Aernemergenland - My first black-and-white regional fantasy map!

[Wired]

Hey guys, with the Westeros and Essos in Space (Game of Thrones as scifi) finally done I've decided to try my hand at something new: a black and white map, and a regional one at that. That's actually two new things, as I usually seem to go for the full world map all the time for some reason.

I'm trying to orientate myself on the marvellous B&W works of our own Maxime Plasse in some regards which is, admittedly, a very ambitious goal.

Fantasy Map trial.jpg

Not much too see at this point. So far I've merely blocked in the terrain and added a simple background pattern for the ocean. Most of the work so far has been spent on the frame and basic decorations, with the goal of turning them from pristine Photoshop strokes into something a bit more organic and natural or, well, dirty, I suppose. Fun fact: I used the same brushes to create the territory that I used to dirty the framework.

Ironically I seem to have misplaced the sketch I had made some time ago for this map, so it'll be as interesting for you as it's for me what this develops into.


UPDATE: Newest version is here.
Fantasy Map trial 2.jpg

[Meshon]

Two new things at once! Way to grow!
I really enjoy black and white maps (maybe with gray) so I'm excited that you're doing this. Thanks for sharing your work in progress, I will check back.

cheers,
Meshon

[Wired]

Two new things at once! Way to grow!
I really enjoy black and white maps (maybe with gray) so I'm excited that you're doing this. Thanks for sharing your work in progress, I will check back.

cheers,
Meshon

Thank you.

I've got a small update.

Fantasy Map trial.jpg

Worked on the ocean background layer and lowered its opacity.

Laid in the main rivers.

Built a compass rose from scratch.

Blocked in the general direction of the main mountain range.

[Wired]

Heh, and another one. This is what I worked on for the past hour or so, probably longer. I've never been terribly good with drawing people etc. Usually, I prefer the somewhat predictable shapes of maps. But this really was fun to do. A cut-out depicting an important location.

Two statues of ancient Alvae warrior kings (an elven-like race) guarding the entrance to their heartland. Both would be imbued with extremely strong and terrifying magical wards.

Update 1.jpg

I took LotR's Argonaths as a reference, but to be honest I got the idea from this image:

[Wired]

Location symbols so far.

[J.Edward]

Those are nice wired. Leothora is my fave out of the three.

I just went back and looked at one of the previous maps... the label for the title.. that's nice too.

[a.coldyham]

I like the way the tip of the tower just leaves the circle, it gives a great sense of scale

[Wired]

Those are nice wired. Leothora is my fave out of the three.

I just went back and looked at one of the previous maps... the label for the title.. that's nice too.

Thank you. Leothora and The Watchers are custom-made while the last one uses some brushes made available by... Schwartzkreuz, I think? I'll probably go with something custom in a later version.

And the label is something I'm really happy with. Photoshop has the trait of producing rather pristine forms, so I had to find a way to trick it. What I did was to use a set of ink blot brushes to block in a form and then erase it around the edges to get this irregular yet rectangular-shaped form. Mark that one, create a new layer, stroke the marked one: bingo. Then take one or more of the ink blot brushes in the eraser tool, set the brush size to something very small and nibble along the edges from the inside and the outside. Took me some time to figure that one out, but once I got there it's comparably easy.

I like the way the tip of the tower just leaves the circle, it gives a great sense of scale

Thank you, that was my goal.

[Wired]

Okay, update and another premiere for me: hand-drawn mountains. I added a small amount of shading. Whether that stays depends on how it'll will mesh with the rest of the map in the end.
Fantasy Map trial mountains.jpg

I've added all location symbols so far. I have more in mind, but adding them would seriously clutter the map.
Fantasy Map trial.jpg

[jshoer]

Nice. I like that mountain shading, and I bet it'll evolve well as you go. I might tweak the slopes of some peaks, though, as they seem to be pushing the angle of repose!