The maps feel so natural that I never actually noticed mountains until you showed the process of making them, they just felt as an authentic part of the maps
Now i need to watch his most recent video with a map and look at the ocean texture. I never noticed the marble or swimming pool in the maps, just that they have a very pleasant aesthetic.
You know the funny thing is I'm guilty of an even worse cheat than the swimming pool trick. I layer paper textures over the map to make it look like an old whethered atlas spread map, like literally just rip stock pictures of paper off the internet, make them JUUUUUST opaque enough to be visible when on top of the map drawing, and then just stretch and pull them to whatever dimensions the map is. Without fail, makes the drawing look like a printout from an old textbook.
Ah yes~ the age old map making techniques of tracing someone else's map that was traced from another map that was traced from another map that... is hopefully accurate. :'3
Blue: says he isn't a good artist Also Blue: actually uses his mouse to make something Me: You are one! I get the fact that Red is better at making stuff from scratch, though your maps are great!
Hey Blue, just a heads up from someone who makes dnd maps in photoshop: You can use the stamp tool to put down designs like mountains, trees, etc I'm not sure why people don't talk about it more but it's a massive time saver.
YES I was wondering about this, when he said he BOUGHT a whole program just to add them! Lots of ways to make photoshop your bish, and the more we know, the more we can do! :3
i really like see Behind The Scenes types of video it is all ways interesting to see how youtubers make there videos and how much time it take and you put a lot of effect in them so i am really interested in this keep miking your videos blue 💖
I love that you took the time to mention removing the Suez canal for the historical authenticity but you left Lake Nasser which only came into existence with the Aswan Dam built in the 1960s
Red struggling with tears in her eyes to make a basic map while she looks over to Blue as he flawlessly draws a perfect recreation of the entirety of the world.
3:08 HOLY SHIT DUDE you have NO IDEA how eerie it was to see that GeaCron screen. I used *that exact location and time* as the basis for a bronze age D&D campaign! ...okay technically I used -1525 (Egypt gets longer) and included more of Asia (Indus Valley, Shang dynasty) but like. I've stared at basically that exact map for I don't even know how many hours of my life!
Let's be real. When it comes to ancient borders, the actual locations of boundaries and border lines really depended on which cartographer you were asking, which king they worked for, and what part of the year it was when they actually published it. No one really respected borders *at* the border, disputes were frequent and difficult to resolve, and everyone who commissioned a map of the area wanted to make *their* territory look just the tiniest bit better than it actually was. So unless it's a river or ocean coast, and some of the more immutable terrain features, a "best effort" approach will usually suffice. Especially when dealing with temporal spans of more than a decade or so.
as someone who makes maps in his spare time as well, I can say that they always look fantastic. Also now I can not unsee the pool layer on the maps in your guys videos so thank you for that
As an artist, let me tell you Copy paste transform. For a person I can do eyes, arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, toes. Depending on the background I can do it for wood paneling, or for grass, clouds, leaves, branches...really anything that I can make a simple patterns for and copy over several times with slight alterations.
Huh, so I'm not the only one who makes maps by playing with textures and layer effects. I just skipped the middle man with wonder draft and just got the mountain brushes for Photoshop itself. That underwater texturing though, freaking brilliant and I'm definitely stealing that for my future maps.
Honestly, the way you make maps for your videos is pretty nice, the texture itself I’d really neat. No matter who it is, the art style you all have is incredible to look at, so props to everyone in the OSP team
Thank you so much for putting in all this effort, it really does make your videos so much more aesthetic! Aside from that it honestly helps so much with my little squirrel 'visual learner' brain 💝
@@lilysong1321 Both blue and Cyan are asexuals but yeah they are married. And yes Red BFF energy. She bought custom ace rings for both of them. (which is very cute if you ask me)
Yup, real power duo pals. :P For some reason, when I first started following the channel, I thought they were siblings just based on the way they interacted with each other. XD
Honestly, I always put you videos on in the background as I do something else, so I never really paid attention to the maps. But now that I know how they're made, I can really appreciate how great they actually look
As a person who got OSP obsessed and watched every released video over the course of a month when I first learned of the channel during the pandemic, yes, the maps have improved over time, but they always showed and told what was most needed
This was definitely very interesting! I *might* steal one or another trick from this to make my own maps for my pnp sessions. They look kinda .. bland most of the time, but with this as kind of a guideline they could look a lot better. Thanks, Blue :)
Wow, Blue really is the kind of person to look at those ‘don’t turn me into an oversimplified logo!’ Videos and go “but the logo looks so much better now”, based on those game covers.
