Larysia Cont'd: The Lorkandan Islands

So, I'm trying a slightly different approach to this map. Normally, once I have drawn my land masses, drawn my contures, and added my terrain fills, I then go back, and add the glow effects for those sheets. The glow effects I used are the ones Joe Sweeney uses in his tutorials: ie the outer black glow to make the lands stand out, the lighter blue glow to show the gradient of the shallow waters as you get closer to land, and the inner glow to the inside edge of the land mass for the beach. I then usually go in and set my mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests.

Well, this time, I realized after I started placing my settlements, that I completely forgot that inner glow for the beaches. I got to looking at it, and thought about the islands I was mapping... the multiple active volcanoes, the closeness to the equator, and the overall blasted feel of these particular islands. I got to thinking about beaches with black sands, instead of white... and decided to keep it as it was. I rather like the effect for these particular islands. I'm not finished with these islands, and you can definitely tell, but I would like some input on the idea of the black sands...

Lorkandan Islands WIP photo Lorkandan Islands_zpsqtkceivj.jpg

Oh, I also changed the coloration of some of the jungle trees, particularly the ones nearest the 'evil lands', to show that the life is being leached out of the landscape. Please let me know what you think :)

Comments

  • Real nice ! I really like the black mountains there, and the work on the land features is nice.
  • So this map is now essentially complete. I still have to add my number key, but that isn't important for the completion of the map itself. I came up with a much simpler solution for my 'contaminated' rivers... the fractal line tool, changing the color to a bright neon green, and of course a line width alteration, then allowing the glow effect to do its job, and I have a somewhat seamless transition from healthy rivers to sickly ones. Even better, it's subtle, so my players may not notice at first. Always a plot plus!

    photo Lorkandan Islands_zpsxw0uwtrl.jpg

    As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!
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