Untitled bit of fun

[damonjynx]

Hi Folks,

I was mucking around with Hexpaper Pro, a grid font from S John Ross (awesome product by the way) that allows you to create pretty much any grid you'd care to ask for. It also comes with a booklet of pre generated grids for printing if you wnat some gridded paper. So I created a pattern in PS for one of the grids, a 3-1 hex and of course a grid is no good without a map...so, instead of sleeping which is the sensible thing to do between the hours of 22:30-02:00 I created the below map.

I may or may not (most likely not) develop this further. What do you guys think of it?

[RazielKilsenhoek]

Based on your previous works, I would like to see where you take this one. I will say that the grid is a little overwhelming for me, but that might be because I've never made a grid map.

[damonjynx]

Based on your previous works, I would like to see where you take this one. I will say that the grid is a little overwhelming for me, but that might be because I've never made a grid map.

Thanks Raziel. Having a fresh look at this morning I see what you mean regarding the grid. Probably would have been served better using a single hex rather than a nested one. I might also complete the map just for practice.

[damonjynx]

I've added a bit of colour, which I pretty much suck at, dumbed down the grid a bit and re-done the cliff lines.

As usual, all comments welcome.

[RazielKilsenhoek]

That's much easier on the eyes! Sadly that's all I could comment on. I've never used or made a grid map so I don't know what the requirements are or how they are used. I think the color you added looks good. What did you use for the forests? Is that a texture or some effects you combined?

[damonjynx]

That's much easier on the eyes! Sadly that's all I could comment on. I've never used or made a grid map so I don't know what the requirements are or how they are used. I think the color you added looks good. What did you use for the forests? Is that a texture or some effects you combined?

Hi Mate, Re Grid maps, grids are primarily used to aid in measuring distances. I've never really used hex maps before but in RPG's they're used more for overland maps while square grids are used for mainly miniature combat maps.

Forests: Ok, firstly it was a brush with 2 shades of green with Colour Dynamics/Foreground-Background jitter set at about 60%, then on a separate layer above all the other layers, I did some low opacity highlights (white) and shadows (black) with the layer blend mode set to overlay. This was all done in Photoshop CS4.

[RazielKilsenhoek]

Thanks for the reply, I'm gonna play around with those brush settings.

[damonjynx]

Here is the finished map. Name it what you will.

[damonjynx]

Hi Folks,

After finally get a bit, and only a bit, of a grasp on shading (see forests above) I decided to have a crack at a regional map in a Torstan-esque style. Attached is a screenshot of my workflow. Any comments, suggestions, critique etc welcome and appreciated.

[damonjynx]

Here is another update, this time just the map. I've had another go at shading.

I think I have a couple of problems here:

1. Line work on the mountains is too dark. Edit** Dumbed down the opacity and changed blend mode to overlay = much better.
2. Coloured forest not in proportion to mountians
3. Need to put rivers in.

All else seems OK, not saying the rest couldn't do with some work...