Murk Empire

[FrancescaBaerald]

Great concept!!

[Abu Lafia]

This is really good, Abu. I love all the details, and the buildings look great.

Also, I really like the style you've developed over the years I've seen your work on CG. It's become very unique and enjoyable.

THW

Thank you so much Wingshaw (THW)! Glad you enjoy it. It means a lot coming from you. Not sure whether you remember, but not least because of your patient and friendly "mentorship" with my very first digital map project here at the CG, i got totally drawn into this wonderful world of mapmaking which gave me so many hours of fun and great learning experiences since then!

I like it! And it's instantly recognizable as 'An Abu', so your style seems to be clear and consistent. I always enjoy your precise, clean linework.

Many thanks Diamond! In the process of such a project i always think my linework is rather inconsistent and flawed, especially if it comes to things i feel less comfortable with (like iso buildings for example). That's why it makes me really glad to hear it is somewhat recognizable as a piece by me! ;-)

A splendid map! The buildings are very original and the perspective is well done. You're immediately invited to let your eyes wander and explore the land depicted.
And I agree with THW, you've developped your own and unique style .

Thank you so much Ilanthar! When i mirrored the whole image horizontally in the end, i got really scared about how messed up the perspective looked (maybe should've worked with that trick from the beginning).

Wonderful map, a lot of small details.

Thanks a lot Sapiento, i did my best to put a lot of little details in it, so the players have a good time exploring the map! :-)

ye this is so cool, and the structures are very unique

Thank you AdventureDepot, glad you like it! :-) I wanted to give the buildings a "tieflingish" touch. With the tower and university it worked better than with the docks i feel.

A real nice map ! I love all the details and I think that you made a real good job with the teint : that must have been hard !

Many thanks JO! By teint you mean the colouring? Glad you like it, i was a bit unsure, because i wanted it to have it dark and "underground" like and it's indeed hard to make certain things stand out in it.

I love it! I think your - as others have pointed out - very unique and specific drawing style works perfectly with the atmosphere of this map. The colors are just wonderful, and I love the details on the buildings. Nice job with the textwork as well.

Truly one of your finest work yet! Repped & saved for inspiration.

Thanks for the nice feedback Kelleri! :-) The poem is by the client.

So much to gaze at in this map ! The style is, as always, a delight and you managed to give the map a certain brightness in it's murkiness, just by giving us a marvelous game of light and shadows (the wandering tentacle is a blast shadow wise). The forests are great (I know you usually dread them). The building are amazing and have the same flavor that your mountains carry. A little nitpick would be the difference of width between the different lines and it doesn't even bother me (maybe a thinner line for the mountains). Like Kelleri said, one of your finest piece. Great job Martin !

Thanks a lot Thomas! Since i worked on it for a rather long period of time, and i haven't figured out the settings for pressure sensitivity in Krita yet, the line weight is different in some parts indeed (and nothing i could hide from your sharp eyes my friend! ). (As always) there is still a lot to improve in my workflow... ;-)

This look great! Your mountains are always amazing and the icons, or rather illustrations are beautifully done. Great job!

Thank you Dan, greatly appreciate it! :-)

Gorgeous map with lots of great little details. I think I would have liked a little bit more contrast in the colours... but then it wouldn't be the Murk Empire, would it! I absolutely love the subtle highlights in the structures. They're fantastically well done. Great work all round.

Thanks a lot ChickPea! I gotta admit, i found out about the meaning of "murk" /"murky" only near the end of the project, but thought my colour choice was rather fitting in hindsight!

The Tower of Sustention and the University are amazing buildings, I love the depth and, I dunno, organic feel they have. You really need to tell me how you make such excellent lines! Mine always come out all… wiggly and half-hearted. Really though, kudos on a really well-done map.

cheers,
Meshon

Thank you Meshon! :-) Well, the somewhat twisted and "organic" architecture is perfect for hiding my deficiency when it comes to drawing buildings! XD About the lines: I worked in Krita this time for the linework and it seems indeed smoother than the lines i can make with gimp brushes. In both programs though, i often use a slight degree of "stabilization" help with the respective settings... nonetheless there was a lot of ctrl+z involved to get the lines right!

Really original idea!

Thanks Wired! As i said above, the idea came from the client, i only added some things here and there.

Great concept!!

Thank you Francesca, i'm glad you like it!

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Aaarrgghhh... too many smilies again!!! XD

[arsheesh]

Abu your hand-drawn style has really matured. This is excellent work. The linework is so smooth and the shading and lighting are great as well. I love all the little details. Great work!

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[El Tau]

The atmosphere in this map is amazing! For some reason I see Elric of Melniboné walking the streets of that University.

Great job!!

[GreatWhiteNorth]

An illustrative masterpiece. This is beyond well done.

[Hendrid]

Just picked up on this map, excellent feel and certainly atmospheric. Nice.