Thank you for the map software suggestion. Yes, I'm making fiddly fantasy map, but I'm GLAD you like marble. My Venice stand-in isn't some constantly sinking blocks of stone on some rotten sandbars in a swamp... She's a pristine city of canals carved out of the top of a huge marble cliff with waterfalls and locks used to haul boats and skiffs up and down the cliffside.
I love maps and have always admired this channel's map making. Blue you have developed a great talent! That is in addition to your already literary and historical talent
Hey! There are layer styles you can use in Photoshop that saves a step on adding the shadow outline. It's the FX dropdown button at the bottom of the layers tab. Idk, thought it might save you some time
I love your maps! Not only because MARBLE, but they're very clean, for lack of a better word. Often when I look for maps of a historical time, the results are cluttered and confusing (sometimes for good reason, but listing the name of every city, district, and highway in a country isn't **always** helpful). Yours are always easy to follow and nice to look at.
Oh wow! I never considered where your maps came from but now I feel silly for not doing so. Thanks for such an informative glimps at the process. I hope you do more of these.
Loved this great video breakdown of your map making process!! It's awesome how both you and Red are artists in your own right!! Excited to see your maps in the future!! Thanks for sharing!!
Nice to see! I’ve been using Wonderdraft myself for some time to make the maps (world map, continent maps, nation and terrain maps, and city and town maps) for my homebrew D&D campaign setting 😁 super easy and fun to use!
Hey, red! Trope talk suggestion for you; "The noodle incident" or "Noodle incidents" are a literary tool that gives more literary weight to an event or mcguffin than a description would, mostly by context and the reader's imagination. Named because of a short series of Calvin and Hobbes comics wherein everyone at school gives the eternally frustrated 6-year-old grief about something he did in the past that is now known only as "The noodle incident." It is hinted at vaguely many times, but the writer ultimately leaves it up to your imagination; which is a strength because whatever the audience dreams up will be way more literarily impactful (in this case funny) than anything he could write down. And that's not even the only time that comic uses a noodle incident, see, there's this kids book calvin always wants read called "Hampster Hewwy and the Gooey Kablooey" and Now I'm ranting. Another instance this trope is used is in an S.C.P. story wherein a certain slime MUST NEVER come into contact with a human corpse. Why? That's classified. A foundation researcher files the suggestion to test the slime on a human corpse because it's never listed what happens, only that it is a V E R Y bad idea, and the researcher is curious. He gets demoted and heavily scolded by an O-5, who states "Just don't." A "Noodle Incident" is a rare trope that involves telling the audience that something exists or happened, but not telling them what it was, in order to give the plot point more narrative weight than a description would give it, partly because of the imaginations of the audience. It is a great trope that I think you should cover.
highly enjoyable. I liken videos like this as the artistic version of a gear-head peeking under the hood of a car. it's insightful while still entertaining ^_^ love all the work you guys do!
Yknow the marble is the best part of the process. I never really noticed that there actually is a Marble texture until I was told it existed. I think design elements you only notice when they aren’t there are super cool.
i think the marble texture resembles terrain variations, loved this content! also ncie to know that blue is much like red, not only smart but also very talented
The moment I got Wonderdraft I knew that had to be what you were using. I recognize those mountains anywhere. I've never used textures though, so that's neat.
If I can take this opportunity to request one map feature, it would be to include large lakes as water, just like the rivers. I'm completely lost when I'm looking at a map of northern Italy without having the lakes as reference points!
I never caught on to the fact that you where using a swimming pool texture for your oceans >.> I went to uni for that exact thing, lol. I've always been very impressed with your maps, especially as you've polished and refined your technique over time
I mainly use krita, and I feel comfortable making a map, in a slow process. The only thing that still eludes me is vegetation textures--that missing piece of photorealism. I recently feel confident enough to say that I've conquered realist mountains. FYI almost nobody gets them remotely right. Now that I took a literal YEAR to figure them out, I can't unsee the errors.
