[m]April: my map-a-day challenge

[Mouse]

Oh I love the new city map!

Its creeping more towards true perspective towards the sketchier parts at the back, but that's ok because I think it looks better than if it was rigidly iso. Its also more difficult than iso, but you seem to have developed quite an eye for true perspective

[Wingshaw]

Well, I seem to have fallen behind in posting these maps again.

Thanks Nopkin and Mouse

I do like iso city maps, but they're really hard to get right. I think the hand-drawn aspect of iso cities is part of their charm - just look at Tainotim and Blaidd Drwg
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Day 18
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and 1.0 and A4 paper)
Type: isometric city
Time taken: 1:59

So, after 2 more hours (and a couple of glasses of vino ) I made a bit of progress on the map of Runiste. Not too much, but I think it makes a difference - it gives the city more form and makes it easier to see the direction it is taking. What do you guys think?


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Day 19
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and 1.0 and A4 paper)
Type: side-view map
Time taken: 2:01

Okay, so I really struggled to think of a good subject for day 19. At first I was going for a side-view map of an ant nest (complete with rocket ship for their colonisation of space ), but that didn't get very far. After that I tried a picture of a submarine, but nope, not that one either... Lastly I started work on this underwater city - had to split it over two days, though, because I really didn't enjoy working on this one. Can't say I'm very happy with it, so I probably won't finish this any time soon



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Day 20
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and 1.0 and A4 paper)
Type: side-view map
Time taken: 2:16

So after the difficulties I had with day 19 my motivation was pretty low for day 20. I don't think side-view maps are my thing, really :/ So, because I had to do a side-view map, I figured I'd go back to the wizard's tower I started for day 10. It's nearly finished, actually - I just need to add some colour and shading, and it's pretty much done.


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So, despite my low motivation at the moment, I'm gonna have to keep going with the challenge. It's back to city maps, at least; that'll be fun

Wingshaw

[Mouse]

I think the little details of the market stalls in the city map really make the map. Details are more important than most people seem to realise.

The underwater city has potential, but it is always really difficult to work on a map if you just don't feel like it.

I really like the Wizard's Tower! But... where is the kitchen? Oh, ignore me. I'm just playing the devil.

EDIT: Oh I see - its on the other side of the building to the one we are looking at

[Wingshaw]

I think the little details of the market stalls in the city map really make the map. Details are more important than most people seem to realise.

You're completely right about that, Mouse. I always enjoy those speedpaint videos on YouTube, in which an idea is sketched out in the first 2 minutes and then fully rendered and developed in the following 58 minutes. Isn't that basically the 80/20 rule?
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Day 21
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and 1.0 and A4 paper)
Type: top-down town map
Time taken: 2:01

For day 21 I wanted to go back to J.Edward's style. Partly just because it looks so good, and partly because I want to test how my progress has advanced from the first days of the challenge. In my opinion, the quality of my drawing has improved, but my speed, alas, has not. I'd be very keen to hear what my fellow Guildies think?

Also, J.Edward, if you read this, I want to thank you for sharing your WIP pictures from The Ward of Chiezbehrg; they were indescribably useful to me in working on this

Wingshaw

[Narc]

2 minutes and then fully rendered and developed in the following 58 minutes. Isn't that basically the 80/20 rule?

Rather the rule of 97/3 ^^

[Mouse]

Ah the Pareto Principle

Yes, most definitely

I wish I could adapt J's methods so easily, but I suspect you have to have at least some of his talent - as you clearly do

[Wingshaw]

I wish I could adapt J's methods so easily, but I suspect you have to have at least some of his talent - as you clearly do

Aww, thanks Mouse.

I'm just posting here to update on the state of this challenge: I've been unable to work on [m]April for the past week as I've been travelling, so I'll be trying to catch up and get the remaining pictures done in early May. So [m]April is postponed, not cancelled

Wingshaw

[Wingshaw]

Okay, so it's quite a bit later than I wanted, but I have now finished this challenge, and I want to show all of my pictures. Some of them I am quite pleased with, others I am a bit disappointed, but I'm showing them all here anyway.

So, without further ado, here are the last maps of my (m)April challenge. Please let me know what you think - I'm always happy to get comments and critiques

In total, this challenge took nearly 62 hours, and it has resulted in a whole range of maps that I'd like to spend more time on, and hopefully finish during this year.

