Hello folks,
I want to share with you this project, I "almost" completed it, but I'll show you some screen of the process until now.
Several months ago I received a commission that originated this map:

Long Valley Region (color).jpgLong Valley Region Map.jpg

The client was happy, but that map feel incomplete to me so I decide to reuse part of the lineart to realize another map:

Long Valley Region (bw).jpg

I felt inspired from a board game and a book that I was reading (Blood Rage boardgame and "The Crystal Shard" by R.A. Salvatore) to create a nordic setting involving a sea and land, with viking vibes.

After few attempts I came up with this (it's not the early version, I didn't saved it so this is the final lineart step)
My initial thoughts was to call it "Harlakan Bay", no reasons, just liked the sound , but I think that those bay branches look like arms of a giant octopus, so "Kraken Bay" feels more cool.
I'm still open to suggestions though..

Harlakan bay bw.jpg

I choose a cold palette, with low saturation for base colors and came up with this. I decided to ignore light direction (so no shadow on mountains and stuff) to give a "foggy" feeling
Harlakan bay.jpg
But was too dark, so I brightened things up and added some snow effect
Harlakan bay 2.jpg

Original size is 36x24 inches so plenty of space for details.
Now I'm still in the process of adding lots of tiny icons for villages, monsters and such..