J's Inkman Experiment thread

[ghast]

good maps keep it man

[J.Edward]

Apparently I've missed some maps.
I forgot to post Uthbir, i think.

Well, i better post that before I post the new one.
Ok, this one relates back to Ganet's Island.
It's a little village that sits up on the north west end of the island.

Uthbir - Spring - sample.jpg
and here's sort of where it sits
Uthbir sample 01.jpg

Then the sales pitch pics ;P
Sample image 01.jpg

Village of Uthbir samples1.jpg - Village of Uthbir samples2.jpg

I was going to offer this on roll20, as well as patreon, but I couldn't.
Roll20 has a lot of limitations on file size, and number of variants and such.
It makes it somewhat limiting. I've considered just offering the maps for sale from gumroad, but i don't know if there's enough interest to warrant it.

[J.Edward]

Then today I posted the Castle Grel map, which relates back to the DaRigh map.
This one was in the works for a while. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
You can read more of the back story for DaRigh and for the Castle over on patreon by hitting the linked words.

Lots of variants, but these are not gridded, except for the one I post for free.
I started using a small square at the bottom to denote the grid size, as well as the unit size for roll20.
It's a 45 x 60 unit grid, which is a decent size for some battles.

Castle Grel is a floating island that appears in random places all around the lands of DaRigh.

Castle Grel - Sky - 01 day spring grid [45 x 60, castle, island].jpg

Variants...
Castle Grel samples page1.jpg - Castle Grel samples page2.jpg - Castle Grel samples page3.jpg

There's one pack up on roll20 - https://marketplace.roll20.net/brows.../castle-grel-1
For some reason, they limit the number of variants per pack, and then didn't approve both packs at the same time, so one is left in limbo.
It's kind of frustrating. Maybe gumroad is the way to go, idk. Selling content is more struggle than it should be.
Oh well, it's my birthday, so I am going to go do something... have a great week, everyone. Cheers, J

[Abu Lafia]

Many thanks for this wonderful birthday present John! I imagine Castle Grel as some kind of "Tanelorn" or maybe more a "Sigil" of this realm? WIth all the variants you show, it is easy to picture it on its travels over these different magical landscapes.
I tried to follow your latest productions and stumbled upon the name Ganet, but so far totally missed the little detail about Ganet being a badger... awesome! XD

[J.Edward]

Many thanks for this wonderful birthday present John! I imagine Castle Grel as some kind of "Tanelorn" or maybe more a "Sigil" of this realm? WIth all the variants you show, it is easy to picture it on its travels over these different magical landscapes.
I tried to follow your latest productions and stumbled upon the name Ganet, but so far totally missed the little detail about Ganet being a badger... awesome! XD

Thanks Abu
Yes, I have an affinity for badgers. I had another badger character in the Withering story. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 over on my woefully un-updated blog.
I really need to pay more attention to that, or make a new blog that I can keep up with.
So much to do. Maybe I will work that out before the year ends....

Oh yes, i had forgotten about Tanelorn. Wonderful place.
I quite enjoyed Moorcock's works. I should check and see if he's got anything new.

[Bogie]

Your maps are so much fun John, Thanks!

[- JO -]

Striking! Magnificent! Breathtaking! It's really incredible, this talent!

We totally feel the fact that the island floats in the air, and the line is, as usual, incredible precision and efficiency in the rendering of the effects (texture, level, object definition, etc.)
And the variations are also hallucinating in their originality and in their realizations. It is simply splendid... I wonder how long it takes you to realize all these different atmospheres? With the layers on Photoshop, it should still make the work easier ?

I would only have a tiny remark of nothing at all: maybe the flying boat would have gained in legibility if the air containers were above the boat rather than below it? Anyway, the drawing remains clear to read: it's an island floating in the sky, but maybe for the boat, another look would have completed the atmosphere?

[J.Edward]

Your maps are so much fun John, Thanks!

Thanks Bogie
I wander a lot in maps, possibly because I don't get out enough. ;P

Striking! Magnificent! Breathtaking! It's really incredible, this talent!

We totally feel the fact that the island floats in the air, and the line is, as usual, incredible precision and efficiency in the rendering of the effects (texture, level, object definition, etc.)
And the variations are also hallucinating in their originality and in their realizations. It is simply splendid... I wonder how long it takes you to realize all these different atmospheres? With the layers on Photoshop, it should still make the work easier ?

I would only have a tiny remark of nothing at all: maybe the flying boat would have gained in legibility if the air containers were above the boat rather than below it? Anyway, the drawing remains clear to read: it's an island floating in the sky, but maybe for the boat, another look would have completed the atmosphere?

Thanks Joel
Yes, photoshop definitely makes the variation process easier... or well, somewhat faster.
It takes a good while getting all of the variation layers set up. The doing the bulk of the variations can go a bit faster.
I've improved on some efficiency, but still have a lot to learn and improve on.

As to the boat... good critique. nods.
If I had drawn a top balloon style, you really wouldn't have seen the boat deck. So there's that.
I also like to try for variety in design. I feel like the standard is a boat hanging from a balloon.
I just thought a boat riding ON balloons might prove an interesting, or at least novel, choice.
Plus, there are versions where the boat is in water, and thus has no balloons.
That said, it's still good critique.

[Ilanthar]

Great map with a ton of incredible variations! You're crazy good.
About the boat... each time I'm doing a perspective map, especially with a 3D base, I'm unsatisfied by this or this that might not be visible or difficult to identify... So, yup, sometimes one has to "arrange" things a bit .

[J.Edward]

This one was for the last Halloween challenge.
I did a bunch of variants that went onto patreon.
It's just a fun oversized pumpkin patch of horror. ;D

Pumpkin king 00.jpg - Pumpkin king sample.jpg

the variants
Pumpkin King Sample-1.png