[WIP] Tarkir

[Abu Lafia]

You're doing a great job with this, but I just gotta say one thing. This is about the third map I've seen recently with mountain peaks that lean over. Mountains don't erode that way, and even if they somehow managed to, the weight would break it off very quickly. It just screams NO at me and detracts from the really nice look of all the rest.

Otherwise ... keep up the marvelous work!

Thanks for the feedback Chick! I can totally understand that such unrealistically shaped mountains scream NO to learned geologists, and i'm happy they won't break under their weight, because they are just pixels . I'm not quite sure, but your geological discourse might be a bit displaced in this case. If you were looking at a map for your next climbing-tour in the Himalaya, or from a geology textbook, i'd totally get the point, but this is a map of an imagined place, shaped by magic and dragons and stuff (i wrote it above...), and isn't meant to depict a realistically eroded landscape.
If it would be just about the iteration, i'm sorry, and i also think unrealistic mountain shapes are a high-fantasy cliché, but one that i like, i have to admit... not saying i do not value a properly shaped mountain range, i usually love to look at them!

This is looking really nice, I'm looking forward to seeing how you integrate the forests into the Mountains. I to would love to see the Tutorial of the light and shadow. Keep up the great work.

Thank you snodsy! Yes the integration of the forests will be an interesting task, i'm not too sure about yet . I saw you're working on this on your western states map atm (and doing a great job so far!). I'd gladly hear what you think of it, if i am at this point.

Hey Abu, I just uploaded the stuff I was telling you about, the stuff you inspired me to do.
Here's the link - http://sirinkman.deviantart.com/art/...ages-560045130
The Dragontooth mountains were especially inspired by what you're doing here with Tarkir.

These are wonderful illustrations J.! The icons and the blades you did for the book are really great too!

So, i arranged the mini tutorial you made. I seperated the .psd file into the working steps, layer by layer and tried to partly describe them a bit more. This was the first time making a tutorial, so if i got something totally wrong here (besides the orthography^^) pls tell me.
This was a great help and i hope this may help others too!
Light&ShadesMiniTutorial.jpg

[jbgibson]

"Mountains that lean over" ....

See, every once in a while the Sun gets drunk and flies too low. The pointiest peaks tend to start to melt - thankfully when he splashes down in the western ocean, it sobers him up fast, so the SizzleDays only happen one at a time. And the hangover is truly cosmic, so the memory of the aftereffects keeps Sun flying right for long periods between. Terribly hard on the living - only cavedwellers and fish survive, and half the fish wind up broiled. Since the underfolk appreciate over-surface things like pork, and chestnuts, and cotton underdrawers, they keep a stockpile of seeds and livestock below, just against that next sky-revel-tipsy day.

They also tend to travel aboveground at night, just in case....

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Not saying you even need to rationalize, Abu Lafia, but Chick knows I can't resist what-if's and but-maybe's :-). Leaning peaks could even be just a style thing for your in-character cartographer - mountains so steep they certainly SEEM to loom right over a traveller. She's right - that kind of detail takes a view right out of 'realism' and plants it in 'fantasy' for me too - I'm just willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good story. And your 'story' writ in map form is already nice - can't wait to see it develop further.

Oh, and thanks for showing us & expanding on JEdwards' tutorial!

[Ilanthar]

Thanks for posting this mini tutorial, it's appreciated!

[Abu Lafia]

This sounds like a myth that could also be told in the world of Tarkir jbgibson! ...and thanks for the willingness to suspend the disbelief in this matter
Gimp had some trouble with my tablet pen after a wacom driver update, but after i reinstalled gimp (not really necessary after all oO) and reinstalling the older driver again, i solved the problem. The good thing is, now gimp seems to be working much bettter with the tablet then before, after i followed a lot of tips from other users who had similar problems
So i finally worked a bit more on the map and added light to a large part of the northern mountain range...
Tarkir_WIP_XIIa.jpg

EDIT: another update with more mountains completed. I left the Jeskai Territory out for now, since there is still a lot of linework to do (mountains, hills, canyon, rivers, cities) ... Will see if i continue with the rest of the mountain linework in the (south-)western parts, or with the details of the ground, the rivers and forests in the other parts.
Tarkir_WIP_XIIIa.jpg

Cheers,
AL

[ChickPea]

Mountains are looking better and better!

I need to practice that tutorial stat!

[Ilanthar]

Looking at it , I think that an other thing I like about this map is the angle you chose for the view .

[GreatWhiteNorth]

So, i arranged the mini tutorial you made. I seperated the .psd file into the working steps, layer by layer and tried to partly describe them a bit more. This was the first time making a tutorial, so if i got something totally wrong here (besides the orthography^^) pls tell me.
This was a great help and i hope this may help others too!
Light&ShadesMiniTutorial.jpg

This may seem remedial but...smudge brush! I've never used it before and it seems so clear now. My mountains will improve so much!

[J.Edward]

It's looking good Abu.
Eager to see how you'll do those forests.

This may seem remedial but...smudge brush! I've never used it before and it seems so clear now. My mountains will improve so much!

GWN - I said the same thing once I started to use the smudge.
No matter how long I work with PS it seems there's always something new to learn.

[Abu Lafia]

This may seem remedial but...smudge brush! I've never used it before and it seems so clear now. My mountains will improve so much!

Hey GWN, glad the tut inspired you to give the smudge tool a try. I can only recommend it. After i had the same realization, the smudge tool became my plan B doing the mountains on my Dor-en-Ernil map, since i wanted to avoid drawing detailed linework . It turned out it was a great tool to use for mountains. The initial idea came from jfrazierjr's "How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool" Tutorial)

It's looking good Abu.
Eager to see how you'll do those forests.

Thanks J., i'm eager too see it too! I'll look for a way to make them match the rest of the map ("somehow" isometric^^) but hopefully less time-consuming than the other parts

I continued with the linework in the south western part of the map (Jeskai Territory). With this done i have at least the outlines of all the mountains and the rough landscape is "fixed" now, finally ... I also sketched in the large river in the Jeskai territory (still some tributary(?) rivers to think about) and the third of the four main Jeskai cities. It's located on an island in a lake. The fourth is placed in a large flooded caldera. I sketched it near the south, but definitely needs a rework.

Made some tests with different colors. Below you can see the version i like best. I started to blend the mountains with the ground in the northern and central mountains.
Tarkir_WIP_XIVa.jpg


Edit: Oh boy, my workflow is still a total mess...

As always, comments, critique & suggestions are very much appreciated (especially on the overall perspective )!

Cheers,
AL

[Barek333]

This is looking better and better

The slight differences in color of the land, the texture of the big forest, mountains..really really nice. This will end up great!

It looks like what I want to do with my Maalik's forest map style...still need a couple of years though