February 2020 Challenge: The Scarlet Canyons

[XCali]

Hello everyone!

Been a while since I partook in a challenge. This premise tickled my fancy, so here I am again with something quite out of the box for me, but it feels like it is going to be a fun challenge.

So, as it stands a bunch of settlers found a mysterious canyon with giant crystals stretching across its width and wanted to stay and discover its secrets. Thus the small town Scarlet Rock was founded. Though, alongside the incredible discoveries made in the early days including old ruins deeper into the canyon within the first year, several people went missing. This, as an obvious side effect, drew the attention of adventurers to investigate its many caves and ruins to find out why this place was claiming people for itself.

It would be fun to hear your thoughts on the idea.
Cheers
Omri

Scarlet_Canyons_1.jpeg

Here I started giving the crystals their first go over.
### Latest WIP ###
Scarlet_Canyons_2.jpeg

[XCali]

Ahoi!

It is quite a story to highlight and burn the crystals until they start to look like well, crystals. But it is an interesting challenge and it is coming along apart from a few things I'm not entirely certain how to change.

### Latest WIP ###
Scarlet_Canyons_3.jpeg

[XCali]

Whoops!! Completely forgot to add the title tag. February 2020 Challenge: The Scarlet Canyons.

If a mod can please change it, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Ilanthar]

Very nice shading on those scarlet crystals .
And change is done .

[Tiana]

The crystals look great. Just make a new layer and paint over anything you don't like.

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Hi XCali, it's nice to see some new artwork from you.

At first I was just staring at it in confusion, not seeing the map, so I read the description again and realized this is just the canyon so far, and the settlement is not on the map yet. Those crystals are gigantic; it takes a while to realize just how much. Their scale will probably be much clearer when you add some buildings or whatnot.

You took exotic way further than I'd expect. Normally crystals of this size occur in the form of glaciers or icebergs, but though translucent, you would never see them in such colour. That makes me wonder: just what mineral is this? The red brings cinnabar to mind, which, since it contains mercury, is toxic, and has some unpleasant effects. You mentioned mysterious disappearances?

I hope you share some story along with the progress of this map.

[arsheesh]

Those crystals are coming along nicely. This should prove to be a great entry.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[XCali]

Very nice shading on those scarlet crystals .
And change is done .

Thanks a bunch!

The crystals look great. Just make a new layer and paint over anything you don't like.

Hehe, in the end I just scrapped an entire layer and started from the beginning. Tx for the advice.

Hi XCali, it's nice to see some new artwork from you.

At first I was just staring at it in confusion, not seeing the map, so I read the description again and realized this is just the canyon so far, and the settlement is not on the map yet. Those crystals are gigantic; it takes a while to realize just how much. Their scale will probably be much clearer when you add some buildings or whatnot.

You took exotic way further than I'd expect. Normally crystals of this size occur in the form of glaciers or icebergs, but though translucent, you would never see them in such colour. That makes me wonder: just what mineral is this? The red brings cinnabar to mind, which, since it contains mercury, is toxic, and has some unpleasant effects. You mentioned mysterious disappearances?

I hope you share some story along with the progress of this map.

Indeed they are! A map with big crystals is something I have been hoping to do for quite a while, so this challenge presented a perfect opportunity to just go for it.
I did base the crystals of Pruskite, the ruby version. As far as I read, there is iron in it somewhere? Not too sure what gives its red color, but it is what I wanted to go for in this one.
I do hope to expand the story! I'll see if I can do it justice.

Those crystals are coming along nicely. This should prove to be a great entry.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

Thank you Arsheesh! Appreciate it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyhoo,

Today, I wanted to have another go at the cliffs, they had been proving somewhat temperamental, but this version is better for me.
And I finally added the settlement. Still a lot of shading and highlighting to do there, but the scale comes through now.

Hope you enjoy.

### Latest WIP ###
Scarlet_Canyons_4.jpeg

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Hi again. I didn't expect the settlement to be at the bottom of the canyon. Wow! This is not a place for the faint of heart.

The cliffs may seem temperamental because their texture is so different on top than on the bottom of the canyon where it resembles sand.

[XCali]

Hi again. I didn't expect the settlement to be at the bottom of the canyon. Wow! This is not a place for the faint of heart.

The cliffs may seem temperamental because their texture is so different on top than on the bottom of the canyon where it resembles sand.

Hehe, it does seem brave. Though, I think the water being closer is their reason.
Also, I wanted the sand like texture for the bottom, the rock itself gets shaped by the wind erosion and it settled on the bottom as a finer grained sand.