December 2015 Annual Challenge: City of Hills

[tainotim]

Better late than never. This will be the WIP for my annual challenge project. My intention with this project is to do a illustrative city map, in a similar style to my previous projects – but on a much larger scale.

With this project I want to have this feeling of a sprawling cityscape, with a abundance of small details to explore, and yet I also want to maintain that feeling of "castle-dominance" that I had in my Bran Castle map earlier this year. And if anyone have some ideas what to include in this map, feel free to come with suggestions as I go along. It's always appreciated

Now, I won't keep going. This is what I have so far. Just some outlining on the "main" castle (regrettably my scanner fail at scanning graphite so you can't see my sketch).


### Latest WIP ###
City of Hills 1.jpg

[Corilliant]

Yes! I love your sense of perspective when it comes to mapping.
Hey, perhaps you could incorporate some of the wilder sides of the fantasy world. Play around with physics, or make some amazing structure that would be impossible to build in our world.

What will be the main feature of this castle? Have you picked a time period of sorts yet?

(Really looking forward to seeing where this goes...I love your maps )

[ChickPea]

Have to echo Corilliant. I really like the style of maps you create too, and am really looking forward to watching this one.

[Abu Lafia]

Oh boy, sorry i can't resist if one of my favourite cartographers here is inviting publicly for suggestions!

What i would love to see in a big city are some bigger wooden structures, like cranes, waterwheels etc., since till now i haven't seen anything like this in one of your fantastic city maps.
Another idea (not too easy i guess, but hey, it's only a suggestion...) would be, to depict the city during a siege. There would be so many different spots to discover and with some siege towers/engines also some wooden stuff, and fire ofc . It would be interesting to see, as your cities look normally very peaceful. Not that i don't like that, but it would bring some dynamic into the map i guess...
Really looking forward to this project of yours!
Cheers,
AL

PS: Damn, i was so hyped, i forgot to say that the castle looks damn excellent so far!

[Ilanthar]

Great! I'm sure I'm gonna love this one . Concerning suggestions, I wish I had more to offer than the excellent ones already proposed.

[tainotim]

Whaow! Big thanks for all the support and kind words. Can't express my appreciation enough. And even bigger thanks for all the great suggestions, keep them coming, they are very inspirational.

Corilliant: I haven't really decided upon a "time period". Don't think I will, apart from Medieval/early modern inspiration. Having no time boundaries allows for a more creative, fantasy flare. Oh wait, did I just restrict myself to a time?
Some more fantasy-elements would be great! Perhaps a floating Island somewhere with some building on it; add another level to the drawing. Though, I don't want to make the "fantasy" to obvious

Abu Lafia: more wood, that's a great idea. Guess it's something I have avoided in the past, because I find it so difficult to draw. But hay, they call it a challenge for a reason! I really like your suggestions and will see what I can do. Perhaps some buildings under construction? Not so keen towards the siege idea on this big scale, but perhaps something I could try for a smaller city/castle map
(Also, thank you for the very kind words – and congratulations on the silver compass!)

Illanthar and ChickPea: Thank you for the support

Now, a small update while I'm posting. Some details on the castle. Opposed to my usual "draw all outlines – detail – shadow" approach, I will try to outline and detail continuously for a more enjoyable WIP. Will be a lot of baby-steps on this one. Now, no time to write, have to draw!

Cheers,
Tainotim

city of hills 2.jpg

[snodsy]

I agree with Abu Lafia, but add a couple more o'boys! Will be following this one every step, love your work. Couple Ideas; Coliseum or other sporting event (jousting arena?), Monastary, Aquaduct or maybe a place like "Petra" building built into the mountain. I'm sure you'll come up with plenty. Looking forward to it.

[tainotim]

Thank you Snodsy. Those are some great suggestion. A monastery is must, and a aqueduct would be neat. The Petra inspiration would be cool, but I think it will be hard to fit on this one.

Another update. It's expanding!

### Latest WIP ###
city of hills 3.jpg

[J.Edward]

This is coming along nicely.

[Diamond]

This is looking great so far. It'd be interesting to give you a huge canvas, like 8 feet by 10 and have you fill the whole thing up with some huge Gormenghast castle or city. Now THAT would be a challenge.

Another idea (not too easy i guess, but hey, it's only a suggestion...) would be, to depict the city during a siege. There would be so many different spots to discover and with some siege towers/engines also some wooden stuff, and fire ofc .

This.