Bear Ribs
Well-known member
I was going off the fact that the lake the river feeds into appears to be touching the mountains.
Artwork Culsu's Art & Maps
- Thread starter Culsu
- Start date
Ah, I see. No particular explanation for this other than that's what the client asked for.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
I figured it was something like that.
OMG the quality of maps and stuff made here are just insane.
Like, this is top tier professional quality work.
On another note, I'm currently working on a 3 book alternate history trilogy (alternate world about how Nazi Germany and it's allies won WW2) and I figured that I'll probably need a lot of maps and other graphics for it.
Are commissions a possibility from anyone here?
Thanks in advance!
-Black Dragon
Like, this is top tier professional quality work.
On another note, I'm currently working on a 3 book alternate history trilogy (alternate world about how Nazi Germany and it's allies won WW2) and I figured that I'll probably need a lot of maps and other graphics for it.
Are commissions a possibility from anyone here?
Thanks in advance!
-Black Dragon
Commission -- New Falonde
First came the explorers. Then settlers followed them over the Dawn Sea to these wild and new lands, hoping to find a new place to live, to farm, to make a fortune. But New Falonde was not empty. Old ruins of vast Elven cities waited in the wilds, and tribes of orcs, lizardmen, and feral elves roamed the plains and deep forests of the continent...
Private commission for a tabletop round, showing a setting very much inspired by the 17th century US eastern seaboard.
Private commission for a tabletop round, showing a setting very much inspired by the 17th century US eastern seaboard.
That's a fun scenario. I think I have seen the opposite idea too, where an alliance of Elves and Dwarves brave the ocean to found colonies on a recently uncovered land, with tribes of humans and orcs already living there. Come to think of it, this kind of setting is kinda rare, isn't it? The party being part of a concentrated effort to colonize new lands? The only mainstream game I can think of that did this setting, was Greedfall.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Hmm, I really like this one. The geology is exceedingly sensible with peninsulas pointing to islands, rivers coming from mountains to the seas, and main cities built along major rivers or in harbors. I really like how expansive and detailed this one is compared to most inner-book-cover maps, really gives the impression of a larger world.
The setting sounds fun too. I'm going to look this one up later when it's released.
The setting sounds fun too. I'm going to look this one up later when it's released.
Call it professional bias, but aside from some classics like Tolkien's map of ME most inner-book-cover maps are shit. Either they don't make sense, look like I could have drawn them in 45 minutes, or both.
But this wasn't for a book, but rather for a provate tabletop round, so no sense in waiting for the release, @Bear Ribs .
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Ah, sad. I interpreted Tabletop Round as being some sort of Tabletop game that would be coming out later, I'm surprised somebody had you produce a map this high quality just for their private game.
Yeah, I know what you mean about book cover maps. It breaks my suspension of disbelief every time I see perfectly straight mountain ranges that turn at 90 degree angles to cover the edges (Often paired with an ocean that's shore does the same on the other two sides of the map), rivers that apparently flow away from the oceans, and high altitude swamps seem to be abundant and the terrible lack of geographic reason always bugs me.
Yeah, I know what you mean about book cover maps. It breaks my suspension of disbelief every time I see perfectly straight mountain ranges that turn at 90 degree angles to cover the edges (Often paired with an ocean that's shore does the same on the other two sides of the map), rivers that apparently flow away from the oceans, and high altitude swamps seem to be abundant and the terrible lack of geographic reason always bugs me.
I think it's super interesting to develop such a campaign, but I suppose you won't find any official new content for RPGs in that vein since I'm sure someone will find it to be not woke. 🙄
Visitor from Afar
Huh, I've been working on and off on a massive world map for a long-time client of mine. Basically, I've already done seven regional maps for him, and to complete the current world layout (which is only the northern hemisphere!!!) I'm combining them all into one map - and adding three more to them on one canvas. Currently the image size is a staggering 16.500 x 8.000 pixels at 300 dpi.
More or less unfortunately, combing these existing maps has had the effect that some older stylistic decisions and approaches that were based on really good tutorials (the first map was done in late 2016) have turned out to not work all that well on the expanded scale.
This here's the first map I did. As you can see with the forests, they have bands of shading and lighting over them that create some variance and a superficial illusion of depth (the idea was taken from a tutorial by the guy who created the official maps for Game of Thrones; IIRC his name is Jonathan Roberts). On that scale it works well enough, though I've moved past that approach for my other maps since then. However, if applied to all the combined maps and the three new ones in one image, it looks like giant striped pyjamas!
So now I'm back to recreating four years worth of forests on a 140x70 cm canvas. 😂 The things you do if you want a proper result...
More or less unfortunately, combing these existing maps has had the effect that some older stylistic decisions and approaches that were based on really good tutorials (the first map was done in late 2016) have turned out to not work all that well on the expanded scale.
