Vultus, or The Face

[Kokor]

This started as a joke, and turned into a map.

My daughter's friend John photobombed a picture. It was funny, and I was playing around with Adobe Capture at the time. I converted the picture of his face into a a black and white hex grid, and got the brilliant idea that it looked like a map. Then made that observation out loud. So now I'm making a map.

In order to get this done relatively fast I bought a set of map brushes. I work in Photoshop.

I sketched out the landforms from the original hex grid, placed broad geographical areas on where I thought mountains would look good (i.e., the bridge of the nose, otherwise empty areas, etc.) then placed deserts and forests around that. I have no idea what the scale is, but it ranges from tropical islands in the south to snowy forests in the north.

I didn't want it to be "precise" but I do want it to be usable as a "hex crawl" type map. So for coloration I'm mostly using broad, chalk brushes and overlaid the grid on that. I haven't gotten to rivers, trails or many towns or cities.

Vultus half size.jpg

[Kellerica]

Ah, a fellow PS mapper Always a pleasure.

I think you're off to a nice start here. I quite enjoy that brush set you're using, and the landforms look interesting (and hearing the origin story makes them even more so). I'm not completely sold on that texture, though, it looks a little too rough for my taste and doesn't fully work with the colour scheme you have going on... but then again, I'm a huge texture nerd and known for my love for dark, murky colours, so feel free to take this with more than a grain of salt

All in all, quite nice for a first map in a long time. I look forward to seeing more.

[JoshStolarz]

I really like the concept and story behind this...accidental map haha. It looks like you’re off to a great start as well. The colors feel a little saturated for my personal taste but other than that I like how it’s coming along.

- Josh

[Kokor]

Ah, a fellow PS mapper Always a pleasure.

I think you're off to a nice start here. I quite enjoy that brush set you're using, and the landforms look interesting (and hearing the origin story makes them even more so). I'm not completely sold on that texture, though, it looks a little too rough for my taste and doesn't fully work with the colour scheme you have going on... but then again, I'm a huge texture nerd and known for my love for dark, murky colours, so feel free to take this with more than a grain of salt

All in all, quite nice for a first map in a long time. I look forward to seeing more.

Thank you, Kellerica. The brush set is http://www.gumroad.com/joelpigou . Its a really wonderful set, especially for me starting out. I will probably work on my own in the future, but this set is wonderful as is.

I'm not sure how I wanted to color scheme to go. I'm tending towards a bit cartoony, or at least kid book, sort of, style, rather than super 'realistic' or hand drawn. The texture I like but it might be a bit much . And I guess its like riding a bike, I got back into the hang of drawing it pretty fast.


I appreciate the feedback.

[Kokor]

I really like the concept and story behind this...accidental map haha. It looks like you’re off to a great start as well. The colors feel a little saturated for my personal taste but other than that I like how it’s coming along.

- Josh

Thank you, and you're right. It looks really saturated. I think when I was messing with the drivers to get the pen to work right I blew out my color profile. It looks more muted on my main screen. I want it a bit garish, but not quite so much.

[DrWho42]

This started as a joke, and turned into a map.

no worries! a lot of my projects kick off as jokes

[Kokor]

With the holidays I've only done a little work. Mostly playing with color, almost all of which I discarded. The tangible update are place names and some town/city placement.

For placenames I use this site: https://www.mithrilandmages.com/utilities/CityNames.php

I decided with is at least a continent area, so there are a handful of different cultures. Russian/Ukrainian, Turkish, Chinese, east African, Caribbean, Mexican, Spanish, British, counting clockwise from the top. I generated names from those areas and popped in the ones that struck my fancy. Sometimes I even looked up what they mean.

Any advice welcome.

[Levtrona]

really nice, like it. I like the colors and the textures and the little details. i instantly see this as a setting for some adventures. The only thing pedantic me doesnt like is the distorted fonts. the typeface itself is good. if its curving around a coastline, fine. Try to use use only two (or three) different sizes. Less is more.

Great joke still

[Kokor]

really nice, like it. I like the colors and the textures and the little details. i instantly see this as a setting for some adventures. The only thing pedantic me doesnt like is the distorted fonts. the typeface itself is good. if its curving around a coastline, fine. Try to use use only two (or three) different sizes. Less is more.

Great joke still

You're right, that trick with the fonts is overdone. Thanks for the feedback.