February 2019 Challenge: The Fortified Kingdom of...

[- JO -]

Thanks guy's!

I got some kid free time this morning so I did a quick mock up and size test for my title box. I've made several changes to the griffon and also wanted to visualize the mountain size on my paper so sketched in a few while I was at it.

This is just a quick drawing on a transparent sheet over top for testing and is not polished or permanent in any way so please feel free to critique my design choices.

I did buy a large 22 by 30 inch sheet of paper with beautiful deckled edges but was really intimidated by it so I picked up this pad of 18 by 24 instead. Hopefully it's big enough. I'm not sure what size paper you traditional mappers normally use but it seems I should be able to get some level of detail into my mountains at this size so I'll stick here for now.

I wish I could say I've done more then this but if I draw anything while my daughter is home (which is always) and it's not a unicorn then there's hell to pay... If JO had asked for a map of the unicorn kingdom beyond the rainbow then it would be done by now.

Oh and let me know what you think about this name, is it stupid? I'm not good at coming up with names, and as you can see it's probably not a good idea for me to label this by hand either. I traced this font and it still looks like sh*t so I should probably do the labeling in photoshop.

The griffin is beautiful! And if you want to add a unicorn in another corner, that's fine! I'm more cautious about rainbows, but I'm open to any discussion !

I haven't often drawn maps directly on paper, but 24 inches already seems big enough?
In any case, don't be intimidated by anything: you have a lot of talent! Don't hesitate to trust yourself!

The name is very well thought out: it sounds good, it gives the idea of a proud and strong country (I also sometimes lack inspiration for names, I don't know if you know, but there are websites that generate names... it's not always excellent, but it often gives a starting point on which you can imagine another name. One of this sites is here)

[kacey]

I think everything looks beautiful. Even the font looks good.

And the name is good too. All good here.

Thanks Ramah!

The griffin is beautiful! And if you want to add a unicorn in another corner, that's fine! I'm more cautious about rainbows, but I'm open to any discussion !

I haven't often drawn maps directly on paper, but 24 inches already seems big enough?
In any case, don't be intimidated by anything: you have a lot of talent! Don't hesitate to trust yourself!

The name is very well thought out: it sounds good, it gives the idea of a proud and strong country (I also sometimes lack inspiration for names, I don't know if you know, but there are websites that generate names... it's not always excellent, but it often gives a starting point on which you can imagine another name. One of this sites is here)

Lmao, thanks JO but I think I’ll steer clear of the unicorns this time, I draw them enough as it is. I’m glad you like the name and thanks for the link. I haven’t seen that name generator before and just pulled about 70 names from it for the map though I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit that many in. I normally use the donjon generator but it can take a lot of clicking for it to spit out anything decent so it’s always nice to have options.

[DanielHasenbos]

Oooh, haven't seen you do a map for a long time indeed. The sketch looks cool and I'm sure you'll turn it into something cool!

[MapMappingMapped]

Really neat! Long live microns

[Jaxilon]

This looks so cool.

[kacey]

Oooh, haven't seen you do a map for a long time indeed. The sketch looks cool and I'm sure you'll turn it into something cool!

Thanks Daniel, it has been a long time, almost a year actually since I made a map and it may be longer still. I really am struggling to find the time for this one, but I did buy myself a new scanner today so that may give me some incentive to stay up a couple nights and get something done.

Really neat! Long live microns

Thanks! But truth be told, the microns are giving me some grief. They are wonderful for drawing solid consistent lines, but awful for getting tapered ends and varied line widths so I feel they're lacking some expression...If that makes any sense? I'm new to drawing with fine liner pens so it may just be my inexperience but I'm craving for a pen that will give me something more.

This looks so cool.

Thanks Jaxilon!

[kacey]

This is just a very rough sketch for mountain placement so I'm hoping to get the go ahead from JO before I go over them with nicer lines. I also wonder...and this is a question for JO, would it be ok to change the coast line slightly? I'm finding a few areas to be sort of awkward and I just wanted to make sure it was ok with you, since it is you're commission after all.

### Latest WIP ###
Mountain Placement.jpg

Also...I'm thinking about switching back to digital for this because I've been spending a lot of my time doing colour tests which just aren't turning out. One of the main issues I'm having is with masking fluid, I absolutely need it for getting water around tiny islands, and on this sh*t paper that I have right now it's just tearing it up something awfull and I just don't have time to order better stuff right now.

This is just one of the many colour tests I've done recently, you can see that the paper and ink have been badly damaged by masking fluid in a few areas, and that I'm just really terrible at getting the colors right... To mee it just looks dirty.

I just did this really quickly for testing colour so please don't judge too harshly on my drawing skills on this one, it was completed in 2 hours, which I think is a record for me.

colour test.jpg

[Greason Wolfe]

I kinda like that coloring, gives it a rustic feel, at least for me.

[J.Edward]

It looks great Kacey
I'm all trying to see around the paper and see what those other pieces are.
I am betting you have such an awesome stash of stuff you aren't sharing with us.

[Voolf]

This "testing" colour looks great Kacey. I can understand if you don't feel it, but from my pespective it's awesome.