The maps feel so natural that I never actually noticed mountains until you showed the process of making them, they just felt as an authentic part of the maps
I genuinely never noticed the marble texture, both land or sea, or that swimming pool texture on the oceans. Just felt right.
@@SolstaceWinters I've never noticed the marble texture either!
I noticed the mountains, but not the marble
Exactly. Also I don’t like the pure white marble.
I'd never noticed the swimming pool texture, but once he pointed out the tiles I can't not see them, lol.
Hey I remember emailing you about this! You provided such a thorough answer that my maps got better 10 fold!! Thank you OSP you are truly saints
oh hi stoneworks
Wasn't expecting to see you here, small world lol
Stoneworks watches osp? Then again, who dosent
Wholesome AF
Dont wanna bother, just here to say, great content on both channels
So the important things are:
-marble
-the ocean is a swimming pool
-Marble
-aestetic is more important then anything
-MARBLE
*M A R B L E*
Not just a swimming pool, but also salty af
Marble. A worthy opponent to *d o m e* -also all of greece + rome. Ohmygawd I cracked the Blue Code-
I like the part where he says marble
And of course the software used.
Honestly, I was taken so off guard by “adding a swimming pool” and is probably the most OSP thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to well anything.
Now i need to watch his most recent video with a map and look at the ocean texture.
I never noticed the marble or swimming pool in the maps, just that they have a very pleasant aesthetic.
@@jasonreed7522 what kind video i don't know how to make marble please help
What kind of photoshop does he use
3:20 “THERE I AM, GARY! THERE I AM!”
lmao
You made it!
Why am I not surprised that you two are somehow connected
Great job, Kaiser Tiger
@@ultrio325 *Tsar Tiger
Wonderdraft: "What is my purpose?"
Blue: "You add mountains."
Wonderdraft:"Oh, my god."
Wonderdraft and all of it's in depth and well made features: My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
@@turtlerollover9382 Here, let me cheer you up with some MARBLE.
TurtleRollover M A R B L E
This reference made my morning. Thanks.
The addition of a comma here takes it from horror to awe and I love it
Heh, it’s been kinda fun watching your art style evolve through the last few years. I honestly quite like what you’ve ended up with now.
OH NOOOOOO!!! Most people agree that my vids are the worst on UA-cam. I agree to disagree. Please agree to disagree with the haters, dear jonas
@@AxxLAfriku Go away spambot
I have always wondered how it was done, always cool to see a bit of behind the scenes content.
It had never once occurred to me that the map was marble, that’s how you do aesthetic without it being too obnoxious
You know the funny thing is I'm guilty of an even worse cheat than the swimming pool trick.
I layer paper textures over the map to make it look like an old whethered atlas spread map, like literally just rip stock pictures of paper off the internet, make them JUUUUUST opaque enough to be visible when on top of the map drawing, and then just stretch and pull them to whatever dimensions the map is. Without fail, makes the drawing look like a printout from an old textbook.
Hahaha I do the exact same thing, glad to know I'm not alone
Can you link an example?
@@alexanderp.7250 Seconded. Wanna see what this looks like.
Oh now that's awesome.
@@JenDeyan We about to encourage this dude to become a cartography youtube lol
Ah yes~ the age old map making techniques of tracing someone else's map that was traced from another map that was traced from another map that... is hopefully accurate. :'3
And hopefully scaled and angled right... and using the same original projection the whole way around... Yikes, maps are tricky.
Cartelephone!
Yay Satellites
Blue: says he isn't a good artist
Also Blue: actually uses his mouse to make something
Me: You are one! I get the fact that Red is better at making stuff from scratch, though your maps are great!
Cartography is an often underappreciated art form.
The man has an aesthetic and he is sticking to it!! That’s the video bay-bee!
Hey Blue, just a heads up from someone who makes dnd maps in photoshop:
You can use the stamp tool to put down designs like mountains, trees, etc
I'm not sure why people don't talk about it more but it's a massive time saver.
you could also make a mountain brush in photoshop. Then you can change the brush settings and get ~slightly different~ mountains in the range
@Electroboss The Stamp tool isn't a brush tool, it's more like a sticker. You can make them use different textures and variants if you set it up.
