"The Spider's Nest" - inked-in WIP

[Chris Lewis]

### Latest WIP ###

I wanted to draw a series of islands with craggly, spidery features so I figured the name was becoming I plotted the 3 land masses out using pinto beans then penciled them in and traced them with a marker. I don't like the way the island on the bottom came out so I think I'm going to abandon that one. I really wanted to practice honing my skills on drawing geographic features and the use of perspective to make the details pop. I also wanted to incorporate both vertical and horizontal mountains, forests, and water.

To bring out the ISO features of this map I did a few things differently. I used a drop shadow effect instead of bolding the entire perimeter of the island. And instead of drawing water lines around the entire island, I drew them in just where I placed the drop shadow. Trying to use a less-is-more approach, I'm happy with the results.

Please feel free to critique and leave comments. I appreciate them!

spiders_nest_001.jpg
spiders_nest_002.jpg
spiders_nest_003.jpg
spiders_nest.jpg

[Mouse]

What an interesting idea, Chris

How about adding a few more tiny island to suggest the missing 2 legs of the spider?

Your mountains are definitely getting better - more natural in shape and form. I'm not entirely convinced about the necessity to drop shadow shade the trees... But I think that's probably more about the differences between our respective styles, and isn't anything that could be said to be 'wrong' in any sense of the word

I'd like to see this one digitally shaded and coloured

[Chris Lewis]

What an interesting idea, Chris

How about adding a few more tiny island to suggest the missing 2 legs of the spider?

Your mountains are definitely getting better - more natural in shape and form. I'm not entirely convinced about the necessity to drop shadow shade the trees... But I think that's probably more about the differences between our respective styles, and isn't anything that could be said to be 'wrong' in any sense of the word

I'd like to see this one digitally shaded and coloured

Yes adding a few more tiny islands would be a good enhancement. My next step is to put all this stuff in GIMP, rrrrr. It's not easy going for me but I'm watching Lynda tutorials and will dive into the tutorials here on the guild. Getting over the hump is the hard part.

[Chris Lewis]

### Latest WIP ###
spiders_nest_v002.png
Done in GIMP 2.8 using a mouse

I am at my wit's end with trying to learn GIMP and so I am throwing this update over the wall to see what comes back in the way of what I need to do to achieve the results I want. I NEED LOTS OF HELP FOLKS! I've saved links to the tutorials that will help me but become frustrated bc I can't seem to achieve what they do. I've also gone through the Finished Maps to look at exemplars and spent most of my time in the Regional/World Mapping thread picking the brains of various artists whom I'm thankful for their time in responding.

What I've done to this point:

- Inked in the linework and uploaded the image taken from my phone (see first post) to GIMP. I'd like to scan it in but I don't have a scanner and wanted to get into GIMP as soon as I could.

Once in GIMP I:
- Added a Linework layer with a mask, set to Multiply (see Layers screenshot below). I turned the brightness and contrast all the way up and down so that the image was purely black and white. Not sure if I should have done this but it achieved the look I wanted to start with.
- Added a manuscript texture (with a mask set to Normal) for the land.
- Added an ocean texture layer set to Burn, on the "Clipboard".
- Added a Land Shading layer set to Multiplu and experimented with shading the mountains in the west.
- Added a Trees layer set to Multiply for the vegetation and experimented with shading.
spiders_nest_v002_gimpdialogbox.PNG

What I want to achieve but haven't been able to:

- Add waves to the coast. Currently they're black and I can't seem to draw over them to make them lighter.
- "Fade" the ocean around the coastal regions to signify shallower waters and make the land pop. I also haven't been successful with adding different "ocean" layers and adjusting the opacity to achieve different tones as several artists have suggested in other threads.
- Learn how to draw tapered rivers and fix the horrid job I did on the lake in the middle.

Questions I have:
- Should I just scrap this and start with a new "scan"?

Here are some images of what I would like to achieve...
[EDIT] The artist's links are listed below. Thank you J.Edward for providing a link, and to Mouse for reminding me to list where I got them from.
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...hlight=tentivu
http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2015/05...-in-the-ashes/

[Galendae]

Holy Crap! Where did that "An Ember in the Ashes" Map come from? Got a link?

[Mouse]

Please don't despair Chris.

I know less about how to do things in GIMP than you do, since I've never even used a mask, so I can't actually help you this time.

I'm sure that you will get the help you want in due course, but right now it might be time to take a short break and haul yourself all the way back out of that pit of despair and maybe do something else for an hour or two until someone who can help comes along to offer some real help.

ps - you might want to edit that post to credit the author's of those two examples for others to see, so they don't have to keep asking you what they are and where they came from

[J.Edward]

Holy Crap! Where did that "An Ember in the Ashes" Map come from? Got a link?

It's one of Torstan's maps.

[Josiah VE]

Man! That's looks awesome for using a mouse!
The Ember into Ashes map is on of my favorites ever, and I often try to replicate the style (mostly unsuccessfully).
I think if you want to make maps like this my advice would be, 1. Get a drawing tablet (if you can) 2. Go through all of the tutorials on Fantastic Maps many times 3. Practice, practice, PRACTICE!
Drawing tablets are extremely useful, and I would highly recommend getting one, if that's a possibility for you.

The background texture looks a bit low quality, but that's something you could easily fix.

[kacey]

I think you're headed in the right direction, I agree with everything Josiah said especially the part about getting a graphics tablet, and going through all the tutorials on fantasticmaps.

The water looks good from afar, but like Josiah said a higher resolution on the texture would improve it when viewing up close...I like the look you've achieved with the colour tho, it looks good....Definitly don't trash this, it's a very good first try, and any issues you're having can be resolved with practice, and giving yourself the chance to move forward by not getting bogged down by beginners woes. It takes time to learn these programmes, they can be very frustrating even when you've used them for a long time.

I'm curious, what layer are you trying to put the wave lines on, I don't see it in you're screen shot.

[Chris Lewis]

Please don't despair Chris.

I know less about how to do things in GIMP than you do, since I've never even used a mask, so I can't actually help you this time.

I'm sure that you will get the help you want in due course, but right now it might be time to take a short break and haul yourself all the way back out of that pit of despair and maybe do something else for an hour or two until someone who can help comes along to offer some real help.

ps - you might want to edit that post to credit the author's of those two examples for others to see, so they don't have to keep asking you what they are and where they came from

Thank you for the reassurance, Mouse and for the reminder to add credits to the maps. I had through my Subscriptions to find the threads.