11 - Plaza and transmission center [- JO -]

[Mouse]

My goodness, Jo! All those little hand drawn buildings - never mind the Plaza and Transmission Centre!

Very impressive - and I can't wait to see the shading

[snodsy]

Really nice, shadows are one of my favorite to do, it really starts to pop the dimensions. Look great!

[Tonnichiwa]

This is really beautiful. I love the way you've drawn and colored everything. I agree with Mouse and Snodsy. I cannot wait to see what you do with the shading. Can I ask you something? When you are coloring, do you use clipping masks? or do you do it all by hand really really carefully?

[- JO -]

My goodness, Jo! All those little hand drawn buildings - never mind the Plaza and Transmission Centre!

Very impressive - and I can't wait to see the shading

Really nice, shadows are one of my favorite to do, it really starts to pop the dimensions. Look great!

Thanks you all !

I'm looking forward the shading and fearing it at the same time : it's gonna be long and complicated... I always find difficult to project the right height and shape of a building on a unlevel ground... I intend to take a building after another, and draw the shade on the building, but on the ground at the same time, starting from west to east. I'll have to try several idea I have in order to avoid making a shadow in more than one part : long and tidious... But your'e true, without shading, it's really flat

This is really beautiful. I love the way you've drawn and colored everything. I agree with Mouse and Snodsy. I cannot wait to see what you do with the shading. Can I ask you something? When you are coloring, do you use clipping masks? or do you do it all by hand really really carefully?

Thanks !
Actually, I use a mix of method.
For other maps, I used a clipping mask. But for this one, one thing I did, is I used the magic wand on photoshop, to select the space between the buildings (on the INK layer). Then, with the same selection I went on the Color layer, I colored the grass and the mud. The easy part is that I can't color the house (since I've selected the space between the houses), but the difficult part was the area where the mud meets the grass. As I wanted no clear limit, I tried to mix mud and grass without too much encroachment (?)
I did the same for the houses, except I invert the selection...
So, with the selection, I'm part "protected" to color off limits for some places, but on other places (for example, when the stroke to delimit a building is not completeley closed) I have to color carefully by hand... And it shows for some places... Then, I used the eraser a lot.
I hope it answer your question ?
Anyway, thanks for asking !

[ThomasR]

WOW ! That's quite an update since I last saw your district ! First, it's very organic, feels like a real city build through time and second, it's gonna look glorious when shaded. I cannot wait to see it

[- JO -]

First shadows, on the harbour. Critics and comments welcome..

And I finished colors on the signal tower (with a lovely view inside, under the glass dome) : a library and the consel table

### LATEST WIP ###

[Mouse]

Oh wow! Its really starting to pop. I'm so excited!

Er... sorry!

[- JO -]

Thanks Mouse !

An afternoon of shading... 6 buildings....
It's gonna be a long, long, long shading time...
But I think it's really funny how the other buildings seems flat, like a board game...
And I think, I found a little trick to help : before drawing the shade of a building, I trace lines, parallels to the model of J. Edward, on different layers, and I place those lines on the corners of the building, and on the top of the roofs. Then, I trace other line, on other layers, parallel to the summit of the roof, or other important points. It helps a lot, as guidelines, to draw the shadows.
But, anwyay, it's a long process that requires a lot of thinking before starting to draw... And I feel it's gonna be a lot worse when the buildings will be crowded, because the shadow will have to vary according to the buildings which are more east...

For now, here's the 6 buildings that have received their floors... (look west...)

### LATEST WIP ###

[Mouse]

They really are quite wonderful. I had no idea how much work it was to draw shadows in PS, but then, I suppose if I had taken the time to hand draw my own shadows instead of using the inbuilt directional shadow facility in CC3, it would have taken me just as much time.

Well worth it though! Maybe I'll go back and redo the shadows in Atlas Ward one day, now that I've seen this

[- JO -]

That's really moving slow... Less time for map, and the shadows are complicated...
So I couldn't do much... I haven't finished the west quarter yet. But it's moving forward at least...

### LATEST WIP ###