Igneous Isles

[jshoer]

I think I'm done with the vegetation layer. I might Start coloring next, before doing cities and roads.

igneousIsle_progress14.png

[jshoer]

Here's the first pass at color! I'm planning to put some variations in the brown, as well as some reddish areas. I might desaturate the whole thing a little more, too.

igneousIsle_progress15.png

[jshoer]

Hey everyone, I'm just picking this back up. I think I need to add some texture. What are good PhotoShop tutorials to take a look at?

[jshoer]

...or just any suggestions about the map directly?

[Mouse]

I like the little trees you have drawn most of all.

The drawing itself is good, but the colour is just a little flat. Have you considered using a paper texture in the background, and changing the mode of the colour layers to overlay? It doesn't have to be dramatic with loads of vast stains or anything, just a paper texture of some kind.

[Ilanthar]

Yup, I second Mouse's advice about a texture background.

[jshoer]

It looks like this is promising, but I think I need to do something else besides set all the color layers to "Overlay." Here's how it looks when I do that with a couple paper textures behind. Is "Overlay" really the right thing, or did I miss something? I'd like more prominent colors...

igneousIsle_progress16a.png

igneousIsle_progress16b.png

[Mouse]

Try darkening the paper texture just a little. Its a very nice paper texture, but it is a little 'brilliant white' right at the moment. If you look at other maps you will see that the paper tends to be quite a long way from white, usually some kind of fawn or grey colour. You can do this by reducing the brightness of the paper, and then by adjusting the hue and saturation till you get something like that for yourself.

You will be surprised by how much this affects the colours.

Another thing you could try is set the shading you have used on the mountains to 'overlay', and the actual colouring layers to 'colour'? Try out a few things and see how they work best together for you. Its also possible to duplicate any layer that isn't dark enough, or intense enough, if none of the above experiments work out.

EDIT: also ensure that all your colour and shading layers are set to full opacity

[kacey]

I wouldn't use overlay on the water, have you tried multiply or linear burn with a darker colour? Right now I think that everything looks too pale... Maybe a warmer texture, and darker sea colour? I don't know what type of colours you're going for, but I don't think what you have here is working, that being said I think the map itself is very nice, the line work and the coast are great, and the mountains are really well done.

[jshoer]

Thanks for the advice, Mouse and kacey. I'm still learning which techniques to go to in Photoshop. I'll come back after I've experimented a little more.