Forgotten Realms - Thar - Commission

[Derek Von Zarovich]

Over the next few months, I have the personal objective of illustrating many different areas of the Dungeons and Dragons setting, Forgotten Realms. This is the first one, which is also a private commission.

Thar is the name of this area. This map will be available for sale at the DMs Guild soon btw

What do you guys think?

[Ilanthar]

Very nice map with a very pleasant "classic" style and good colors. I'm not so fond of the mix of hatching for hills and the more top-down mountains, to be honest.

[ace.lo]

Looks nice! I particularly like the trails for some reason. I do have a little trouble reading the smaller names (more because of the narrowness of the letter strokes than the font pt) but that's a quibble and likely wouldn't be an issue off a computer.

[Greg]

As Ilanthar said, you've really captured that classic look with this one Derek!

If I really had to nitpick, I think it really comes to life with the subtle texture lines: with the grass, swamp and relief hatching, and I think this look would have worked well with the forests and the sea as well, where the lines are a tad stronger.

[damonjynx]

Nice work mate. Really emulates the style of the official 3E version of the map.

[Derek Von Zarovich]

Very nice map with a very pleasant "classic" style and good colors. I'm not so fond of the mix of hatching for hills and the more top-down mountains, to be honest.

Thanks Ilanthar !!! Actually at the end I regretted my choice for mountains and hills.

[Derek Von Zarovich]

Looks nice! I particularly like the trails for some reason. I do have a little trouble reading the smaller names (more because of the narrowness of the letter strokes than the font pt) but that's a quibble and likely wouldn't be an issue off a computer.

Thanks a lot ! wel actually the illustration is almost 3000x3000 so reading is easy when zooming in

[handsome_unlimited]

Very cool. If you want to stick with the Schley-style inks and colour, try making the water a lighter shade of blue, and throw some highlights around the water ripples. It makes a huge difference. Also, if you change the colour of the text for forests, rivers and the like, you can further emulate that style.

[handsome_unlimited]

Actually, hang on, did you say this was a commission? I'm not meaning to throw out accusations here, but I'd be worried that you're toeing a line dangerously close to plagiarism. I'm a huge fan of Schley myself, and I've tried to emulate his style in plenty of maps... but this is a direct copy of his existing work:

Cause For Concern.jpg

I'm not sure how the OpenGamingLicense works exactly for DMsGuild, but you might be stepping on the toes of Mike Schley himself, and possibly Ed Greenwood (as far as I remember, the Forgotten Realms isn't under the OGL). And worst of all, you might draw the ire of WotC, whose lawyers are notoriously brutal about protecting their intellectual property. If you're doing this as a commission, it generally means you're being compensated for it.

Don't want to kick up a stink, but this is a bad thing? I think?

[Wired]

I really like the style of both, the original and the "copy", mainly because it's such a different approach to my style of mapping. But I agree with handsome_unlimited: this could, potentially, get you into trouble.