Valley Map (First Regional) WIP

[Robert Boucher]

It i always hard to make the forests and the mountains fit together. By itself it looks nice,especially the coloring is imo done very well. But to make it fit better (since it stick out a bit ) I would remove the upper border, make it bigger all the way to the mountains and try to draw it in such a way that the viewer would think that the ends of the mountain end in the forest.

Yeah, carving the mountains base out out of the tree line does give that nice effect. And if her line work is separate then she can just gradient from a light green at the top, to a dark green at the bottom. Might give the same effect.

[saria]

Thanks for the advice, guys - all my layers are separate so I can definitely play with it and see what I can come up with. You think the spiky look is okay though? I wasn't sure if I should go for a more circular/bubbly forest but when I did that it looked too cartoony. Also when I did each separate tree it also looked a bit too cartoony compared to the big mountains as well.

[saria]

Well, I tinkered with the colors of the forest and started the hills/lakes. I think the hills help the forest a bit with the transition, so I'm glad of that.

Let me know what you think! I am not sure how I feel about the lake lines, still practicing those but they aren't too bad, I think? Maybe? (Still wish I was a better judge!)

[Robert Boucher]

Whoa, I love the water effect! The coloring is perfect for the map. And yes, the hills really do tie it together.

The lake lines are fine. At this close of a region view they wouldn't be as 'jittery' as you might think. But that is my two cents. lol

Nice job, can't wait for the update.

[ChickPea]

Lake looks fantastic, Saria! Very well done.

[saria]

Thank you Robert & Chickpea Have you ever gotten that feeling, what am I getting myself into? I'm sitting here staring at those forests wondering if I can remember how I did the other one, haha. That was my first forest ever

[ChickPea]

Hehe practically every time I try a new thing I go through the "WHY?!" phase, but it's worth it in the end as you learn new skills that you can use in the future. Maybe your new forest will be even better than the first one .... and then you'll want to redo the original .... (don't go there!)

[Robert Boucher]

Maybe your new forest will be even better than the first one .... and then you'll want to redo the original .... (don't go there!)

/reads this after redoing his mountains for the 5th time...

[Robert Boucher]

Thank you Robert & Chickpea Have you ever gotten that feeling, what am I getting myself into? I'm sitting here staring at those forests wondering if I can remember how I did the other one, haha. That was my first forest ever

The trick is sizing, if you have too copy the original trees along side the new ones to make sure the sizing is close. Don't worry too much about brush size, stroke depth, etc... that is part of the charm of hand drawn maps I find.

The more of the 'best looking' maps I study, the more I find the 'faults' to be part of the appeal. Some obviously are image breaking, but remember that beauty is organized chaos.

[saria]

Here it is!! It's very much still WIP in the forest shading, I think I need to play with it some more, and the tower is...well I'm thinking of re-doing it, let's put it that way. However, thought I'd share the update anyway.