Page 1 of 6 12345 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 54

Thread: Arimel's Artistic Archive

  1. #1
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default Arimel's Artistic Archive

    Arimel. The intrepid explorer, cartographer, historian, and archaeologist of a bygone age. The wandering elf, the aged one, the loremaster.

    Arimel lived on the planet of Orlos. He was well known for his general knowledge of all subjects throughout a wide period of time. Elves as a race are long lived, but Arimel was especially so. There are records of his influence as a negotiator, politician, and recorder for well over a thousand years. His histories alone span hundreds of large tomes, and some reference others that have been lost to time, showing that no specific number would be accurate to describe the amount he has written. No one knows how Arimel was able to be so strong an influence for such a long time, despite the many tales that claim to have the answer.

    Now, if you did not already know, I am not Arimel, though his works are a wonder to me. Exploration and history have always fascinated me, but it was not through these skills that I discovered Arimel's Cave of Knowledge. Instead I wandered in by chance. The great wooden doors opened to my touch that day, revealing the mess of scrolls, tomes, charts, and drawings the loremaster had left. Since then, I have been held prisoner by my own greed for knowledge and curiosity about worlds untold. I cannot tell how much time has elapsed but each minute is spent diving into one work after another, and another, and another, and anoth... Of all of these great works, only a few can I actually share with the outside world, and even these are just glimpses of the wonders within. Here can they be shared under their original creator's name...

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    At the start of 2018 there seemed to be a number of sketch threads that were created. I have toyed with the idea of starting one since then and have finally decided to do so. This thread will be for the occasional little maps that I do not feel merit a thread of their own or border on art rather than cartography (though they will all have a cartographic element).

    +Disclaimer: Although these are the original works by Arimel, none of the cartography presented here will be on the skill level alluded to above (all of those exceptional works have been destroyed, gone missing, or were simply derived from legend and never existed).
    Last edited by Arimel; 01-14-2020 at 02:31 PM.

  2. #2
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    The first project I would like to share is a WIP for my avatar image. I have been here for over a year now so I think it is about time I draw something for it. Here is my first draft in pencil. I do not know if this is simply too detailed for the avatar image size so feedback on that would also be appreciated.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	avatar test 2.jpg 
Views:	68 
Size:	240.5 KB 
ID:	112099

  3. #3

    Default

    That's a good start to a journey.
    That's somewhat how my own experiment thread worked out.
    And quite a journey so far.

  4. #4
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by J.Edward View Post
    That's a good start to a journey.
    That's somewhat how my own experiment thread worked out.
    And quite a journey so far.
    Thank you J. Edwards! I think your experiment thread was the first I remember seeing and it has really inspired me to start this one!

    __________________________________________________ ________

    I finally got around to inking my avatar and here is the result. I have attached a 600 and a 100 dpi image here. I do not know if the 600 dpi will fit into the avatar size limit so I have the 100 dpi just in case. I hope in the far distant future to get around to coloring the avatar but for now the black and white will have to do.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	600 dpi avatar.jpg 
Views:	61 
Size:	196.8 KB 
ID:	112568
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	100 dpi avatar.jpg 
Views:	46 
Size:	42.0 KB 
ID:	112569

  5. #5

    Default

    Nice! If I may, I think some shading could nicely give depth to your avatar.

  6. #6
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ilanthar View Post
    Nice! If I may, I think some shading could nicely give depth to your avatar.

    I agree that shading would probably help a lot but I do not think that I have the skills and/or materials to do this at the moment. I could possibly do black/white shading but I was afraid that it might make the image too dark/busy since there would be a lot of shading needed.

  7. #7
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    Here is an A4 sized battle map -esque style of cave that I made a little while ago. It it my first attempt to artistically display something like this and I think I have a lot of things I will need to improve for next time.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	rat cave.jpg 
Views:	79 
Size:	138.3 KB 
ID:	112669

    Note: I have no idea how the skeleton got into such a small cave. He/she was probably the only one who could answer that question and now they are long gone.

  8. #8

    Default

    By Arimel I agree that shading would probably help a lot but I do not think that I have the skills and/or materials to do this at the moment. I could possibly do black/white shading but I was afraid that it might make the image too dark/busy since there would be a lot of shading needed.
    Did you try some very light hatching or brushing with a crayon?

    Nice cave .

  9. #9
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ilanthar View Post
    Did you try some very light hatching or brushing with a crayon?

    Nice cave .
    Sorry for not responding sooner, I just came to post and saw it. I have not tried hatching or any other shading method on it yet. However, this is an idea that I will possibly come back to in the coming months (when my schedule smooths out a bit!). I also have some Fabercastell gray scale soft brushes now as well that I will want to try on it.

  10. #10
    Guild Expert Facebook Connected Arimel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    1,145

    Default

    Among the wonders of Arimel's Cave of Knowledge is the great library. So far, no book known to man, elf or dwarf has not been found in this labyrinth. Several works seem to be their last surviving copies. The amount of time that it took to assemble the collection is unknown but it must have far outlasted the life of a single elf.
    Occasionally, as one peruses these works they may find signs of where the aged elf himself once read. Bookmarks by the thousands have been discovered, laying in the cobwebs or stuck between the pages of dusty tombs, each one unique in its own way. The places depicted in the bookmarks are a mystery to all. Few can actually be traced to regions in the known world, leaving one to wonder if these were just depictions of Arimel's imagination or regions from beyond time and space...

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the past few weeks I have completed a few bookmarks that I would like to share. I have been using them to test different styles of doing mountains, coasts, and forests. Here are the first two sides and I hope to have another 4 sides to show by the end of the next week.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Bookmark 2.jpg 
Views:	53 
Size:	515.1 KB 
ID:	114265
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Bookmark 1.jpg 
Views:	63 
Size:	580.8 KB 
ID:	114266

    In these bookmarks I have been testing my ability to not use straightedges for borders (not sure if this was smart or not!) and a shade-less version of mountains that I was inspired to attempt after seeing Warlin's cartography in January.

    Critique is welcome!

Page 1 of 6 12345 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •