Load warning CJ's 10-Year-Old MS Paint Island

[Kyng]

About a decade ago, I started work on an island in MS Paint. I'm not sure what it was for (maybe some kind of RPG or Pokémon region?); however, I quickly abandoned the project.

A few weeks ago, I rediscovered two old images of the island, and posted them in my Scrapbook of Unfinished Artwork:


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However, having posted those, I was suddenly inspired to continue the project . Here's my first 'new' update:


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Here's the list of changes I've made at this stage:

• Added a mountain temple thing in the desert;
  
• Added a (fairly faint) grass effect in the plains;
  
• Added some transitions between the desert and plains, and in the water;
  
• Made the lava pool more detailed;
  
• Added smoke in the volcano.

I don't know why I'm continuing with this, since it doesn't really have a purpose, and it's crappy compared to any island that isn't hand-drawn in MS Paint. Maybe the finished article will end up in my Terrible Art thread one day .

[Kyng]

And now, another update:


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• Added some smaller rocks in both the volcano and desert regions;
  
• Made the terrain of the volcano region more varied and interesting;
  
• Made the desert cliffs the same colour as the desert rocks;
  
• Added two rivers at either edge of the swamp;
  
• Added transitions between the plains, swamp, and forest.

I still don't know where I'm going with this, but I'm pretty happy with how the volcanic region is turning out (except for the volcano itself, which is still rubbish and will need a massive re-work at some point )

[Megan]

It looks really good for MS Paint! I love all the details.

[Kyng]

Thanks ! Though, it's nowhere near finished yet (like I said, the only bit I'm reasonably happy with right now is the volcanic region, minus the volcano itself. I'm hoping I can eventually make the rest of the map like that)

Anyway, here's the latest update:


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• Added some channels in the Swamp area;
  
• Added some trees in the corner of the Plains area;
  
• Added a 'Bay' area (which encompasses the three small sandy islands and a newly-added beach);
  
• Made the Canyon area a different colour (so that it stands out better from the Volcano area);
  
• Smoothed the transitions between the various areas.

I'm not entirely happy with the swamp channels (at least it's no longer just a splodge of a solid colour, but I'll probably have to smooth them out a bit). I'm also not particularly happy with my trees, since they're just green rocks on a stick. However, once I've made some trees that I'm happy with, I'll be flooding the forest area with them .

[Kyng]

And another update:


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• Since I wasn't sure what to do with the island, I got rid of it, and replaced it with an Ice region;
  
• To ease the "Plains --> Forest --> Ice" transition, I split the forest into a "Warm Forest" and a "Cold Forest";
  
• Re-coloured the swamp, to make it look murkier (and less like a Minecraft Beta swamp);
  
• Added another design of tree in the Cold Forest area (currently just two of them, to test them out);
  
• Added some detail to the colouring of the volcano.

I have to say, I'm pretty torn on this swamp. In isolation, I think it's a big improvement over what I had before; however, I don't think it fits as well into its surroundings as it used to . Maybe that's just because I haven't added the trees yet, and it'll look better once I've done that .

[Kyng]

Latest version:


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This is basically a 'Water Update' - since most of the updates are concentrated in the sea surrounding the island, rather than the island itself. Here they are:

• Completely re-worked the colouring of the sea water;
  
• Made the bay area slightly smaller, and replaced the three large boundary islands with five small ones and five tiny islets;
  
• Added a cave and a whirlpool in the bay, to give it some more features;
  
• Improved the test trees in the Cold Forest region (by adding a third tier and making the top tiers smaller);
  
• Added some snow-capped rocks in the ice area, along with a snow-covered variant of my Cold Forest tree.

I'm rather happy with this update. The bay area has improved massively: just two posts up, it was duct-taped together from a beach and three islands (which were pretty far away from each other), but now, it looks and feels a lot more like a cohesive region in its own right. As for the trees, this is the first design I'm genuinely happy with - so, I'll probably start filling in some forest fairly soon .

[Kyng]

New update - and finally, we're getting some actual forested areas, instead of just isolated trees :


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If the last one was a 'Water Update', then this is a 'Cold Update', since most of the updates are concentrated in the Ice and Cold Forest zones. They are as follows:

• Filled in the lower half of the Cold Forest with coniferous trees;
  
• Added a clearing in the Cold Forest. I'm not sure what this will be used for yet (probably a village or a camp);
  
• Added some more icy islands off the coast of the Ice zone;
  
• Added an icy lake in the Ice zone;
  
• Added another design of test tree in the Warm Forest. Sadly, I'm not happy with it yet .

I think my next update will be to the desert area, and the shape of the cliffs. After all, it hasn't been updated since the fourth map, and it's showing .

[Kyng]

Now for another update - and, as promised, it's a re-working of the desert area:


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Here's a list of my changes:

• Added a causeway to connect the desert to the bay islands;
  
• Completely re-done the pool, and added a waterfall;
  
• Enlarged the ravine, so it now serves as part of the border between the desert and the plains;
  
• Re-coloured the desert cliffs, and added some cracks to make them look more 'rocky';
  
• Added some detail to the desert temple;
  
• Added a few random cacti.

I'm not sure what to do next. Probably start filling in the warm forest, since I really need to do that !

[Kyng]

After watching CGP Grey's "Hexagons are the Bestagons" video, I got a little bit carried away. So, I decided to expand the map, and add a tenth region :


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• Added the 'Hive' region in the top right of the map;
  
• Smoothed out some the sharper corners in the terrain;
  
• Added a jewel cave in the canyon (in the small rocky outcrop between the volcanic area and the plains);
  
• Added some subtle terrain effects to the ice region;
  
• Added a new test tree in the warm forest.

I'm very happy with the revised shape of the island, without the sharper curves. Not quite so happy with the hive just yet - although, I've only just started on it, so I can't really expect it to be right first time . As for the new test tree, I think it looks decent, but it still needs some work to make it look great.

Hopefully, I'll soon have a design I'm completely happy with, so I can fill out the warm forest (and the rest of the cold forest!)

[Kyng]

I abandoned this for a while, but I've picked it up again now - and, here's my latest round of improvements:


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• Added some rivers of honey to the hive;
  
• Added some 'windows' to the hive (so that bees can get in and out );
  
• Added an orchard in the warm forest;
  
• Connected the two halves of the plains via a bridge;
  
• Created a couple more test trees.

I've put all four of my 'warm forest' test tree designs into a line. The first one (based on my rocks) isn't that great: it doesn't look especially tree-like. The second one looks better, but doesn't really fit in with the isometric art style of the rest of the map. The third one sought to avoid this, but it came out looking very blocky and Minecraft-y (and it would look horribly out of place alongside the second one ). The fourth one is based on the third one, but without so many jagged edges. It's probably my most convincing attempt yet: it's fairly rounded and tree-like, but it still looks a bit isometric due to the shading.

I might refine my fourth design a bit - but, once I'm totally happy with it, I'll probably fill the warm forest with a mix of the second and fourth designs. I've re-used the first design for the orchard; however, I don't think I'll use the third design at all.

Hopefully, it won't be two months until my next update .