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With such a sea monster, who needs rhumb lines ? I _love_ it (and would be totally unable to draw something like that : whatever I do I never get them frightening or even serious).
Map is very great now the shadows are done !
I have to side with Sue here. You rock the pen !
With such a sea monster, who needs rhumb lines ? I _love_ it (and would be totally unable to draw something like that : whatever I do I never get them frightening or even serious
Map is very great now the shadows are done !
About the scanning and the slight blurring there. From what I can see the blurring is variable across the map, which might be caused either by dirt on the scanning glass (the type you can't see unless you get down eye level with it and look across it), or if the paper isn't lying absolutely flat on the bed. I put a magazine on top of mine if I can't shut the lid because of the rest of the sketchbook. The scanner focus is only sharp when the paper is in snug contact with the glass. A gap of just a mm can make a huge difference, and can very easily cause the degree of blurring you have right there.
Also in the scanner settings you can usually set scanners to scan at different resolutions. I think the default resolution is only about 72 dpi on most office scanners, which is ok if you're scanning pages of text, but really poor when scanning graphics. I've been known to wop my scanner right up to 600 dpi and then reduce the image to a more sensible size in the bitmap editor of my choice - the one with the best AA filter.
As far as the background goes - I prefer the second version
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
Oh that looks great with the parchment background, the blurring from the scanner isn't really noticeable, it doesn't bother me one bit but I can understand the frustration, if it was mine, which I wish it was, then it would bug the hell out of me because I'd see it as a problem but most people (who didn't make the map) wouldn't even notice.
And I'm curious about the shading, did you use marker for this or paint? Or is it just really blended pencil?
Ha! I have not been clear, obviously. What I posted is another photograph, not the scan. The scan was worst. And you mainly have it Mouse, I just can't find a way to place half of the sheet against the glass without damaging a bit the paper (and I don't want to do this).
@ThomasR : Merci! You're one of those who gave me the itch to really give it a try.
@MistyBeee : I've seen your illustrations on Tamriel, there are way more gorgeous and complex than this (and monsters are always a bit easier than people for me... because you can mess more with them without ruining the idea).
@Mouse : I'll probably go with the second version then, thanks!
@Kacey ; yeah, that's right. Anyway, it's a test so I'm probably gonna use this picture and not waste more time. For the shading, I used "shades of grey" faber castel pens. The rest is done with sigma microns.
For future reference, then, have you tried doing either end and also a section in the middle and stitching them all together?
I had to do it that way for Road to Tiamis, which was A3 scanned on an A4 scanner. Its practically impossible to do a whole perfect half
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
Yeah, almost impossible indeed! Plus, I had two other issues : I lost a few millimeters on one side (no matter what) and I had do use my old laptop because the scan software wouldn't work on the win10 of my new computer (and there is no linux version, of course...).
I don't want to cut this in half, but the thought had crossed my mind. Well, I don't know what you did but it really work on Tiamis, I would never had guessed it was in two parts
Three parts
Left, Right, and Centre. That way the fuzzy inner edges where I had to curve the paper were scanned again in the central part, and all I had to do was stitch it all together again. I managed to scan the middle section only by very gently curving the ends around to the back of the drawing, so that it was belly down on the scanner with the ends curled up either side - but most definitely not creased in any way.
Pleeeeeeeeas don't cut that lovely drawing in half!!!!
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
Thanks, Mouse, I'll try your scanning method!
On many cheap scanners, the top/lid comes completely off, leaving a relatively flat surface. If you cut a couple of pieces of cardboard to about the same size as your glass, you can then lay the map onto the glass in pretty much any position without worrying about wrinkling where the paper hits the hinge. I like to use a piece of black paper on the underside of the cardboard to reduce reflections. This advice is less helpful if the lid of your scanner doesn't come off, of course (unless you're willing to invest on a super-inexpensive scanner like the CanoScan LIDE scanner, remove the hinge, and just use the top without the hinge).
