[WIP] Map the First

[George Bronx]

Back in the late 90s I had a friend from high school go off to college for computer programming. He'd been programming as a hobby for a couple years and was light-years ahead of his classes in the beginning. The spring semester of his first year, his professor challenged him to make a game. Jumping at the chance to use my art schooling I tagged along for the front end visual stuff (and the fun of world building). We pulled a month of all-nighters hammering out basic plot and back story. It was a good time.

After a couple weeks of back story, I started into the graphic part of world building. A few redesigns later and this is as far as I got before he took it and built the map in the game (which unfortunately didn't get finished by the end of the semester and died). I had to cut up my original 24x36 hand drawn to scan it. Cringed a bit at the first cut but I think it will be worth it. I want to complete this as my first map. I haven't decided if I'm going to go digital or have another go at hand drawn.

There's a bit of tweaking I need to do to make some ideas more believable with landmasses and rivers but I'm excited

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[arsheesh]

I look forward to watching what you do with this George, especially knowing the history of this piece.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[George Bronx]

Thanks I'm just hoping I can find a style I enjoy working in that doesn't get overly monotonous.

Took a stab at some digital stuff today. The textures are just temporary to I don't have to stare at flat color all day. Roughed in some mountains so I could work on the waterways. I'm fairly pleased with the locations of the lakes and rivers, but the visuals seem a bit off.

Also just realized the delta spilling into the bay at the south would probably fill it with sediment rather quickly. Going to have to move that.

Still lots to do.

2013-11-15-WIP-001.jpg

[George Bronx]

Seven years is an acceptable time between updates, right? I'm riding this wave of inspiration for as long as it takes me. Hopefully it lasts longer than the first time.
The external hard drive I have all the work for this map on won't turn on, so all I have to start from is the images I posted here in 2013.

There is an absolutely insane amount of inspiration in this forum. Thank you all for inadvertently pointing me in a direction I didn't realize I wanted to go so many years ago. I love the believability that comes from worlds with plate tectonics, so here we go. I tried to see if I could get a fault line that would explain the land masses that were already in the last sketch.

plates01-10.jpg
I couldn't find anything that I felt did enough.
Draft 2

plates02-10.jpg
A lot happier with this one. I think the scale changed a bit. I had always envisioned this island as a smaller continent. The plates that made me feel better about the land makes it feel much bigger.
On to topography drafting.

topo01-10.png
Pretty pleased with how the majority of it is coming along.

topo02-10.png
ZOMG islands

update01-10.png
I don't think I have the words to express how happy I am with the islands. There is still a ton of cleanup to do and as I'm uploading, I've noticed a couple plate boundaries that I need to resolve some subduction issues... but that's what drafts are for.

Still a long way to go

[George Bronx]

11 Hours is enough for one night. Its getting there. More fidelity will only make it better. I can't decide if I like with or without the layer outlines though.
Outlinestopo with outline copy.png No outlinestopo no outline copy.png

[eepjr24]

Very nice, what are you mapping in?

- E

[George Bronx]

Photoshop and a wacom tablet

[George Bronx]

small update
update003.png