Thank you, Wingshaw. Still have a lot of redraw to go. I have modeled quite a few building clusters from Rothenburg. If it had not been for you comments, the massive urban renewal would never had begun. Thank you.
Here is the latest update.
I will probably leave the strip of shacks along the east side of the road at the base of the hill against the stone wall. The housing on the hill (to the east of what is shown) will remain as is. The hill is somewhat restrictive to building and the houses are build on the flat areas along the hillside. They are housing for soldiers with families and were orderly laid out and constructed. The hill is the approach to the gate to the palace, which also contributes to the restricted housing. You can see part of the stone wall at the base of the hill that is a remnant of the early boundaries when the city was young and the only walled sections were part of the palace complex. The wall still stands as a barrier between the palace/military complex and the city.
I like how you incorporate the real structures into your map, as it makes them look natural.
I do feel like a bigger road from either the yellow or the grey building (at the ends of the colourful row of buildings just above the walled-off docks) to either the yellow building (top-right of the image) or next to the C-shaped building with the water would've been created as the city developed. People like to take shortcuts, and those feel like places where they'd organically form.
Thank you for your input, Rochnan. The C-Shaped building is in a walled-off area (which includes the temple) with access only from the east side. The building is the Royal Academy, a place of higher learning and research. The academy was built by King Melek and one of the tasks he gave the scholars was to find ways to improve farming. The king set aside land inside the walls on the east side of the city near the walls for the academy to use for their farming research.
If the building you mentioned was not inside a walled-off area, the road you mentioned certainly would make sense.
Here is a look a little more zoomed out that shows more of the surroundings.
I have done a little more to the map. The colorful building complex you referred to has been expanded. It is the Old Bazaar that has existed since the early days of the city. Goods that come through the harbor are sold in the bazaar. You can find good deals there if you are good at haggling and know your merchandise. It is just as easy to be taken advantage of by some of the somewhat unscrupulous merchants who trade there.
The large gray building to the NE of the bazaar (south of the C-shaped building) is the home of the Old Port District Ward.
The statue of Norlandir has been relocated to the Old Market Square (NE corner of the view). I thought this was a more appropriate spot for it. The statue of Norlandir in the Old Port District will be removed and replaced by another. Many of the inhabitants of the Old Port District are petitioning to have a statue of the Renowned Scholar Wingshaw (who they believe to be responsible for the recent improvements made in their district). I am carefully considering their request.
Rochnan,
City fathers have informed me they will give consideration to your road construction project. It has been placed on the agenda for the next council meeting. I will keep you informed of their decision.
Last edited by Texas Jake; 09-24-2018 at 08:52 PM.
The last update for the night. The road construction project was approved by the City Council and a new statue has been erected in the Old Port District.
Added buildings to the west side of the Old Port. Upgraded road to paved in center of east side buildings running from the bazaar to the yellow building. Added road along west side of stone wall enclosing temple/academy.
The last of the Old Port District is in. Still have to add the dirt roads and sprinkle in some vegetation.
One thing which strikes me about this map is that the colours are very saturated. I don't know if that's the look you're going for, but it might be worth trying to give it a more muted palette.
You could try, for example, less green in the courtyards (they aren't all going to be gardens, after all; there'll also be yards for heavy work and goods storage, if not just lots of people walking back and forth), adding some subtle variations in the colour of your rooftops, adding some (darker) texture to the river to indicate depth as well, and maybe just playing with a saturation/hue layer a little bit, too?
If you want to give some of those narrow streets a dark and dangerous feel to them, you could also intensify the shadows being cast by the surrounding buildings.
Just some food for thought...
Wingshaw
Formerly TheHoarseWhisperer
Wingshaw,
Thanks for the suggestions. I plan to mute the colors in the final processing phase. After I finish with the CC3+ part of the map, I will start working on it with Sketchbook and PS. I plan to add some more details and variation at that point. One example of the things I will be doing in that phase is blending the upstream end of the water chute on the water mill into the water so it looks like the water is flowing into it instead of it sitting on top of the water. I have thought about tweaking the shadows in CC3+ and I like your idea concerning the shadowy streets.
I have learned a lot in the process of making this map. It has turned into a much bigger project than I initially anticipated. I think I will try to avoid a one square mile city in the future. The next city I will be mapping is Mahse which is a port city on the western Elandian coast. It is also the garrison for one of the three standing armies in Elandia. The largest army is at the Fortress of Akran, the second largest is at Melekhir and the smallest at Mahse. The map of Mahse will be probably about a third of the size this one (hopefully). I plan on doing the houses differently on Mahse and staying with more of the reddish orange roofs. I have already been working on bitmaps for the roofs.
I have learned a great deal about the city of Melekhir as I have been doing this map and adding much more flesh to its history. King Melek didn't even exist until this map and now is playing a central role in the history of this city. It all will add to the depth of what I write when I get back to revising book two.
Started on area between Old Dock District and Market District. I plan on using the existing roads in this area as a guide in laying out the clusters. The courtyards will be larger in this area. In the Old Dock District I used mainly orange roofs. I think I will use mainly reddish roofs in this area.
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