October 2016 challenge: Dracula, The Origins of a Name

[damonjynx]

It's Dracula, blood in this instance is good. More blood as J. Edward said probably wouldn't hurt. That texture/background is really good.

[7Sided]

I agree with the others, needs more blood. I love this start so far, kacey. I am really eager to see where it goes. Hard to go wrong with a beautiful paper texture! And the title box is looking really nice. Looking forward to seeing this!!

[kacey]

Thanks for the feedback damonjynx, and 7Sided it's much appreciated.

I'll see what I can do about adding more blood stains, but if I'm not able to match what's already there then I'll leave it alone, I really don't know how to accomplish it while keeping it consistent. Maybe I could clone what's already there, and try to change the shape, I'm really not sure it will work how I'd like.

If anyone has any ideas on how to add more blood stains while keeping them on par with the ones that came on the texture then I'm all ears, any help on how to do this would be deeply appreciated.

[Mouse]

Hey Kacey

Since I know nothing about how PS really works (other than what I can guess from using Corel Photopaint) I can't really help you with techniques, but I strongly recommend not getting too involved with the bloodstains before any of the rest of the map is done.

Why not draw the map and come back to the stains later?

That way, there will only be the stains to do and nothing else to worry about and distract your concentration.

EDIT: having said that... I am assuming that PS has some kind of colour sampling method that would allow you to sample the colours of the existing bloodstains so that you can make up a colour palette with those colours in it, then use that to re-colour a suitable gooey looking texture, which could then be applied to a layer on the background in a smeary like fashion?

(Oh dear! LOL - Help me out here, one of you PS users?)

[ThomasR]

Have you tried using grunge brushes ? Maybe playing with opacity, size and erasing some with some other grunge brush ? With a dark orange red it could work pretty well. A pinch of blend mode and I think you'd get something pretty good.

[kacey]

Thanks for the ideas Mouse, and Thomrey. I haven’t tried doing any blood stains yet, I think, like Mouse said, it might be wise to wait until I’m sure I have time to get the rest of the map in place.

Right now I’m blindly trying to figure out how to do the main elements that I want to incorporate into the map, and it’s proving to be a major challenge for me since everything aside from the border will be things I’ve never tried before.

The good news is I finally figured out how to use the pen tool to make curves, so I’ve managed to clean up the lines on the title box a bit, and make another box in the bottom left corner, and believe it or not it took 6 hours just to do the outlines, so things are moving very slowly.

Thankfully I only had a teeny tiny bit of coast line to do. This is my first time trying to do the woodcut lines around the coast, I think I might do it over again, unless you guys tell me it’s OK the way it is. For right now I’m going to move on tho, I haven’t even started the mountains yet, and I know there gonna give me the brunt of the work so I can’t afford to fuss over the little things.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but here’s what I have so far. And just in case anyone’s wondering, The border, and box designs are inspired by an old map I found from the 1500’s, I’m trying to match them as close as possible, but there’s things I just don’t know how to do so there’s differences that I can’t avoid with my current skill level.

[Mouse]

To the contrary, I think you have done quite a considerable amount

It all looks pretty perfect to me.

The only way to get over the 'this is going to be difficult, and I don't think I can do it' hurdle is to take a running jump at it. In your shoes, I'd be working on the most difficult parts first, then enjoying the relatively plain sailing that would follow

[ChickPea]

kacey, about the blood, there are lots of blood splatter brushes you can download and use in PS. A quick google search turned up this link...

http://www.ucreative.com/resources/3...otoshop-users/

I think most of the brushes at that link are hosted at Deviantart, so a search there might be worthwhile too.

I know you aren't focusing on the blood right now, but thought I'd suggest it while I remembered! Also, I really like what you have so far.

[Bogie]

Nice start. The coastline looks good so far. Nice work with the border.

[Meshon]

This is looking great, and I really like the ornate work around the boxes, very true to the style of your inspiration. At the moment it feels like the insets are a little too fine, or clean, maybe both. Depending on whether you've saved them as a path or not you could try them with a slightly thicker brush and a little more jitter like you've got on the borders and coast. It's a minor thing, lots of atmosphere already on here, nice work!

cheers,
Meshon