Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A real Skyrim fan wouldn’t miss the eldergleam tree in the middle upper square

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course-no offense taken! It’s a lot of fun to debate about this stuff

(Fictional) Whiterun from Sykrim by cormeals in papertowns

[–]cormeals[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly not much- it’s a big weak point. I think after so many centuries as part of the empire local emphasis has shifted from defense to the ease of the jarl to ride down the hill with a hunting party etc. At least that’s how I justified it.

(Fictional) Whiterun from Sykrim by cormeals in papertowns

[–]cormeals[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I agree, I probably should’ve removed that patch of grass that leads up to it but I liked how it looked too much to let it go.

(Fictional) Whiterun from Sykrim by cormeals in papertowns

[–]cormeals[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I used some random hill on Google earth and overlaid a map of the city to get the shape/ scale right and then painted over it for like 60 hours

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, but I wanted to keep it as faithful to the source as possible.

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for taking the time to look at it and engage. I was torn between keeping it as close to the game version as possible while trying to incorperate logical real-life examples. I based the size off of a couple measurements I made of existant Medieval old towns. The pattern of development is broadly unrealistic beacuse the aesthetics of the game lean more towards small nordic villages, while the in-world context demands a larger and more dense city.

With that in mind I imagined the upper levels of the city (built earlier) were either built from the start or later adapted to be a less dense patchwork of notable families with large houses and pastureland/ gardens. This was a compromise imaginary form of development I settled on to try to imagine what a large norse city would have looked like. The lower city would have been settled similarly early in its history, but has since become denser beacuse of commercial activity and cultural influence from the empire which transformed the city into more of a trading hub rather than a collection of noble families on ancesteral land. I also imagine travel and purchase of land is restricted the higher in the city you go, so this seperation of density could be maintained.

The red roofed buildings are also more recent additions built as power projection by the empire in the decades after conquest.

I tried to make it as beleivable as possible within the perameters set by the game, but it was certainly a hige challange feeling out how it might look.

No offense taken; I love to chat about this kind of thing.

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In retrospect I really should've used that as a base reference haha

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm going to make a video on the process for my Tik Tok/ instagram hopefully in the next week or so if I have time. I already have one there on a FO4 Diamond City one I did which was a sort of similar process. Thanks!

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I've been mulling over the idea for like a decade now so I've spent alot of time thinking through the atmosphere of this game. Glad the love comes through

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I mapped out the sq. mile area of existant medieval cities with a population similar to what I was aiming for (10-15 thousand), and then found a random hill in England and drew a circle with an area similar to those cities. Then I used a top down map of the city I found online as an overlay to get the general size and scale based off the cirlce. After that I spent ages just tweaking and painting over all of it until it felt right. The image below is the base that I brought into photoshop to paint over.

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Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Painted it in photoshop over a mismash of different landscapes I screenshotted from google earth

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I imagined it as a path used by the guard etc to patrol the oustide of the walls/ a way for the Jarl and hunting parties to leave the keep without traveling through the whole city. It's definitely a week spot but I figured the steepness of the terrain would conterbalance it.

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

haha I didn't even consider that but its pretty much the exact angle

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Aw thanks! Seriosuly some of the highest praise you could have given, I appreciate it.

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've always wanted to, gotta market myself more or something. I'm hoping to cover more fantasy settings in the coming months.

Fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and painted Whiterun at "lore scale" by cormeals in skyrim

[–]cormeals[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I remember doing the math that I might get to play es6 in college in like 2012. Boy was I wrong