YES I was wondering about this, when he said he BOUGHT a whole program just to add them! Lots of ways to make photoshop your bish, and the more we know, the more we can do! :3
@@86fifty I'm guessing he bought wonderdraft to make his D&D maps, and then thought "Hey I could use this for mountains on YT videos!"
i really like see Behind The Scenes types of video it is all ways interesting to see how youtubers make there videos and how much time it take and you put a lot of effect in them so i am really interested in this keep miking your videos blue 💖
Ok, but honestly? I'd watch a whole series about OSP's Behind the Scenes process. This was really fun to watch!
I love that you took the time to mention removing the Suez canal for the historical authenticity but you left Lake Nasser which only came into existence with the Aswan Dam built in the 1960s
oops?
I never realized, that you are using a marble texture.
I know right, and now we'll never be able to unsee it :o
@@nothanks1138 I know right
I remember reading in comments that his maps were marble but I always thought it was an inside joke from an older video I hadn't seen XD
Oh, amazing! A video about maps! This is extremely useful for an amateur cartographer such as myself! Thank you so much!
Red struggling with tears in her eyes to make a basic map while she looks over to Blue as he flawlessly draws a perfect recreation of the entirety of the world.
3:08 HOLY SHIT DUDE you have NO IDEA how eerie it was to see that GeaCron screen. I used *that exact location and time* as the basis for a bronze age D&D campaign! ...okay technically I used -1525 (Egypt gets longer) and included more of Asia (Indus Valley, Shang dynasty) but like. I've stared at basically that exact map for I don't even know how many hours of my life!
Blue's maps area marble-ous. Very interesting to see the process of his map making.
This April fools I think it’s be funny to see a map where he just places a mountain range in the Aegean Sea
Has Blue made a map of Atlantis yet? If not, he should make a map of Atlantis. Maybe for 2023?
Let's be real. When it comes to ancient borders, the actual locations of boundaries and border lines really depended on which cartographer you were asking, which king they worked for, and what part of the year it was when they actually published it.
No one really respected borders *at* the border, disputes were frequent and difficult to resolve, and everyone who commissioned a map of the area wanted to make *their* territory look just the tiniest bit better than it actually was.
So unless it's a river or ocean coast, and some of the more immutable terrain features, a "best effort" approach will usually suffice. Especially when dealing with temporal spans of more than a decade or so.
as someone who makes maps in his spare time as well, I can say that they always look fantastic. Also now I can not unsee the pool layer on the maps in your guys videos so thank you for that
From the bottom of my nerdy heart, thank you for introducing me to WonderDraft holy SHIT I am going to make so many fantasy maps for my gaming now.
I love that this is just applying several simple solutions in many layers to create the final product. I'm pretty sure that's how art works.
As an artist, let me tell you
Copy paste transform.
For a person I can do eyes, arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, toes. Depending on the background I can do it for wood paneling, or for grass, clouds, leaves, branches...really anything that I can make a simple patterns for and copy over several times with slight alterations.
Pretty much, yeah
Now we all just wait until VR 3d is the standard way of watching youtube so Blue can add the final step:
Projecting it all on a dome
Huh, so I'm not the only one who makes maps by playing with textures and layer effects. I just skipped the middle man with wonder draft and just got the mountain brushes for Photoshop itself. That underwater texturing though, freaking brilliant and I'm definitely stealing that for my future maps.
The mountains may seem like a useless decorative element, but they just add so much depth to those maps.
Honestly, the way you make maps for your videos is pretty nice, the texture itself I’d really neat. No matter who it is, the art style you all have is incredible to look at, so props to everyone in the OSP team
Someone else said this on one of your older videos, but I love how you made maps from nation and history-specific materials, like papyrus for Egypt 😊
Fascinating, always cool to see a little behind the scene with channels like this.
Super fun video, always great to get a peak at the process that goes into making the videos.
As someone who has a “Geographical Information Systems” degree and has a good appreciation for good cartography, I love this video.
Thank you so much for putting in all this effort, it really does make your videos so much more aesthetic! Aside from that it honestly helps so much with my little squirrel 'visual learner' brain 💝
I remember when I shipped Blue and Red, now I’ve since learned that they are both asexual and just friends. A power duo.
Blue is actually married to Cyan. But Red and Blue are the best friend energy I hope to one day achieve.
