. Often times I have more than one of a certain type of adjustment. It's a delicate, nitpicky art

[Ilanthar]

By Diamond
Do you mind if I use your color scheme for a map I'm working on? I really love the subtle gradations (which I'm sure I'll screw up anyway), and the way you do your coastlines and rivers.

I don't mind at all ! I'm getting colors by using usually 2-3 layers at partial opacity, plus one mixed with a density effect.

By Voolf
That is looking so nice already. Great colours for the relief.
I am very fond of this style of yours.

Thanks a lot ! Well, I've still a long way to finish the whole map, not to mention the elements around it.

By Kellerica
What software do you work in again...? I can never remember.

For Photoshop or similar image editing programs, my way to go about situations like these is to enlist a pile of colour adjustment layers. Create a folder, paint a mask for that folder around the areas you want to colour correct (if the snow is already it's own layer you can probably use those pixels as the mask), and stack as many adjustment layers you need in the folder. I took the liberty of downloading your map from here and messing with in Photoshop a bit. This is what I put together in 5 minutes; it doesn't entirely remove the problem and the mask work is beyong sloppy, but it does hopefully at least demonstrate what I mean. I appreciate it does also make the rivers disappear a little, but I don't know how well that can be avoided if you want to have white rivers on a snowy area...

Click image for larger version. Name: Untitled-1.jpg Views: 4 Size: 1.31 MB ID: 137160

My adjustment folder for this has three adjusment layers in it:

- 1x Vibrance, with both Vibrance and Saturation turned way down to turn the hue into a more neutral grey
- 1x Levels with highlight values dropped a tad down to bring the whiteness up
- 1x Colour Balance with the yellow-blue slider turned a touch up towards blue (I personally find that snow often has a slight blueish tint in anything but the brightest of daylight, so having snow have just a hint of blue in art makes it look more realistic to my eye)

With my own maps I often end up with a much higher amount than these in there to get shades be just what I want them. Often times I have more than one of a certain type of adjustment. It's a delicate, nitpicky art

I'm using Krita, which is free, and I believe, not so far from what Photoshop can do... if well used...
Reading your advices, I feel like a noob . No problem here, I know that I'm under using the software (a bit lazy to look for and learn on this part) and don't know much about coloring & shading. I keep using basic elements and use only the transparency mask (so, maximum one mask per layer...)...
I don't remember Vibrance or Levels settings, but I might just not have seen them (and I'm using the french version, ofc). I've just done the polar part more blue. Might be better already.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help. I might look after those settings in Krita more closely when I'll get time.

### Latest WIP ###
Eldoran NaR.jpg

[Ilanthar]

And the first (and main) layer of the topography of Asylon is mostly done.

### Latest WIP ###
Eldoran NaR.jpg

[- JO -]

Wow... what an incredible effect that has... And the work on the border! Words are hard to find. What incredible work! And now, with the last images, we can see the extent of the work (done and still to be done). It's truly magnificent!
The choice of names is also very well thought out: it gives the whole card a poetic atmosphere, and that's fantastic!
It's fantastic!

PS: regarding the 'greenish' aspect of the icy zones, the last one with the blue tint is muche better... in my opinion, you could make it a bit more blue

[Ilanthar]

Wow... what an incredible effect that has... And the work on the border! Words are hard to find. What incredible work! And now, with the last images, we can see the extent of the work (done and still to be done). It's truly magnificent!
The choice of names is also very well thought out: it gives the whole card a poetic atmosphere, and that's fantastic!
It's fantastic!

PS: regarding the 'greenish' aspect of the icy zones, the last one with the blue tint is muche better... in my opinion, you could make it a bit more blue

Thanks a lot! Well, I tried to reinfore the blue a little.

Back from vacations. And Asylon is more or less done, I think (apart from the labels).
### Latest WIP ###
Eldoran NaR.jpg

[- JO -]

Much better for the ice.
The whole map is breathtaking ! Splendid work you did on this one !

[Turambar]

Thanks a lot! Well, I tried to reinfore the blue a little.

Back from vacations. And Asylon is more or less done, I think (apart from the labels).
### Latest WIP ###
Eldoran NaR.jpg

Stunning work!