Mountain Village

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village Progress Shot 1.png

Trying my had at a hand-drawn, perspective map. This will really push the boundaries of my artistic skill. I am using Autodesk SketchBook to do this aided by the perspective tool. It is a two point perspective.

Some background:

The map is of a small mountain village. The people who inhabit the village are farmers who are part of a civilization made up of three distinct cultures who have banned together to form a mutually supportive society. The three cultures are a nomadic horse-centric culture (modeled after the Mongols and the Turkmens), a farming culture, and a merchant/trader culture. Each group is semi-autonomous, ruled by their own council of elders, but each of these councils falls under a single high council. Collectively they refer to themselves as the Ÿoldash (which means friends). Their relationship is close: they share the same language, they hold each other in mutual respect (appreciating the unique skills and contributions of each other), and their high council is made up of elders from all three peoples.

The Atil (the nomadic horse culture) serve the primary military/security role for the society and roam/patrol the Gramen Steppes.

The Ÿer Abermek (which means "those who serve the land") are a farming culture that has villages throughout combined territory, settling in the areas that provide rich farmland. They provide a steady supply of food for the combined society.

The Okde Söwdagar move about in caravans trading with the peoples of East and West, conveying supplies to the Atil and Ÿer Abermek, and bring wealth to the combined peoples.

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village 1.2.png

Not a whole lot of progress. This is going to be slow going for me. There is a lot to learn and I have very little idea what I am doing. The last time I worked with vanishing points was probably in Architectural Drafting class in high school. That was about forty years ago.

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village 1.3.png

The latest. Worked on the mountain stream. The order I am doing things is probably not the way it should be done, but it is a learning experience and the focus is on developing my skills and learning the process.

Edit: I keep forgetting to erase the halo around the colored building.

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village 1.4.png

Added stone bridge. Had to have some way to get across that pesky stream. Did a little clean up of guide lines. Redid first walk-on hut and made it same height as the other one.

[Larb]

One option is to cheat and block in all the basic shapes in something like sketchup first. It saves a lot of agonising over vanishing points and perspective and stuff.

Another option is to just an isometric or other orthographic grid for your guides on another layer and then delete it when you're done.

[Texas Jake]

Thanks Larb. I am using the the perspective tool to block out the shapes which is much easier than actually using the vanishing points and a straight edge. I am enjoying the challenge. The whole process is making me think and developing my eyes.

[Rochnan]

Hey Texas Jake,
Looking good, and I like the backstory you have

This looks a lot like what I'm doing right now, and we'll probably run into similar problems. So if you need (moral) support let me know

[Texas Jake]

Thanks Rochnan.

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village 1.5.png

Learning about shifting vanishing points. Getting better with my sketching, I think.

[Texas Jake]

Mountain Village 1.55.png

The latest.