World of Thra (Dark Crystal): WIP

[Marc]

I have been a fan of the Dark Crystal universe since I first saw the movie back in the 80’s.
The conceptual artwork by Brian Froud inspired me more than a few times in the past for drawings and paintings.
I have been tinkering with the idea to create a Worldmap of Thra since I started drawing maps a few weeks ago and I have finally taken the big leap
I bought myself a nice new sheet of beige A2 hotpressed paper, cranked up the Dark Crystal OST and went on a new adventure.

First phase of sketching the layout. I tried to stay as close to existing maps as possible without giving up on my own style. ‘Luckily’...reference material is very rare and most of the layout and POI are found by reading lore and info.


Tinkering with mountain styles and inks. I’m trying to stay as close as possible to the concept art’s colours.


Inking the first elements (Mmmyes...I work outside in :-/ )




All in all it’s a fantastic project to work on and a nice learning curve

[DrWho42]

i love dark crystal. so far, i appreciate the detail on the mountain peaks!

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Yes! Finally a new map from you. I'm unfamiliar with what this is based on, but I like hearing about things like A2 pieces of hot pressed paper, and seeing art supplies laying around. Are you using a small set of fine line prismacolor markers as well?

[Marc]

i love dark crystal. so far, i appreciate the detail on the mountain peaks!

Thanks Doc

Yes! Finally a new map from you. I'm unfamiliar with what this is based on, but I like hearing about things like A2 pieces of hot pressed paper, and seeing art supplies laying around. Are you using a small set of fine line prismacolor markers as well?

Hi Kis, for reference here is a little info: http://www.darkcrystal.com/index.php

I am currently discovering the Faber Castell art suplies, not the cheapest around, but I love them nonetheless

As for the prisma's I think you are refering to the red roll-up case on the mountain photo. That used to contain a set of Stabilo coloured fineliners and is now home for my Action (dollarstore equivallent here in the Netherlands) Fineliners I wanted to try since they where very cheap
They're certainly not bad at all, but I still prefer my Faber Pitt Artist Pens (the Action and Stabilo pens tend to leave 'dots' on the paper when pulling of the tip).

Thanks again for the lovely comment and I might post a new progress photo later today

[Marc]

Made a slight error a few days ago by missing a letter in the map’s name...



And without the magic of digital ink I had to make a fresh start.
Took lesson from mistakes made, bought a new sheet of paper and made a fresh start.
The restart also allowed me to make some changes.

Here’s the result thusfar:

Comparison of the old and new map.


And a small piece of detail.

[arsheesh]

Just saw this over on Insta earlier this morning and it blew me away. Can't wait to see more of this project.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Adfor]

Killer work so far! Your line and color work is top notch.

Your persistence to keep going when you've made critical error is really commendable, I've had this happen to me a few times while working with pen and paper, and it can be really disheartening, so kudos to you for that!

I hope to see more of this in the future, cheers!

IR

[Tiana]

Yeah, that's why I don't work in ink! Eek! I always have typos. o_x I suppose it's not always bad to get a chance to make some changes, but boy is it scary to do traditional inking. The art is lovely so far.

[Marc]

Just saw this over on Insta earlier this morning and it blew me away. Can't wait to see more of this project.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

Thank you so much Iconic! And yes, I've been posting most of the progress photo's on Instagram, it's a bit easier

Killer work so far! Your line and color work is top notch.

Your persistence to keep going when you've made critical error is really commendable, I've had this happen to me a few times while working with pen and paper, and it can be really disheartening, so kudos to you for that!

I hope to see more of this in the future, cheers!

IR

Thank you for the kind comment Adfor! It was disheartening when it happened, but I did not want to throw in the towel that soon

Yeah, that's why I don't work in ink! Eek! I always have typos. o_x I suppose it's not always bad to get a chance to make some changes, but boy is it scary to do traditional inking. The art is lovely so far.

Thank you Tiana! I might try digital mapping in the future, but without some fundings to set things up, I'll stick to traditional and hope mistakes won't knock on the door to often

Here are a few of the latest progress photo’s:

[Redrobes]

Anyone who does the lettering and border to this level of detail and precision before the map is even started is one who is very confident that the map is going to look mighty good. Look forward to seeing this progress. I envy people with this level of skill and confidence.