*** July/August Lite Mapping Challenge VOTING - a magical education ***

[jfrazierjr]

Thanks to those who voted for my entry.... I wish had another 3-4 hours available to have worked on it, but as it was, I threw together 8 tree brushes(and they looked rushed!), the "houses", the inset "cave", and the palisade brush in about 2 hours this morning... I still wish I had had time to do several more things such as better trees and housing, but I am quite darn proud of my palisade brush...I think that turned out pretty darn well...

And, as I expected, Moe is the early front runner and Vascant has a respectable 2nd place so far....

And now.. for the rest of the story I could not get into the post itself:

Gronk boasts a 100% graduation date... but that perfect record is due in large part that every failing student meets with some untimely "accidental" death. This map was created by a young student named Burgnkok. Out boredom one day, Burgnkok started drawing a map(perhaps in a plan to escape???). And while Burgnkok was a semi-talented artist(for an ork) and well as fairly smart, his gross motor skills prevented him from making many of the intricate movements required for spellcasting.

Unfortunately, Gronk found his talent for art(but not this map) and had his fingers broken....well.... as to be expected, ork shaman with broken fingers can't cast spells very well and..well..Burgnkok "decided" that he should commit suicide by jumping off the cliff(coincidentally, it seems that many students choose this exact same spot to kill themselves). Not long afterwards Krangnar, a brute by any definition of the word, joined the school and found the map under Burgnkok's bedding and well... he took the map as his own work. Unfortunately Gronk determined fairly quickly that Krangnar's brain was far smaller than his brawn and he also disappeared under mysterious circumstances along with the map... Perhaps the map may one day see the light of day again.. or perhaps some rats or wolves at it at the bottom of a cliff somewhere.....

[jfrazierjr]

To me that's better then a vote, this was only my second map I had ever done so I can walk away from this with knowing how to make it and new maps better. Since I did this map jfrazierjr has taught me a lot regarding shading and giving areas some depth Thanks

Your welcome.. I owe so much to this place, but especially RobA for the GIMP help and advice and Torstan for the advice/help with shading as well as inspiration... not to mention hundreds of others along the way.. Glad I could help you out... no go and do likewise..

[Chashio]

Syeesh. Well, Moe, you had it coming. But second choice was tough... toss up between Wolf and Tilt, they're both beautiful maps. Wolff, I liked your style very much (being able to read the labels would be even better). Tilt, the multi-levels and secret passages were fun for the imagination (though next time consider doing a shadow of the first level to make it easier to visualize). That said, Tilt gets it by a hair. Smiles to everyone else who participated this month - keep it up! =)

eAgLe - Next time the scanner protests, use a camera. That map has potential, I hope you'll finish it at some point.

[waldronate]

Once again we have the sort of challenge that is hard to judge. Moe had an excellent piece of artwork that incorporated a couple of maps. Surveyor also had a nice piece of art that incorporated a map. But I ended up voting for Len Wolff and Map Vandal because their entries were maps that incorporated artwork. Most of the rest of the entries felt unfinished.

[tilt]

Nice to see so many entries
My votes went to Moe for his beautiful map, knew he'd win this one - but that only made me work harder *lol*, and to jfraz for his great idea.

A few comments:
Cantab: good start - some labels to tell what is where would have been good - that would make us "enter" the map/world
jfraz: the finish was a little fast concidering all the work you made in the beginning - great fun though
len wolf: nice idea - it helped a lot with running some filters to make it look more hand drawn, however I feel that the roof look a little of in the style - and its a little dark, but good overall
map vandal: as usual you make a great map - however, I didn't feel that you fulfilled the demands of the challenge - you mapped the town close to the challenge goal
Moe: just great - the seal and pencil looks a little artificial in comparision to the rest - but a clear winner there - loved the blue color - hard to compete with that composition *lol*
surveryor: fun idea with the folder - but I'd liked a little more actual map
tim allen: great start, to bad you didn't finish it, nice with the little footsteps
vascant: really good - a little more depth would lift it though

good work all - see you in the next challenge

[cantab]

Yeah, as I ranted elsewhere, I finished the labelling on mine a few hours too late. Well I suppose that's my own fault for leaving it until the last minute. Once the voting's closed, I'll post the labeled version in the Town Mapping forum.

[arsheesh]

I voted for Moe and Tilt, but some real fine maps all around!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Sagenlicht]

Some great entries, for sure more than votes availible.

My votes did go to Tilt and Len Wolff.

[Riggamorphus]

I voted for tilt. The use of the emblems reminds me of.... Anyways, very clever idea tilt.
Cheers to all who participated.

[flocko]

There were a lot of cool entries, but I eventually settled on Moe and Vascant.
Moe- Loved the style and artistic detail
Vascant - I really appreciated the clarity and consideration for the inner workings of the school.

Too bad I dropped out :/

I share your regret. But there's always next time!