Wingshaw
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Day 22
Medium: digital
Type: top-down town map
Time taken: 0:58

So, what can I say about this map? It's meant to be the village located near the house of Hayato Masatada (see my day 16 map). Thus, it's a feudal Japanese-inspired village, located in a steep valley. More to the point, it's also a bit pathetic as a map. I struggled a lot with this map, and wasn't very motivated, so didn't get much beyond the initial layout. I also tried both traditional and digital methods, and still didn't break the creative block. Overall, a bit of a disappointment, and one that I won't put much effort into finishing.


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Day 23
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: regional/world map
Time taken: 2:03

Whereas day 22 was a failed attempt at mapping the village near Hayato Masatada, day 23 was - in my opinion - a fairly successful attempt to map the region where Masatada's house is located. I wanted to try to capture something of Japanese painting in this map, and I also drew quite heavily from Jared Blando's (i.e. TheRedEpic's) mountain style. The effect, I think, is quite interesting: the mountains have fewer details and less cragginess, but blend quite neatly into the hills.


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Day 24
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: regional/world map
Time taken: 2:02

This is a continuation of day 23, but here I've begun adding shading, coastlines and rivers, and some more forests.


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Day 25
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: dungeon/building plan
Time taken: 2:02

Alright, for day 25 my schedule said I had to do a dungeon or building plan, and I wanted to do a classic dungeon map in a high fantasy world. This is the result: the extensive cellars, tombs, vaults and caves beneath a vast castle, the capital of a grand kingdom, and the home of a powerful royal family (and their wizardly assistants). This map doesn't really have a lot of the details that make a map 'pop' - little piles of rubble, skulls, wall-mounted torches etc. Instead, this map has a very extensive scale, and so it was important to try to get the layout right. I wanted to try to capture a range of underground structures, and give a sense of the different purposes of each area, while at the same time suggesting a fairly natural evolution of the dungeon.


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Day 26
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: dungeon/building plan
Time taken: 2:00

For day 26 I continued working on day 25's dungeon map, adding in particular the prison, the archmage catacombs, the knightly catacombs (inspired by catacombs under Malta's cathedral), and a cave system inhabited by a malevolent lich/necromancer/wizard.


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Day 27
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: isometric city map
Time taken: 2:00

For day 27 I was going to do another isometric city map, and having already developed some in my own style, this time I wanted to try to capture the style of the great city mappers Tainotim and Blaidd Drwg. This is a city that has grown around the long-decayed corpse of a mighty dragon. I studied Tainotim's maps quite closely for this, and very much like the sketchy effect gained from the shading and linework. It gives a very authentic feel to the maps, like the old city mappers of the 17th century.


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Day 28
Medium: traditional (Copic Multiliner 2.0 and A4 paper)
Type: isometric city map
Time taken: 2:01

And here's the continuation of day 27. Another thing I like about Tainotim's work is the inclusion of many avenues of trees and statues, and so I have added many to this city.


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Day 29
Medium: digital
Type: regional/world map
Time taken: 1:59

According to the schedule I created for (m)April, days 29 and 30 were meant to be devoted to side-view maps. However, as I discovered on day 20, I don't like doing side-view maps very much, and so instead thought I'd use the last two days to work on any map I felt like. And so here I present a more complete version of my day 3 map: an island painted in Photoshop, and deliberately very bright and colourful. This was one of my favourite maps from (m)April, and I think that it is now virtually finished. I might add some labels and landmarks, and give the canvas a bit more texture, and then it'll be done.


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Day 30
Medium: digital
Type: top-down town map
Time taken: 3:09

And finally, here is day 30: due to problems with my computer and Photoshop, I wasn't able to spend more than 35 minutes on day 12, so for day 30 I went back to this map and developed it much further. This is a Venetian-inspired city, and perhaps the home port of a colonial expedition that has recently set off into the New World. This picture looks very digital at the moment, but I'd like to eventually turn it into something in a more painterly style. I haven't seen that done with top-down city maps before, so it'll be a fun experiment to try.

[Narc]

I particulary like the city of the days 27 and 28. It's so fine...
Congratulations for successfully finishing this challenge !

[J.Edward]

Man, you have been busy since I last checked in to this thread
I am going to have to take some time to check through all that I missed.
But just wanted to say you've been doing a fantastic job on all these George.