November 2017 Challenge: The Glyphs of Kaylaric

[Mouse]

Thank you, Storm

I'm also pretty pleased with the ring of Sharva's Spirit Ocean. I just hope that with all the delays I've had there's still enough time to finish...

[Mouse]

A bit more village and a colour adjustment.

I couldn't very well have Sharva's Spirit Ocean visible during the daylight, so its night time now

### Latest WIP ###
The Glyphs of Kaylaric V10.JPG

I've noticed the very slight mismatch of 1-5 pixels variation between the image exported from CC3 and the images created in GIMP (which is what is causing the fuzziness around the edges of the darker part of the map (the bit exported from CC3), but I am hoping to have remedied that by tonight, and probably finished it by then as well.

[Mouse]

Also just noticed I've got the layers in the wrong order - the text is on top of the stones

EDIT: Here it is the way it was supposed to turn out:

### Latest WIP ###
The Glyphs of Kaylaric V10.JPG

[QED42]

This map has gone through a lot of major revisions but it's turned out really well!

[Mouse]

Thanks QED

From pylon to magic circles the size of a village, then from day to night - I guess it has changed quite a bit

EDIT: but its not finished yet...

[Mouse]

I think I'm onto "Glyphs of Kaylaric - Rescue V5.xcf" (though of course you will only see the exported file name, which is something like "Glyphs of Kaylaric V11.jpg". Things are bad! LOL! I tried cleaning up the edge of the paper (which was fuzzy) and deepening the shadows, but I crashed GIMP in the middle of a 'drop shadow' effect, corrupted the file, and had to start with all the basic pieces again from about 3 versions ago.

So here it is (again) - a full day's work dedicated to sharpening up the edges; complete with hand painted shadows. All the shadows are hand painted. I wasn't going to try that drop shadow thing again! No way!

### Latest WIP ###
The Glyphs of Kaylaric V11.JPG

EDIT: Question - what do you think about labels on this map? There aren't any at the moment, but if I added labels to key buildings, like the castle, naming each of the glyphs, stock pens, river names, etc, I'm not sure how to do it. White text with a black glow? Something else? So far I'm pretty sure I could actually paint this map for real in gouache on decent quality paper, but I'm not so sure I could paint tiny white letters with a black glow at the scale required to fit the spaces available...

All ideas welcome

[Redrobes]

Lovely map Mouse. I think the map has a lot of text already so I personally think that more may clutter it. But it depends on what you think the map is for and whats important in it. It seems to me that its the glyphs that are the really important thing and they are well defined. In my mind its not like this is a road map or location map for the village but more of a document listing the maintainance of the glyphs.

BTW: I was thinking in earlier WIPs that you could have done with more shadow but this map has it nailed. Really nice esp around the stones.

The layering thing taking an hour is something I could not bear. I use my compositor app to do that but it doesnt have the GUI to make it convenient. I guess you have to use what you are comfortable with.

[Mouse]

Thank you, Red

Phew! Thank goodness the shadows are done! That was quite a trial and a half...

Taking an hour to put it all together is because I'm using two completely different apps which can only talk to each other in jpg and png exports/imports. GIMP is better at general soft shading (well, usually it is when it isn't crashing), and CC3 gives me perfectly shaded building rooftops automatically, and I've made varicolour fruit tree and flowering shrub symbols in CC3, for which there is no equivalent in GIMP. A varicolour symbol is like a sort of 'super-brush' whereby I can paste bushes and shrubs with different coloured flowers and fruit at the click of the palette - any colour of the rainbow.

I could draw this map using only CC3 or GIMP, but the combination is better than either on its own, and well worth the time getting them to talk to one another nicely

Your compositor is really cool. That's the app you used to create your map for the mixed challenge entry, isn't it. If you give it a GUI it would probably sell like hot-cakes - same with that really cool erosion app you used for your last Lite Challenge entry

[Mouse]

I've streamlined the process somewhat with a better system now that the GIMP work is mostly done. I have a GIMP master file with the table and outside edge of the scroll and its shadows all set up, and just need to import the latest CC3 export each time. Got it down to half an hour now

Finished the village, and tried out a few labels. I was in two minds about labels after what you said, Red, but I think the way they look goes with the map, and they aren't as stark and out of place as white with a black glow - not now they are underneath the GIMP overlay that gives the night time shades. They also add a couple of useful hints about the sort of thing the planners of new villages might consider before they go and set themselves up in a circle that's just too small to accommodate things like livestock pens (since livestock are just as vulnerable to the Dark Magics as humans), and room for food storage and population growth.

### Latest WIP ###
The Glyphs of Kaylaric V12.JPG

Things still to do:

Field textures outside the village.
Final adjustments to the overall colour scheme.
A few more labels? We'll see - depends on if there are any more useful hints to be given.

[ladiestorm]

This is looking absolutely fantastic, Mouse! The only 'nit pick' I can give you... is the compass. It's getting lost, because it's color is too close to the background color. Or maybe it's not big enough? What ever the reason, it's hard to see. Other than that, I can find nothing wrong with this just as it is!