I created this on photoshop with a Wacom tablet. I create this illustrations, for tabletop games like dungeons and dragons. This is a step by step pictorial of how I illustrated this.

This was very special occasion because this was my 100th illustration for commercial purposes. It was a big milestone in my career. This is Zoradun, the City of Swords. A gigantic fantasy metropolis. The main illustration is this one.

Like always, we start with a blank page with just the main geographical features, in this case, the coastline and river.

The first thing I did was to illustrate the main walls and gates of the city. I decided that this city would have a very geometrical feel to it.

This is where I created the main overlay of geometrical paths and streets of the city. These are the main streets, the rest will be smaller and it will have a very symmetrical vibe.

Now I illustrate the rest of the city areas. Notice that each space is not supposed to portray a single building, instead, each area is a block with many buildings in it. This city is very big by low-fantasy standards.

This is a close look at how the city areas look from up close.

I want this to look like a real map drawn on parchment. This parchment texture is of my own creation. I also created a jagged border so it looks more realistic.

Parchment seldom looks so clean so now I use some grunge brushes and stain the "paper" I'm using overlay and burn layers to create this effect. I am also combining different levels of opacities. I also added a compass, a wax seal and the city name.

Now I add the main color for the city blocks and streets. Since I already have a texture behind and paper stains, no more shading is needed in this case, just regular solid colors on an overlay layer is enough to convey what I want.

I'm very close to finishing, now I add a soft shade to all the hills, I also added color to the big buildings in the city.

I have now finished illustrating this city !this one took me around 20 hours to finish as I wanted to really give something cool back to my followers on Patreon.

I'm a graphic illustrator and I focus my work in tabletop RPG games like dungeons and dragons.

I'm new on Steemit but have great aims to share my work in posts like this one where people can see illustrations be created from the ground up.

Send some love, likes and follow me for awesome cartography illustrations.

I do this full time and I love creating fantastic locations !

If you're interested in my work, take a look at my Patreon page

There is a pledge level that gives access to my photoshop source files, in case you wish to see my workflow and learn in the process.