Commission: The City of Brightwater

[Wingshaw]

A wonderful piece. If I could pick on one point that I feel could be improved it's the lack of ships and boats. Having a few of these could turn this from a beautiful yet static map into one that's truly alive.

Thanks Wired. I did consider including ships in this image, but thought it would delay the project too much, and risked cluttering the sea. Good suggestion, though.

What a beautiful piece, I can see why it took a while to complete, so much detail, love the cliffs, reflections and shapes of the buildings are really cool, only comment the green trees seem overly vibrant?. Will spend some time looking over all the details, great job and inspiration. Have some reps.

Thanks Snodsy. I think the excessively vibrant trees and colours are for the landmark buildings, which I saturated a bit to make them stand out more. Too much, perhaps?

This is gorgeous! I loved zooming in and seeing the incredible detail you put into this map. Amazing job!

Thanks flailx

Excellent work THW
I'll have to post this over on the FB Guild page.

Thanks J.Edward. I admit I've been out of the loop here so much lately, I didn't even know there was a facebook page

Wow! Love the Miyazaki-ish colour palette!

(also nice touch with the Giordano Bruno statue on the lower right)

Thanks onez. And well spotted with Giordano Bruno

Beautiful and inspiring! I love the numerous details, the underwater city and layout. I kinda agree with Snodsy about some colors being a bit saturated, but it's only a minor matter.
Well done!

Thanks Ilanthar, high praise indeed. I did toy with the idea of a greyscale version, or one that was almost entirely desaturated. But I'm pleased with the result, here, anyway

A really beautiful map and the underwater quarter is a nice idea.

Thanks Thomrey

Stunning! It was interesting seeing the slow progress over the time I've been on the guild.

Thanks Josiah. Yeah, it maybe took a bit too long...

Jawdropping! And the underwater area really gives it something extra (as if this needed it).

Thanks Blaidd.

[Adolfo Garandal Martà n]

Excelente este trabajo

[Wingshaw]

There's just an impressive amount of detail in this map. I imagine your client must be very pleased.

Thanks Arsheesh. Yes, he is pleased. He has actually commissioned me to make another map for him, this time a regional one. I'll be putting a WIP thread up very soon.

Just two things about the beauty of this map.
1) Absent from the Forum for a few months and busy with my life, I came back a few days ago to show some progress on my maps and finally got on a search for this piece of art as I remembered it from my last visit.
2) I've got a folder of inspirational maps in my browser, not many, just a few handpicked beautiful land and city maps. This one directly made it into that folder of pure inspiration and beauty.

That said, I love this map.
If you are going to make a version with ships on it (which would be nice) just take care not to overdo it. The sunken city needs its attention and ships should be placed carefully so they don't steal the attention from the sunken city. Yet I think there's enough place on the water for some pretty ships setting sails or coming in.

Thanks Eld. That's quite a compliment. I did consider putting ships into the map, but I decided against it because I didn't want to detract from the underwater city.

Excelente este trabajo

Gracias Adolfo

THW

[The Elderly Cartographer]

The whole city is nicely laid out and colorful.
And the way you made part of the city appear to be underwater is cunning.
On a whole, it is pleasing to the eye!
Good job.

[Greg]

Really well done on getting it finished! I remember seeing some of its progress on the WIP and I know the feeling of getting carried away on projects, but also that satisfaction that comes with calling something a day.

I hope the client is happy with is, as he really should be! The great linework and colour palette really give it a unique look and as others have mentioned, the underwater section is a really nice touch. Also, nice job on the perspective, that's something I tend to struggle with a lot, but your shading really helps bring it out.

[- Max -]

An awesome work here THW. I would neatpick a very few things : The overall perspective is well executed though some buildings looks a bit leaned which is a bit odd. Also the bottom right graphic in the legend box looks a bit off regarding the style of the map. Nothing really serious, again, the work is great on this map !

[Miska]

This map is really beautiful. I really love how you've done the shadows. And the colors are really nice too.

[ChickPea]

Absolutely beautiful work!

[Akae]

great work!

[Wingshaw]

Thanks for those comments and the praise.

@Max: I guess the perspective thing is a danger that always appears when drawing by hand. I quite like the slightly off-kilter perspective; it adds authenticity to the map, I think. Thanks for the critiques

THW