WIP of a Dutch village in 1500 AD. Heathland, harvested lands, brook and accompanying wet meadows, etc. Any comments welcome, of course.
Through the ages again. :)
Fantastic spatial planning. It is not easy to set up a village or a town and make a convincing, realistic layout of the surroundings, so you certainly deserve a credit for that.
Don't you think that the colours are a little pale? The palette is good (are these cornflowers in the distance? A heather?) and probably deserves deeper saturation.
This is based on historical maps and scientific data, so it's not my layout :P
Maybe pale, yes. I will address that later, first have to hear if trees and all are on the right places. The pale yellow are remains of corn harvested (in the pale sandy colored fields), hence the 'haystacks' here and there. There will be wagons and people, etc. The purple top left area is blooming heather, lower areas have peaty vegetation. Around the brook it's supposed to be greener and wet, with fringes of willows, and higher up oaks.
Love the detail in the paths that web out from people leaving the settlement to do their work and such.
Nice work Ulco.
A little history lesson... In these villages they herded enormous flocks (1000's) of sheep on the high, dry land. Each day they would come from all stables and 'web out' onto the heathland, hence these paths. At night they stay in stables, and the muck, mixed with turves of heathland, was thrown onto the fields as fertilizer. The ground was all sandy and barren in these areas, that's why. That's also why these cultivated fields are often meters higher than the rest of the land (still very visible).
And by the sheep's grazing the heathland stayed heathland, as heather can stand dry land, and the grass and young trees are eaten away by all the sheep.
Until the invention of artificial fertilizer more than a century ago this (actually manmade) landscape stayed intact. After that, all the herds disappeared, and now we have to manage the few remaining heathlands with flocks of sheep again, or they'd turn into forest eventually.
So much detail!
Thanks for the history lesson
A great image (very glimmerveenesque! ;) ), and a very interesting history lesson!!
Beautiful scene with lots of detail!
Quote from: Hannes on October 06, 2020, 04:45:27 AMA great image (very glimmerveenesque! ;) ), and a very interesting history lesson!!
Agree everything :) Great!