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Thanks Josiah! The process is in principle quite simple, albeit laborious in execution:Originally Posted by Josiah VE
- I first drew a whole bunch of ridge lines and thalwegs (first primary ridges and thalwegs, then secondary ones meandering away from the primaries, then tertiary ones etc.).
- If you do this, keep in mind that primary ridges never meet at right angles. In places where they're close together, they're usually parallel, although secondary ridges from both might almost meet. In this particular map I sort of violated that rule because the client needed a massive wall in the north, shielding inhabitants from any waves caused by the turtle's movement through the water. So I drew one primary ridge going from east to west, and all of the others going north to south, but touching the first in the north.
- I then used this as a basis for my shading: dark splotches on the shadow side of each ridge, which I then smudged out all the way to the nearest thalweg, and white splotches on the lighted side of the ridge, smudged out to the nearest thalweg to that.
- Also, shading is best done in stages too: first a layer with just the shading of the primary ridges, then a second layer on top with shading for the secondary ridges and so on. And take your time to select the right smudge brush. The texture of your map depends heavily on the choice of brush.
I'm using the term "thalweg" (the line connecting the points of lowest elevation within a valley) since my client specifically asked for no rivers in most of them. It's basically where rivers would be if it weren't for extreme circumstances such as karst landscapes (where the soil is so permeable that all water basically drains into the ground instead of forming rivers), arid climates (where there isn't enough water in the first place) and magic™.
Does that answer your question? If not, yell!
