Castle of Azulhoc

[ChickPea]

Oh yes, this is gorgeous. I like your subtle shading.

[ThomasR]

Very "Guillaume Tavernier" T'as vu le compliment ?

[- JO -]

This is looking gooooood !

I don’t think you have to draw every stone of the castle. I’m sure you can find ways to show stones without actually drawing every one.

I'm looking forward to see how you’ll paint the walls and roofs ! I'm sure I can learn a few tips from you...

The thing now is that I would very much see more of the landscape : is the castle defending a road, a harbour, a city, or it’s just a fortress ? I know we always want more of your map !

[Tonnichiwa]

This is absolutely beautiful! Well done! I can't wait to see more!

[QED42]

Can't wait to see how this looks finished!

[Tenia]

Many many thanks to all of you !
Thomas : I didn't know him, what he does is fabulous, je ne pense pas que je mérite le compliment
JO : I don't think I will draw every stone, the tests I did make it all too overloaded and something that perturb and confuse me is that I found this beautiful drawing : http://brevehistoire.free.fr/Histoir...5_chateau1.htm that looks a lot (too much) like the castle of Azulhoc As I was inspired by real castles to make the different parts it should not be surprising that there are similarities, but now my reaction is to move away from that style !
I could either draw only some stones or apply a rough brush that looks like stones, or even create/apply some texture with sketchup and see what a good filter can do with it, testing time now !
For the landscape I admit I haven't given it much thought, as I was focused on the castle and I was thinking about taking advantage of Sketchup to add some details as inserts on the white areas (like the bridge or a view from one of the towers) Initially it was on a motte but then I added a moat, so...

[- JO -]

I guess we all take the same elements when we want to draw a castle ?

I tried the texture from Sketchup, but I didn’t find it convincing. I’m looking forward to see what you can achieve and ready to take notes.

The inserts are a very good idea, because it’s always so frustrating to have so many fine views possible with Sketchup and only draw one...

Anyway I'm looking forward for the next WIP !

[Mouse]

Some of the built in textures in Sketchup aren't too bad. Their tiles and slates are pretty good, but I have found that others have rather a lot more redundancy than I'm prepared to put up with, so I often add my own into the mix.

The page to search for Sketchup textures is here.

If you are looking for some extra textures to experiment with on the walls, then I found this one quite helpful when I was trying to make my city wall in 3D in sketchup. (You might need to reduce the size of it to about 1000 pi square first in PS or GIMP). Even if you draw over the top of it in PS, it will give you approximate guide lines to do that drawing, and fill in any areas you don't have the energy to adjust to taste.

This grass texture may help as a background on the ground. Again you may have to reduce it first. Sketchup gets a bit slow if you have add too many high res textures.

[Mouse]

To make it a bit easier....

Sketchup stone wall textures
Sketchup grass textures
Sketchup roof textures

And don't forget that if its the right texture but the wrong colour, you can adjust the colour inside Sketchup

[Tenia]

Thanks for the links !