January/February 2025 Challenge: Nor-Medul revisited

[J.Edward]

Yeah, it is an insane level of trees, ... that I did not really plan to do.. but I'm in too deep now to change it.
Like Nine... or Jorge

I have made several attempts at tree brushes, but have never been satisfied with the look. And I do a lot of very specific things to achieve the look of certain hilly terrains with trees.. and that would be challenging to do with a brush.
It's a slow and thankless process, but it does do what I want it to do in the end. It's a marathon not a sprint.. and a journey as much as an end product for me.

Bogie - ugh, that's a lot.

### Latest WIP ###
Nor-Medul region 2025 x12.jpg

I meant to do an update a few days back, so I've made a decent amount of progress since.
Still, it is a lot left to do. So many trees.

[The Elderly Cartographer]

I thought it was pronounced George?

I have made several attempts at tree brushes, but have never been satisfied with the look. And I do a lot of very specific things to achieve the look of certain hilly terrains with trees.. and that would be challenging to do with a brush.
It's a slow and thankless process, but it does do what I want it to do in the end. It's a marathon not a sprint.. and a journey as much as an end product for me.

I totally understand. A piece of art cannot be achieved by cutting corners.

[ThomasR]

Yeah, it is an insane level of trees, ... that I did not really plan to do.. but I'm in too deep now to change it.
Like Nine... or Jorge

I have made several attempts at tree brushes, but have never been satisfied with the look. And I do a lot of very specific things to achieve the look of certain hilly terrains with trees.. and that would be challenging to do with a brush.
It's a slow and thankless process, but it does do what I want it to do in the end. It's a marathon not a sprint.. and a journey as much as an end product for me.

Bogie - ugh, that's a lot.

### Latest WIP ###
Nor-Medul region 2025 x12.jpg

I meant to do an update a few days back, so I've made a decent amount of progress since.
Still, it is a lot left to do. So many trees.

I remember an old thread titled "Let's share our hate of forests" but I know you love them (that's S&M but aren't we a weird bunch).

More seriously, it is amazing. Would you agree to share a snippet of the forests at full size ? Always (many) something(s) to learn from your maps

[Diamond]

J. Ed, thou art, as they say, insane in thine membrane, insane in thine brain. Even if you don't finish this before the deadline, I hope you do finish it.

[kacey]

Can’t wait to see all that rocky terrain stand out from the trees once this has colour and shading, looks great so far as always.

[Simkin]

Ahh forests, you like them till you have to paint them!
Btw, seeing your progress and the wonderful result is really interesting.

[Ilanthar]

Wow , that's a lot of forests & details. I love it already. The plateaus are also top notch.
Still working at a Rock/Metal music speed ?

[- JO -]

It's funny how your lineart seems soft and not very “present”. Are you lowering the opacity of the layer you're drawing on, or are you drawing with a low-opacity brush?

[J.Edward]

Here's the current state, and the full res sample Thomas asked for.
Nor-Medul region 2025 x13 sample.jpg
I've gotten a lot done, but man, there is still so much to do. And I realized I need to edit some of the Cragspers area. I started with a slightly different line weight there. I think it might have been a 5 brush, rather than the usual 4.


### Latest WIP ###
Nor-Medul region 2025 x13.jpg

Edit... weird, this showed up before... but it was posted after the other commenting on everyone else. Strange.

[J.Edward]

I totally understand. A piece of art cannot be achieved by cutting corners.

It's also somewhat about pushing back against things always having to be faster, cheaper, etc. Some things take time, and that's ok.

I remember an old thread titled "Let's share our hate of forests" but I know you love them (that's S&M but aren't we a weird bunch).

More seriously, it is amazing. Would you agree to share a snippet of the forests at full size ? Always (many) something(s) to learn from your maps

Yeah, I don't know if I would have started this if I had foreseen what I was going to get myself into. But, it will be good, so it's fine.
I'll pot a full res sample section along with the wip. I do reduced partly to save on file size for the server.

J. Ed, thou art, as they say, insane in thine membrane, insane in thine brain. Even if you don't finish this before the deadline, I hope you do finish it.

Hehe, yeah, a bit of madness. I will definitely finish it, on time or after. Then after I might even try to get back to that mega map from a past challenge. I think it was called Thalak-Mul.

Can’t wait to see all that rocky terrain stand out from the trees once this has colour and shading, looks great so far as always.

Hey Kacey. It's good to see you around here. It's been a while.
Glad this challenge is bring us all out of the cracks.

Yeah, the color will really bring this one together.

Ahh forests, you like them till you have to paint them!
Btw, seeing your progress and the wonderful result is really interesting.

Thanks Simkin

Wow , that's a lot of forests & details. I love it already. The plateaus are also top notch.
Still working at a Rock/Metal music speed ?

Hehe, yeah, it's like challenges of old. Oddly though, I have changed techniques a bit. I try to avoid fast music for some work as it gets me doing things quickly which leads to some real bad wrist and forearm pain.
And since i am doing this while still doing my regular, I've learned to be a bit more careful. But, I think I'm still making ok progress.

It's funny how your lineart seems soft and not very “present”. Are you lowering the opacity of the layer you're drawing on, or are you drawing with a low-opacity brush?

Yeah, the line opacity is a lot lower. I may turn it up once the color is done, but we'll see. The intent is to let the lines fade a bit into the background so the color will stand up more. We'll see.
I do this sometimes with some of my work stuff.