Luke Bash

Although French Polynesia isn't an independent country, Bora Bora is beautiful enough to get a tile. This was a quick tile with a minimal palette. This is my 50th tile from different countries/regions, and finished just before the end of the year.

I remember a friend telling me about a beautiful lake with stunning reflections. (An interested conversation because they were Chinese and there is a similar place in China called Qinghai.) I found a good image of the lake, dried and showing the salt flats. With a lot of time and a limited color palette, the final tile is complete. Enjoy.

New Zealand is famous for beautiful landscapes. That being said, I struggled to find something iconic for New Zealand. I tried a couple different overlays, including a koru fern and a kiwi bird, but didn't fit. I ended up just using the beautiful mountains of Milford Sound. I was tempted to add fern to the foreground, but it was unnecessary. Enjoy.

Choosing Tower bridge is an easy choice for the UK. There are many perspectives to use and the resultant image with shadows came out well. I struggled with the background. I decided against using blue skies, like so many other tiles. I couldn't do a night scene without changing all the lighting and removing those nice shadows. I looked into using a lighter or stylized version of the UK flag, but it just didn't look right. So, I looked around for the official measurements and colors of the flag to recreate, resulting with this background. But after that was finished, I needed one last thing; a slight black trim around the bridge to highlight it a bit. Side note: I finished this tile a while ago and just forgot to post here.

I traveled to Tofo Bay, Mozambique years ago and really enjoyed it. I wanted to try a tile for it, but my memories were of the snorkeling with whale sharks and beautiful beaches. I used a couple images combined to complete this. The resultant tile isn't iconic for Mozambique, but it does represent many different countries and I like the tile. I have another tile for the Sahara desert that wasn't a single country, so I am keeping this one.

I am struggling with a nighttime tile. I looked into a northern lights style, especially since I had a few Scandinavian countries left. I found a great picture in Iceland with the famous Gullfoss Waterfall. But after completing the ground, I struggled with making the aurora look good. So, I decided to keep the falls and change it to a daytime scene. I like the falls and will have to find a better scene for nighttime. This gets me to 47 tiles, just 3 short of my goal. However, I have been slowing down because I can't find/decided on the right image for the next countries.

Although New Caledonia isn't an independent country, I saw pictures of the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre and knew I wanted to do it. I just needed to right angle. Instead of adding all the detail on this one, I liked the more abstract version. This is the final result.

I had travel to Penang Malaysia many years ago and since my primary goal was to cover the countries I had traveled to, this one was on the list. I couldn't find the right picture of Penang. Also, when people think of Malaysia, they think of Kuala Lumpur and the Petronas Towers. I just needed the right picture of the them. I kept searching for one and recently found one I like, which was this perspective. I used mostly different shades of grey, but the one tower in the middle needed color. That, and the dark blue evening sky. Although it's technically after dusk, it's not a real night sky that I have yet to do successfully, yet.

After going through lists of countries and picture searches, I found Bhutan. It's not that I haven't heard of it nor that I don't know this picture, but it was just, forgotten. Once I saw the picture, I knew I could do it and I had to do it. Adding this to my list, I am getting closer to my goal of 50 tiles. With the revisions, it hasn't been fast, but always getting closer.

Like the previous post, I am redoing a country tile for something better. The old Thailand tile was a combination of the temple in Chiang Mai and a lantern festival. Although it was a good idea, i wasn't happy with the execution. I have struggled with making a night tile. Looking through more pictures, I found this picture and decided to try it and I am happier with it's result.

I know my first Netherlands tile was similar to the Pepsi logo (still even after the update.) That being said, I always look for something better. Looking around at travel posters, I came across this gem. It fit my style completely, so recreating it was necessary. A couple vectors and a few layers and you get the final result. Enjoy.