J's Inkman Experiment thread

[CaptainJohnHawk]

Incredible work. You really get my imagination working with these pieces. I love the perspective you choose. Keep it coming

[J.Edward]

Abu Lafia - Thank you sir. That sea labeling was my last bit. Had to redo it a number of times to get it right.
Glad you like that.
Thanks Ilanthar. No worries. That's what the adventure map is for, when I can get to it.
Arsheesh - Thank you sir. I am trying to step it up this year. Trying to do more and put more into my work.
Cpt. John - Thanks. That is what I like to hear. I love the thought that my work can have that effect.
That's how it always was for me seeing new stuff from all the artists who did work for TSR, then Wizards, and ICE, Palladium, etc.
To think that my work inspires the imagination---Awesome. And I will. I have a load of plans for 2015. Lots of new stuff in the works.

THW - I will try to get to some breakdown of process when I can. I have to go do some client work atm but will when I can.
Cheers and thanks all.

[Wingshaw]

I think maybe the area one is from can influence one's view on things. I'm from central PA and there are ranges here that differ from most across the world.

Oh, definitely. I'm from Australia and we don't really have any mountains at all. I think we once had the tallest mountains in the world, but time has eroded them down to just little bumps, now.

THW - I will try to get to some breakdown of process when I can. I have to go do some client work atm but will when I can.

Don't stress it, J. If and when you're ready. I know that it can be hard trying to describe how to draw, anyway. I always think it is a kinda intuitive thing, and so learning and practice can only get you so far. Your drawing style is fantastic, though, and, frankly, if you decide not to go down the rugged mountains path and stick with what you're doing, I'm not going to complain, and I doubt anyone else will, either.

THW

[ChickPea]

This is utterly gorgeous!

[- Max -]

Excellent stuff J. keep it going

[J.Edward]

THW - I'm still going to try some alternate mountains on Tol'Imen. And some process info.
However, I just started in on the monthly challenge so my hands are full so to speak.

Thanks ChickPea.
Max - Thank you sir. There will be more after the monthly challenge. I have another couple cities I started that I knew could not make it into that challenge.
As a side note Max, is there a thread that tells me how to do an image in my sig, like how you have Max's Maps in yours? That could be fun to try.

[J.Edward]

I had told TheHoarseWhisperer earlier that I'd talk a bit about my workflow but hadn't had time till now.
So I'll just jump right in.
I can't really help much as far as drawing in pencil goes. That's really just something you have to work at over time.
But, the more you do it the faster you get. That's pretty important if this is how you work. I draw a lot. Sometimes just practice drawings that I have no intention of using. Sometimes though those drawings do get used. Paloket and Tol'Imen were like that. I was just practicing.

Once I have a drawing I scan it in. I usually mess around with the levels at this stage to try to make sure the light pencil lines will show.
I would rather the paper look a little dark than have light pencil lines not showing. If the paper gets scanned a bit dark I will clean all of that up first in PS.
At this point I often do this stage - I will duplicate the pencil layer. We'll call those layer1 and layer2. On layer2 I will change the layer blend to multiply. I may or may not change the opacity.
From here I start doing color layers. I usually start with big base layers that I can use as quick selection areas using ctrl+left click on the layer thumbnail. That can really help speed things up. Also, when working within a selection I usually hide the selection edge. To do that, go to View - Show - and uncheck selection edges. It makes it nicer to work without seeing that selection edge.

In order of layers, water layers are always at the bottom. I often do a base color layer for water and then a second and maybe third layer over that. The second layer will often be set to multiply and will be dark. The third will be set to overlay or soft light and will be light highlights and such.
It is like this for the next sets of layers. Next is main basic land color. Then Grass, Trees, and last hills/mountains.
For more recent maps I have been doing shadow and highlight layers as well, for the shadows of the mountains and such.

When working this way, almost every layer is set to something other than normal, as normal is opaque and I need these layers to still show the under drawing.
Eventhough I have the top layer as drawing layer 2 set to multiply. It probably sounds strange and convoluted but that's how I work.

I do it this way because it gives me a lot of control, options and non-destructive ways to get to a color/texture that I like. And if I need to change something later it isn't so difficult to do.
As an example, Paloket [minus the text layers] had 10 layers. Shab'Ra'Tan had 15 layers. Frosthaven had 16 layers, though it could have had about 4-5 less layers. Sometimes I will do line work for different areas of a piece on different layers. That's if the drawing requires more line work.

Well, that was pretty long-winded. Not sure if that's useful to anyone but there it is.

[J.Edward]

I haven't done any updates here for a while, even though I have been doing other experiments.
So I am doing some today.
A good while back after viewing Vorropohaiah's Atlas Elyden thread I had thought of doing a stereo map. Then I started playing around with Gprojector, which is so cool, and started trying out some different maps. The map itself is nothing special but I enjoyed attempting this and will probably do more in that direction at a later date.
This map is just a test for concept really.


Then I did some more tree elements. Still trying to find something I can use.
All the elements I make I never end up using because they just never fit what I need.
I'm also throwing in some of the Middle Earth icons I did. I need to do more top down icons. They're rather useful.




Then I was working on trying out some concepts for caves and rough dungeons, as I had some work coming up that would be featuring that sort of thing.
I did some quick rough versions that were helpful in developing a style that I am using to complete some current work.


I'm always working on too many things at the same time and I tend to forget about stuff I did earlier.
So I'm sure there's more to post when I find it or remember it.

[Chashio]

And all so cool and inspiring. I think I like your tree drawings the best, but you know me. It's all very nice, though.

[J.Edward]

Ah, thank you Chashio. Yes, trees. I've spent many years working on drawing trees. So much still to learn.
I should dig around my computer... there was a thing i was doing a while back of trying to make hand drawn forests in sections that could be placed like elements.
It sort of worked but needed to be more defined and polished.
I'll look around for that. I think you'd like it.

Check back later today or tomorrow if you're online. It should be up.