Zhinru's Doodles and Scribblings

[Zhinru]

Recently I have started actively doing some artistic stuff. I haven't shared any of it yet with Petopia, so I thought it might be a good idea to start.

Writings:
On Scrolls of Lore I am currently doing a regular feature I call "Creature Conversion Pit" or "Revenge of Appendix Three". In that thread, I take creatures - often from D&D - and invent new lore to make them fit with the Warcraft universe. Currently nearly 20 posts, with 1-3 creatures per post.
Some of the converted creatures are beasts and have "as hunter pets" section. If you have balance issues with those sections, do drop feedback - either here or at the destination.
Link: http://www.scrollsoflore.com/forums/sho ... hp?t=95161

Drawings:
Occasionally I drop a doddle on Twitter, but for now I wanted to share the map that's got some small attention recently. It's a map of Draenor about 50-100 years before it got blown up, and it's still very much work in progress. It's also got a ton of fanon in, so don't be surprised by seeing zones you never heard of before or new names for old places that got changed with the rise of the Horde.
http://i.imgur.com/0bRWWZ9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SKSqoJc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qprBO1C.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bgB515e.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TA8v1sh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wOD3GH7.jpg
Version 4.1: http://www.picfront.org/d/8Yt9

Hiera
A new project of mine. Map of a land I called "Hiera". It's located in a as-of-yet unnamed fantasy universe which is based on the Abrahamic and Phoenician mythology. Two biggest religions in the known world derive from the same third ancient religion and have the same sacred land, which is Hiera. It's supposed to be where the world was started by God, and where many major religious and historical events took place. Because of the conflict over that land, vaguely European Isans proclaimed a Holy War to reclaim the land from Azawis who are now the majority there. A successful Crusade resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of Hiera and its vassals. But Azawis do not give up and will try to destroy this Isan Kingdom.
Version 0.0.1: http://www.picfront.org/d/8Yy6

I will add more stuff to the thread as it develops.

[Wain]

That's pretty cool

I know very little about Draenor's past, so how much lore do you have to work from and how much is stuff you have to make up yourself? I'm just curious

[Gimlion]

I feel like the void areas wouldn't necessarily be water on Draenor, as there is clear evidence of that in places without void spaces. AFAIK, the cracks in continents are caused by the rupturing of the planet after it was 'destroyed'.

[Wain]

I feel like the void areas wouldn't necessarily be water on Draenor, as there is clear evidence of that in places without void spaces. AFAIK, the cracks in continents are caused by the rupturing of the planet after it was 'destroyed'.

Yeah. The void between HFP and NS was probably a sea, though, as there are derelict ships floating in it.

My guess is the other sides of HFP also had to be water since the region is called a peninsula, but I'm not sure if that was just a name given after the rupturing.

[Zhinru]

That's pretty cool

I know very little about Draenor's past, so how much lore do you have to work from and how much is stuff you have to make up yourself? I'm just curious

We know literally zero past the current borders of Outland, so everything like Darksworn Weald or Syrinkar Summit are made up.

Within the known parts, I mostly stick to lore. When I encounter a ruined village whose name can't be found in sources, I made it up (cue Doctor Who reference for Illidari Point town). Just once I had to make a small retcon, because it didn't fit graphically. Telmor (from Rise of the Horde) is supposed to be in Terokkar, north of Auchindoun. There's just no place where it could possibly be, especially considering there's no "ogre country" in that zone. So I moved it south, to Darksworn Weald, explaining that draenei considered that zone part of greater Terokkar.

I feel like the void areas wouldn't necessarily be water on Draenor, as there is clear evidence of that in places without void spaces. AFAIK, the cracks in continents are caused by the rupturing of the planet after it was 'destroyed'.

We know at least the nether between Netherstorm, Hellfire and Shadowmoon was water. To guess where was sea and where not, I look at the edges of Outland and generally, when it smoothly ends in a plain, I assume it's a coastline. If it's torn up mountains, I assume there was land there.
For all the spaces in Netherstorm I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I decided making them straits would look better in the end. Even then, Netherstorm/Farahlon is pretty bare. I'm looking into it.

[Zhinru]

I don't know what's the unspoken rule regarding fan works and double posting when you have an update, but I updated my Draenor map.
http://i.imgur.com/SKSqoJc.jpg
Fixed a missing mountain range between Hellfire and Zangarmarsh, and the lake at Dead Mire (which would have been intact at the time presented by the map). Also spruced up Farahlon (Netherstorm) and developed Syrinkar Summit and Ork'amon Waste better.

[Wain]

I don't know what's the unspoken rule regarding fan works and double posting when you have an update, but I updated my Draenor map.

Your thread, post as much as you like

[Zhinru]

Your thread, post as much as you like

That's cool, because I have another update.

http://i.imgur.com/qprBO1C.jpg

Experimented with various ways to present different terrains and environments. For now I settled on a basic color coding. Also added a simple legend, which will be built on in the future.
Also tried to fix what looks like compression artifacts, but the PNG file is fine on my hard drive. It's the upload that gives those weird stray pixels all around.

[Zhinru]

Version 3.1!
http://i.imgur.com/bgB515e.jpg

Corrected some factual errors (locations of a few orc clans), and also changed the city icons for new race-specific ones.

[Eternallylostx]

Oh, these maps! Make me want to read up on Draenor, all these extra lands and water. I'm super curious, these are good.

[Gimlion]

I'm actually almost 100% positive that NS was one peninsula on it's own. The land masses fit together about as good as it comes, and the edges are jagged and look very torn asunder to me. That said, it's also your work, and the staits (straights?) do look very nice, I don't see how it would end up like that without some form of sundering.

[Zhinru]

I'm actually almost 100% positive that NS was one peninsula on it's own. The land masses fit together about as good as it comes, and the edges are jagged and look very torn asunder to me. That said, it's also your work, and the staits (straights?) do look very nice, I don't see how it would end up like that without some form of sundering.

Yeah, that was a conscious artistic choice. I had this mental image of open plains, small glades, straits, rivers and creeks - all around a rather picturesque place. That made me choose to go with "islands" version of Netherstorm.

And thank you for all the praises.

[Zhinru]

New version of the map, and inquiry for some feedback.
http://i.imgur.com/TA8v1sh.jpg

As you see, I made some new mountains, and I have two questions regarding them.
1) Do they impact overall readability of the map? I gave the names some halo, but I don't know if it's enough.
2) Do you think they fit map's overall style?

[Zhinru]

http://i.imgur.com/wOD3GH7.jpg
Feedback on the mountains was positive, so I tried applying the same style of brushes overall. Did I overdo it?

[Zhinru]

http://www.picfront.org/d/8Yt9

Moved the map to a different host, because Imgur kept compressing the file which resulted in some of the pixelisation you might have seen. Also changed halos on the names, which should improve readability. Finally, updated the legend and added a wind rose.

Check out the cliffs in Ork'amon Waste too. Do they look like cliffs to you?

[Zhinru]

http://www.picfront.org/d/8Yy6

A non-Warcraft map. It's meant for a fantasy universe where main theater of action is a land resembling medieval Palestine - meaning Crusades.

[Zhinru]

It looks like Pokemon Fusions are getting trendy again. Since that one Pokefusion website only goes up to Starmie, I decided I had to take it into my own hands. Two random numbers and about (IIRC) 30 minutes in Photoshop:

http://kalontas.tumblr.com/post/5109334 ... usion-site