Also I seem to recall Red prefers girls?
@@lilysong1321 Both blue and Cyan are asexuals but yeah they are married. And yes Red BFF energy. She bought custom ace rings for both of them. (which is very cute if you ask me)
Jessie and James...
Wait, both pairs have cats...
Meowth = Cleo?
Yup, real power duo pals. :P
For some reason, when I first started following the channel, I thought they were siblings just based on the way they interacted with each other. XD
Honestly, I always put you videos on in the background as I do something else, so I never really paid attention to the maps. But now that I know how they're made, I can really appreciate how great they actually look
"Wait, it's all pools and marbles?" "Always has been."
Really interesting. It's always nice to see the work that goes into these kinds of things. 🙂
As a person who got OSP obsessed and watched every released video over the course of a month when I first learned of the channel during the pandemic, yes, the maps have improved over time, but they always showed and told what was most needed
This was definitely very interesting! I *might* steal one or another trick from this to make my own maps for my pnp sessions. They look kinda .. bland most of the time, but with this as kind of a guideline they could look a lot better. Thanks, Blue :)
i ADORE your maps, i really love them and i always keep an eye here to see if you uploaded a new one
Wow the amount of work that goes into all of those maps. Also that detail with the Suez Canal, wow.
Wow, Blue really is the kind of person to look at those ‘don’t turn me into an oversimplified logo!’ Videos and go “but the logo looks so much better now”, based on those game covers.
Whenever Blue sees any architecture that's marble, he does the red glowing eyes thing.
Thank you for the map software suggestion. Yes, I'm making fiddly fantasy map, but I'm GLAD you like marble. My Venice stand-in isn't some constantly sinking blocks of stone on some rotten sandbars in a swamp... She's a pristine city of canals carved out of the top of a huge marble cliff with waterfalls and locks used to haul boats and skiffs up and down the cliffside.
I love maps and have always admired this channel's map making. Blue you have developed a great talent! That is in addition to your already literary and historical talent
Hey! There are layer styles you can use in Photoshop that saves a step on adding the shadow outline. It's the FX dropdown button at the bottom of the layers tab. Idk, thought it might save you some time
After seeing you put a pool as your water design, I cant stop seeing it. Every time I go back and rewatch your videos, all I see is the pool tiles
I thought you were going to actually carve a map from marble😅😂😂
1:26, Aisle Isle, truly ingenious name crafting by Blue here, no shame. (Also, historically accurate to real life human's creativity.)
I really like your fantasy maps "Tamhalind" or "Aisle Isles" 10/10 D&D map
Fort Gayle
What about the other isle
I love your maps! Not only because MARBLE, but they're very clean, for lack of a better word. Often when I look for maps of a historical time, the results are cluttered and confusing (sometimes for good reason, but listing the name of every city, district, and highway in a country isn't **always** helpful). Yours are always easy to follow and nice to look at.
Maps :D
I did always wonder how you made them :D
Oh wow! I never considered where your maps came from but now I feel silly for not doing so. Thanks for such an informative glimps at the process. I hope you do more of these.
Loved this great video breakdown of your map making process!!
It's awesome how both you and Red are artists in your own right!!
Excited to see your maps in the future!! Thanks for sharing!!
So much more thought goes into this than I realised! No wonder it looks so impressive!
I'm majoring in cartography so this helps
Blue, the Marbellous Map-Maker. So much marble!!! Love it!
Nice to see! I’ve been using Wonderdraft myself for some time to make the maps (world map, continent maps, nation and terrain maps, and city and town maps) for my homebrew D&D campaign setting 😁 super easy and fun to use!
I recalled Blue mentioning how he made the maps on I think the OSPod, but seeing it visually makes a lot more sense now.
Hey, red! Trope talk suggestion for you; "The noodle incident" or "Noodle incidents" are a literary tool that gives more literary weight to an event or mcguffin than a description would, mostly by context and the reader's imagination.
Named because of a short series of Calvin and Hobbes comics wherein everyone at school gives the eternally frustrated 6-year-old grief about something he did in the past that is now known only as "The noodle incident." It is hinted at vaguely many times, but the writer ultimately leaves it up to your imagination; which is a strength because whatever the audience dreams up will be way more literarily impactful (in this case funny) than anything he could write down. And that's not even the only time that comic uses a noodle incident, see, there's this kids book calvin always wants read called "Hampster Hewwy and the Gooey Kablooey" and Now I'm ranting.
