Reply With QuoteI agree with SG - I thought the woodcut looked fantastic on the monochrome version, much less so here. The blue coastline especially clashes with it, IMO. Maybe some waves done in the style of the forest and mountains?
Looking good C-Max...
I'm not sure that the woodcut goes with the style of the map tho, but that's just me.
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I agree with SG - I thought the woodcut looked fantastic on the monochrome version, much less so here. The blue coastline especially clashes with it, IMO. Maybe some waves done in the style of the forest and mountains?
Very pretty on the mountains/forests, though there area few where you did not "fix" the thick stroke... Also, I agree with the others about the sea border... perhaps if you used the smudge tool to "sweep" it out into the woodcut and blend it in..
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Totally agree. Actually the thick strokes are me putting them back in on a different layer, I used a thinner brush to draw out but I might have gone nuts here and there, I still want to get some variation in line weights. Definitely want to adjust for consistency.
I agree on the woodcut effect, I was thinking there might be a way to keep it in for this style, but I think I'll just replace it entirely with something painterly. Definitely going to keep it somehow on one of the versions.
Well... less typing, more mapping!!!
(and thanks for the feedback, definitely confirmed that it still needs a few things before I settle)
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"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
Originally Posted by Coyotemax
Well.. really dig the woodcut... I would personally like to see you keep it and come up with some way to blend the either the land stroke into it in a fade....or just ditch that and make the river mouth fade into it using a mask and the smudge tool.
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
I've been working it over for the last few days repeatedly trying to keep it but do something different with the coasts, and also make the river transitions better.
I think I managed to solve all the issues.
AND i'm completely working over the forests. they were WAY too cartoony.
Then I realized what was bugging me..
After I had my revelation, I took a break to soothe my conscience and put some more thought into what I was doing. And now it's time to zoom zoom!
My mind went into overdrive for a bit today and that's when it hit me.. the style I'm developing is doing 2 things at once.
Looking back on the Protector map i did recently, I was heading in a more painterly direction with my linework, which really showed through in the completely different (for me) forest style. I'd always done individual trees before, usually with the forest generator, Protector was my first foray into a massed clumping effect. So the first thing I'm doing is evolving my linework style from that map. And today the thing that was bothering my subconscious finally hit me - the style I'm trying to acheive bears an uncanny resemblance to Ascension's latest map.
I'm not sure why that bothered me so much, I really do think I lost a few days of work on the map trying to go a different direction with the forests without really understanding WHY. I kept coming back to the style I wanted to use, and finally spent an hour going through the Butcher et al WIP thread and figured it out. I suspect my mental state has something to do with changing up the pain meds, but I think I'm ok now.
Now that i've given in to the inevitibility of the Muse (she really doesn't let up, no matter the cost) I'm just powering through the deciduous forests. The coniferous forests will be easy, the only part that might slow me down now will be the jungle-ish forests. But that won't last long I'm sure.
And the thing that bothered me the most.. it felt like I was going into this and just copying Ascension's latest map. But then I thought about it, and of course that's not what I'm doing. I may be emulating the style, but I told my conscience to back off, I was already developing this style previously anyway, and since when has Ascension said "dude stop copying me" - he's one of the most helpful people on this site, he's always full of suggestions and encouragement, and if he doesn't have more 5 star tutorials than anyone else I'd be surprised. And besides that - since when have I ever followed ANY tutorials exactly, used the exact same filter settings, or done anything exactly the way someone else does them? Even from the first map I made i was heading off in my own direction once I had half an idea of what was happening.
One last thing - in case you haven't gathered, Ascension is not just an awesome artist and brilliant teacher, he's a genuinely good man.
Thanks for all the support you've shown (to everyone, not just me).
So yeah, that's all sorted now, like I said, and it's time to power forward! And if someone notices me acting like a weenie, go ahead and slap me and tell me to snap out of it.
here's the new forests on their way, with the new river/shoreline and keeping a much nicer version of the woodcut.
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
a) agree about Ascension... great community member
b) Like the map
c) I STILL liked the last forests /colors before this one and would love to see them come back at some point(her or in another map) since I REALLY liked what you had with the last one
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
----------------------------------------------------------
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Looks good, man. The detailing or coloring will separate the forests so yer good. Oh, and yeah, I'm a pretty cool dude.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
The best thing about Ascension? His modesty.
making progress. the hardest part was doing each step of the forest layers for the whole map before doing the next step. I like to jump around a bit, but I had to keep it consistent.
Mountains are due for an overhaul next, and then the other vegetation - jungles and swamps..
My finished maps
"...sometimes the most efficient way to make something look drawn by hand is to simply draw it by hand..."
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