October 2023 Challenge: Nightmare Bay

[ChickPea]

I don't have anything to show yet, but I'm starting a thread to motivate myself.

My initial thought for this challenge was to show potential sea level rises and I was using a map of Glasgow as a base. But I hated what I had and, despite many attempts to improve it, it looked crap, so I binned the lot & deleted the files in case I changed my mind!

So, instead, I'm going for a fun little fantasy map with a nightmarish theme in the place names and will probably incorporate some Halloween tropes too, cos I can't resist Halloween!

I'm hoping to post something in the next couple of days.

[Diamond]

Looking forward to it!

[ChickPea]

Well, I have a coastline. It's a start. I drew some mountains, then some rivers, then I deleted the mountains but left the rivers, but the rivers might get deleted or changed too... But... I have a coastline!

Going for a monochrome palette, though I may add small splashes of (maybe) red here and there, but not full colour.

### Latest WIP ###

2.jpg

[Kellerica]

I'm so glad to see you're back to mapping!

[ChickPea]

I'm so glad to see you're back to mapping!

Thanks, Kell!


I've had a productive morning! Here's what I have so far, but I need some opinions. Do you prefer the red labels or the dark purple? I keep going back and forth between them, unable to decide which works better. Sorry the quality isn't the greatest, it was just two quick low-res exports combined, but enough hopefully to judge the colours.

The grey blobs are going to be forest areas. Haven't started those yet. And I'm going to make some Halloween-y themes for the icons, hopefully.

### Latest WIP ###

label-colour.jpg

[Kellerica]

I personally much prefer the purple labels - I think they make for a more consistent look. They could maybe be just a touch darker if you want them to pop a bit more, but I'd definitely keep in them in the same colour range as the rest of the map.

[ChickPea]

Thanks Kell, appreciate your thoughts. I think I'm going to make my final choice once I've made the little icons that I want to add. I understand the sense of keeping the colour palette consistent, but I'm still kinda torn cos I like the red... If there's a bit of red in the icons, the labels won't seem quite so different. But... we'll see!

[ChickPea]

Another update. After a lot of faffing around, I have decided Kell is wise and my labels must be purple. I did tweak the town markers and added a red/purple gradient, but it's fairly subtle and I think it works.

I'm fairly far along, just a forest to place at the top right, and maybe one or two little tweaks here and there.

I enjoyed making the icon with the pumpkins. I imagined a field of pumpkins, bleached white in the moonlight, and they grow with that evil grin already in place. No need for carving! And in certain lights, the inner flesh seems to glow with a blood red colour...

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Sleep well, everyone!

### Latest WIP ###

map2.jpg

[Kellerica]

Finally, someone appreciates how wise I am!

I love those icons, especially the Doom Fields. I'm always a fan of a good silhoutte.

[Simkin]

Really nice map, with the right holloween wibe and really cool icon.