This is a step by step tutorial to create a city market street map. I'm doing it with washed colors and vibrant hues.

I work with photoshop and a Wacom tablet. The maps I post are part of my online collection of maps for tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. This is my full time job and I am a proud creator of fantastic locations.

This is the finished illustration.

I start with a blank canvas layer in photoshop. I use the brush tool for most of my linework. Here I started with the houses, sidewalks and some random objects on the streets like barrels and sacks.

Now I add some market stalls, carts and wagons. This is a 1400-1500ish scene, hence the dated objects. This is a close up.

This is a simple illustration, the only thing missing is texture detail lines on the street and sidewalks.

Now that my linework is finished, I can replace the white background with a parchment background. I also added a border overlay to give it texture. That's the darker part on the edges.

I took some grunge and splatter brushes and added some dirt to the edges. This helps with the old parchment feel.

It's time for colors ! First I tackle the big areas. In this case I started by coloring and shading the street and the sidewalks.

The next step is coloring the rooftops, I chose colors in similar hues and a little desaturated so as not to take the attention from what's important here, the street.

Now I add more vibrant color to the stalls, carts and wagons and the illustration is finished.

This illustration is actually useful for tabletop RPG games like D&D but not only that game, you might have noticed there's a scale marked at the bottom, that is useful once I add the grid overlay.

Thanks for following this illustration madness. I draw map illustrations for a living.

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

If you're interested in my work, take a look at my crowdfunding page https://www.patreon.com/elventower

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.