This here's the first map I did. As you can see with the forests, they have bands of shading and lighting over them that create some variance and a superficial illusion of depth (the idea was taken from a tutorial by the guy who created the official maps for Game of Thrones; IIRC his name is Jonathan Roberts). On that scale it works well enough, though I've moved past that approach for my other maps since then. However, if applied to all the combined maps and the three new ones in one image, it looks like giant striped pyjamas!
So now I'm back to recreating four years worth of forests on a 140x70 cm canvas. 😂
The things you do if you want a proper result...
We need to launch a mission to intercept it and punt it back the way it came. I've seen enough cosmic horror to know how this turns out.Not a map this time. Tried out a means to create a galaxy illustration, and a little comet coming for a visit after a long travel through the void between galaxies.
Lineart Experiment - Battletech WarShip
An unnamed WarShip on patrol with two flights of ASF as escorts (large image), and with it's jump sail unfurled (small image). Based on classic Battletech images and the art of the great mattPLOG.
Well, I've done a few Battletech pieces before, but this is a new one. Ironically, it only came about because mattPLOG isn't taking commission right now. Somehow I got it into my mind to try my hand at a two-point perspective drawing. Much hairpulling and grinding on teeth ensued, because my mind couldn't wrap itself around the concept of how to use so many perspective grid lines. Against much cussing any the urge to delete the WIP several times, I managed to pull through, and I'm extremely happy with the final result!
Well, I've done a few Battletech pieces before, but this is a new one. Ironically, it only came about because mattPLOG isn't taking commission right now. Somehow I got it into my mind to try my hand at a two-point perspective drawing. Much hairpulling and grinding on teeth ensued, because my mind couldn't wrap itself around the concept of how to use so many perspective grid lines. Against much cussing any the urge to delete the WIP several times, I managed to pull through, and I'm extremely happy with the final result!
Last edited:
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Very nice work, Two-Point Perspective isn't easy and that's some fine detail you've put on the WarShip. I particularly like the sensor array across the top of the bow.An unnamed WarShip on patrol with two flights of ASF as escorts (large image), and with it's jump sail unfurled (small image). Based on classic Battletech images and the art of the great mattPLOG.
Well, I've done a few Battletech pieces before, but this is a new one. Ironically, it only came about because mattPLOG isn't taking commission right now. Somehow I got it into my mind to try my hand at a two-point perspective drawing. Much hairpulling and grinding on teeth ensued, because my mind couldn't wrap itself around the concept of how to use so many perspective grid lines. Against much cussing any the urge to delete the WIP several times, I managed to pull through, and I'm extremely happy with the final result!
If I could offer a bit of criticism though, that one moon on the gas giant is positioned so that the engine exhaust is pointed straight at it, and the perspective makes it look like the ship just somehow ejected the moon from it's engine. I'd move it down just a bit to remove that false perspective, since there's no detail down there anyway.
Thank you, changed it!
With further constructive criticism over on SB.com I've also come across a few other things that I'd like to improve, mainly the dropships. For once, their size is too small, even if we take your bog-standard Union class dropper. And secondly, to actually be in use when docked they'd have to be collared parallel to the WarShip's main thrust axis. I'm also going to redraw one ASF of the front flight to break up the copy-and-past look of them (because they are copied and pasted. ).
).So, here it is. I got some great constructive feedback on my last upload from several corners of the web and decided to adress the main issues that came up.
The first was by @Bear Ribs that one moon on the gas giant is positioned so that the engine exhaust is pointed straight at, making it look to some as if it was jettisoned from the ship. So I moved that one a bit to the lower right.
The second point was related to the attached dropships (for you non-Battletech people: the spheres on the dorsal and ventral hull). For one they were attached on their own vertical axis, meaning not aligned to their carrier WarShip's main thrust vector. Meaning, what ordinarily would be their floor was now a side wall as soon as that WarShip ignited its own main drive. Ooops! Also, the dropships were far too small for their design! Both points have been adressed in the revision.
Thirdly, some smaller touchups were necessary, like the small fins at the "wings" of the WarShip to better correlate with the deployment of its jumpsail tethers, and a few pen strokes here and there. Almost after the fact I ended up adding small tweaks to the RGB curves and created a bit of a color effect.
The first was by @Bear Ribs that one moon on the gas giant is positioned so that the engine exhaust is pointed straight at, making it look to some as if it was jettisoned from the ship. So I moved that one a bit to the lower right.
The second point was related to the attached dropships (for you non-Battletech people: the spheres on the dorsal and ventral hull). For one they were attached on their own vertical axis, meaning not aligned to their carrier WarShip's main thrust vector. Meaning, what ordinarily would be their floor was now a side wall as soon as that WarShip ignited its own main drive. Ooops! Also, the dropships were far too small for their design! Both points have been adressed in the revision.
Thirdly, some smaller touchups were necessary, like the small fins at the "wings" of the WarShip to better correlate with the deployment of its jumpsail tethers, and a few pen strokes here and there. Almost after the fact I ended up adding small tweaks to the RGB curves and created a bit of a color effect.
Last edited: