August 2018 Challenge: Eldisse

[Mouse]

Here is just an idea...

I think elboe is probably right about the constant colour along the shore.

You might also consider using warmer colours for the land? A more yellowish/orangish green grass, and maybe a tiny touch of brown in those cliffs? Maybe the cliffs a tad lighter? I think there might need to be a basic contrast between the land and the sea, but I'm a bit uncertain about adding any more detail to that thought than just mentioning it, since it might look bad if you went too far down that road.

[Tonquani]

I like the colors of the sea. The land masses seem to be floating above them though. Maybe it's the texture, as you say. Maybe try outlining the shore with one color, then outlining that with a darker, and so on before blending them. I think a consistent color along the shore will "ground" it better however you decide to do it.

Here is just an idea...

I think elboe is probably right about the constant colour along the shore.

You might also consider using warmer colours for the land? A more yellowish/orangish green grass, and maybe a tiny touch of brown in those cliffs? Maybe the cliffs a tad lighter? I think there might need to be a basic contrast between the land and the sea, but I'm a bit uncertain about adding any more detail to that thought than just mentioning it, since it might look bad if you went too far down that road.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I don't think this one is going to be any where near finished for the challenge unfortunately, however...

I have lightened the grass a but - I quite like it as it now has a bit more of an arid feel to it. I have also added some brown to the cliffs (thanks Mouse), and I think they look much better.

I have added a stroke (fairly unsubtle at this stage) to the coastline, although ideally I would probably make this a lot wider and blend it into the sea colour a lot better.

I have also tried adding some waves to the shore line on the North West corner of the island. What do you think?

### Latest WIP ###Eldisse phase 1.png

[Mouse]

The waves look nice, but I don't think you need to go into so much detail. Maybe just a simple line?

Now that you have modified the land (which also looks quite a lot better), I think the sea may need to be tamed rather a lot more.

Have you ever played around with the levels on a layer? I don't know what software you are using, so I can't say where they would be located, but they are normally under 'Colour', if you have that as a menu item.

There is so much contrast in that ocean that its kind of drowning the land. If you either reduce the contrast, or use the levels to narrow the gap between darkest and lightest on that sheet so that instead of being between nearly white and nearly black its merely between two fairly similar blues with not very much of a tone difference between them, I think it would be a lot closer to finished than you think.

But this is only my personal opinion

[Tonquani]

The waves look nice, but I don't think you need to go into so much detail. Maybe just a simple line?

Now that you have modified the land (which also looks quite a lot better), I think the sea may need to be tamed rather a lot more.

Have you ever played around with the levels on a layer? I don't know what software you are using, so I can't say where they would be located, but they are normally under 'Colour', if you have that as a menu item.

There is so much contrast in that ocean that its kind of drowning the land. If you either reduce the contrast, or use the levels to narrow the gap between darkest and lightest on that sheet so that instead of being between nearly white and nearly black its merely between two fairly similar blues with not very much of a tone difference between them, I think it would be a lot closer to finished than you think.

But this is only my personal opinion

Thanks Mouse, sea tamed as requested, yes, I'm using Gimp, so have used levels and curves a little bit. Need to play around with them a bit more to get a real feel of how they work.

Anyway, this is a close to finished as it's going to get - I could probably work on it for another month and still not finish it though. Oh well!

Thanks everyone, it's been fun, and there are a few amazing entries there too!

### Latest WIP ###
Eldisse.png

[Tenia]

The sea is much less cloudy, much better! Just to see, had you tried to apply some GMIC filters on the sea ? I think about posterize but not only. Btw I liked the waves too, wiil you keep them ?