Another instance this trope is used is in an S.C.P. story wherein a certain slime MUST NEVER come into contact with a human corpse. Why? That's classified. A foundation researcher files the suggestion to test the slime on a human corpse because it's never listed what happens, only that it is a V E R Y bad idea, and the researcher is curious. He gets demoted and heavily scolded by an O-5, who states "Just don't."
A "Noodle Incident" is a rare trope that involves telling the audience that something exists or happened, but not telling them what it was, in order to give the plot point more narrative weight than a description would give it, partly because of the imaginations of the audience. It is a great trope that I think you should cover.
wish granted
Blue gushing about his maps is something i didn't think i needed in my life.
Can’t wait to learn how to Play God *TM* from Blue and make some sick DND maps.
Ahhh, this is so cool to see because I love making maps too!! It's one of my longest-standing passions.
I love Blue’s maps and it’s great to know how he does them.
highly enjoyable. I liken videos like this as the artistic version of a gear-head peeking under the hood of a car. it's insightful while still entertaining ^_^ love all the work you guys do!
Yknow the marble is the best part of the process. I never really noticed that there actually is a Marble texture until I was told it existed. I think design elements you only notice when they aren’t there are super cool.
Augustus would be proud of the sheer amount of marble left behind for one sole purpose
This is so interesting! I'd love to see more behind the scenes whenever y'all want a break from your normal content.
Inb4 someone tries to make a drinking game out of how many times Blue says "marble" in the video.
FINISH LES MIS SUMMARIZED COWARD!!!
you had me at Marble, then lost me at Gaussian Blur, but you had me again when you reiterated about the MARBLE
Do you think he likes marble?
This was more interesting than I expected it to be.
A behind the scenes video??? Awesome!!
I've literally never noticed the swimming pool grid on Blue's maps, and now I shan't unsee it
is Red the 1 view?
It's Cyan
Grazie, grazie! As a fellow map-lover, I love to see how pretty maps become pretty!
i think the marble texture resembles terrain variations, loved this content! also ncie to know that blue is much like red, not only smart but also very talented
I love this and its a very cool process that works very well, but also I will never unsee the swimming pool.
Blue and red can be good detectives. One draws a map and one draws the description of the man
And this I like: flexing a little with what you bring to the table.
This is so interesting! I'd always wondered how you did your maps so loved seeing this.
Also, I have a feeling that Blue might not dislike marble
Wow! I had always wondered about the process! Thank you for the knowledge!
He actually answered my tweets!!! Thank you OSP!
I was happy to see this video as it vindicated my belief you used wonderdraft (I very recognised the mountains)
The moment I got Wonderdraft I knew that had to be what you were using. I recognize those mountains anywhere. I've never used textures though, so that's neat.
If I can take this opportunity to request one map feature, it would be to include large lakes as water, just like the rivers. I'm completely lost when I'm looking at a map of northern Italy without having the lakes as reference points!
That shade of purple is marvelous.
Just Blue dropping the word Marble, kinda like he does with the work Dome.
oh this was so interesting and honestly very helpful for how to possibly go about making some maps myself
Blue should sell the blank world map as a poster because the art style is really appealing.
Either that or make the world at different time periods.
I appreciate the marble, along with the marble, and also the marble coloured version of Photoshop that definitely doesn't look 10 years out of date.
Oh my god I was looking for this for the last few months
Coincidentally exactly the video I needed
I never caught on to the fact that you where using a swimming pool texture for your oceans >.> I went to uni for that exact thing, lol. I've always been very impressed with your maps, especially as you've polished and refined your technique over time
I mainly use krita, and I feel comfortable making a map, in a slow process. The only thing that still eludes me is vegetation textures--that missing piece of photorealism. I recently feel confident enough to say that I've conquered realist mountains. FYI almost nobody gets them remotely right. Now that I took a literal YEAR to figure them out, I can't unsee the errors.
i will never ever unseen the swimming pool on these maps. thanks for that blue
Oh, god. I will never be able to unsee the pool grid. I don't know how I feel about that, but I will always cherish the time of my blissful ignorance.