I prefer the previous Charlie Brown trees. The problem is that the mtns are more painterly while the forests are more drawn. I'd go back and draw the mtns and put some color under them like the forests. Just my opinion.
You also did something with the coast, it seems. Very minor, but also contributing to the "meet in the middle".
The tree changes definitely helped. The land icons look much more coherent now. The cities are still a little crisp, but I don't know how you could make them any blurrier without distorting them too much. I take back my suggestion to revert to the previous mountains. Meeting in the middle is probably your best bet. The cliff at the isthmus could use some blurring, to match the other terrain icons, even if it is technically part of the tower icon.
I prefer the previous Charlie Brown trees. The problem is that the mtns are more painterly while the forests are more drawn. I'd go back and draw the mtns and put some color under them like the forests. Just my opinion.
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.
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Ok, I hear what you are saying and I'm still mulling over going back to my original hand drawn mountains but I have made a few more changes. I call these forests the "lead forests" because it looks to me like they are little pieces of stained glass put together with lead....well sorta anyway. I also tweaked the mountains a bit more as well. I think they match a little better now. It's hard to tell after you stare at something for too long though I think the trouble comes from the mountains looking more watercolor than the forest..probably because the mountains are more hand painted.
Thanks again everyone who has commented so far.
Last edited by Jaxilon; 07-09-2010 at 03:19 AM.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
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still love the colors on this map.. nice and warm - and I see what your saying about the trees, they do have a glass mosaic look ... I've noticed the fields too, they are nice but a little out of style - try putting some perspective on them, since they are the only element that has a flat-top-down view
regs tilt
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Oh, good catch Tilt, I hadn't even thought about those but you are sooo right.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
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The colors are really nice. I'm not a big fan of what you did to the trees. I rather like the cities -- but they might be a little too crisp to go with the other elements. Maybe just a very slight blur and a very slight desaturation?
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“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” (Herman Melville)
“A good map is both a useful tool and a magic carpet to far away places." (unknown)
Merged the two techniques on my mountains allowing the hand drawn to show more. Added a bit of texture to the fields, blurred the city icons a tiny bit and fiddled around with a bunch of small stuff that I can't even remember. Too many hours staring at it I think I need to work on another project for a bit and come back to this with fresher eyes. I can't believe how long I can flip back and forth over a shade of color
Since I'm falling asleep here I'm going to post this where I'm at now. I probably won't get back to this for a few days.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
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That one lake just to the northwest of the mountains -- the one with the little house on the north shore -- still looks blurry to me. Otherwise, I think this is looking really good. Your mountains match much better now. I very much like the colors you've chosen, but I'm trying to decide if I like the 'juicier' look...
You know what I admire? The ability to restrain yourself in placing forests and mountains. When I'm doing a map, I think, "Ooo, blank area. Something should go there. Trees! More trees!"
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“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” (Herman Melville)
“A good map is both a useful tool and a magic carpet to far away places." (unknown)
Thanks SC for your post. I will look at that lake as well. I have wondered if the lakes were as consistent as they should be and you make me double check which is good. I am thinking about washing out the ocean altogether to see how it looks if I mute the color down...way down. Not sure what you refer to when you say "juicier" but I did back off the oiled look on the mountains by a lot.
Far as forest placement, if you don't have any open ranges where do you get to have your PC's face off against a charging army? hehe
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt