Nov / Dec 2016 Lite Challenge: Map a Flying Island - Space Oddity

[Josiah VE]

Wow! This is awesome!! Such a neat idea.
The blur definitely helps with bringing the island away from earth, but I wonder if you could bring down the blur a little bit and try adding some clouds.
I don't know how close you are to done, and perhaps you already have this in mind, but I think the whole planet could use some shading to give it a bit more shape and form. Looks a bit like a disc right now.
And the moon... Maybe a bit smaller? It kind of looks like it's just, there. Maybe some sort of glowing effect, and a few stars in the background might help.
One last thing, do you think the atmosphere would look a bit better if it was a more gradual fade, and not such a bright, stark line?

Sorry for all the critiques, it really is a fabulous map! I can't wait to see this in the end.

[ThomasR]

Thanks a lot ChickPea

@ Josiah : I was wondering if the clouds could work and wanted to try adding some. Shading is on the way (if I find some time) and I'll also alter the land color and add some texture. thanks for the idea about the moon ! Something was bothering me but I couldn't put my finger on it. It's gonna be partially lit (a gibbous moon) and glowing, of course. Gradient is on the way for the atmosphere, it's just a placeholder right now.

Your critiques are always welcome Josiah I just hope I'll find the time to do all this stuff. I spend 6 hours on the map so far and I dunno if I'll manage to get more ...

[Voolf]

Hey Thomrey, new update looks exellent. I would go with the blurred version. That is obviously a subjective opinion

[Straf]

This is looking beautiful Thomrey

[Ilanthar]

I agree about Josiah about the moon and I think that cloud would be great to separate the island from the background "low" lands.
Great and very cool map otherwise. The vote on this challenge is gonna be impossible, too many wonderful maps!

[snodsy]

Really nice job on this, what if you saw the shadow of the whole island on the land below and maybe the land below is lower saturation of color (the green on the land is grayer, than the green on the floating island?) The moon is a placeholder for now, correct? you'll draw on to match style I take it. Great job so far.

[ThomasR]

@ Voolf & Straf : Thanks guys !

@ Ilanthar : I'll try to add some but it'll be my first time, let's hope it's ok.

@ snodsy : I'm not sure the light direction I chose will allow me to see the island's shadow. For the planet, I hesitate between lowering the saturation or setting a layer to emulate the atmosphere's light absorption. And let's hope I do not screw the moon.

All of this will have to wait a couple of days though.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and propositions, they're of great help.

[arsheesh]

Looking really nice so far thomrey. Here's my own 2c about some of the elements here:

Blur vs. Non-blur - I see what you are going for but to be honest the blurred version looks a bit odd to me. I think another way you can attempt to achieve the effect of bringing the island to the foreground and representing the atmosphere and distance of the planet is to make the linework of the planet much lighter. In fact, I don't think it would be a bad idea to lower the opacity of both the line work and the colors layers for the planet. Also, depending upon where the sun is located, having a portion of the planet in shadow would help as well.

Moon - I haven't read through the whole thread so maybe you've discussed this elsewhere, but my own feeling is that the hand drawn nature of this map doesn't lend itself well to combination with fractal cloud type effects such as the texture of the moon. I think hand drawing the asteroid collisions on the moon's surface would look much more natural.

Nice work on the shading of the mountains btw. Off to a great start here.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[fol2dol]

Excellent map!
Vivement la version finale

[Bogie]

Wonderlicious! Quick word of warning, time is running short if you are off for 2 days. Voting starts late Wednesday night.