First Cave of My Own

[Coreyartus]

So I decided to make my first "Pure Mine" map--a dungeon cave battle map I'm completely making up on my own. I think this may be a deeper dungeon, with subterranean features that might do well for a Level 2 or 3 dungeon that has come from something less organic but leads to yet a deeper level...

I drew a quick rough idea in Photoshop:



Then I started making it more of a map... I made the lines more organic, added in a bunch of shading in different ways, some very subtle textures. And a grid. I have a long way to go, but since this site is about process as much as product, I figured I'd make my first forum post by sharing how I'm moving forward each step of the way.



I think it's a bit dark, but I'm going to adjust that. I tried layering in some stone and water textures and giving them some effects (toying with the opacity of each) bit I think I may have gone too far--they may be too subtle now. And then I added in a crosshatch pattern layer around the entirety.

I've learned how to make a Neatline (good grief that's tedious in Photoshop even when it's simple) based on what I'd read here in various posts, but I haven't reached that point yet. I'm trying to make it look like an amalgamation of hand-drawn/watercolor analog and digital, but I think that may have more to do with the "packaging" of the map itself which has yet to happen.

The parchment layer is a bit intense, but I'm planning on lightening it up and dressing the whole thing up with Arcane symbology and such. I like the idea that a map is a work of art in itself, that the form is as delightful as the function, so I've got plans. But I thought I'd share what I've done thus far. The whole thing has taken about 2 hours so far, so it's progressing at a nice clip (well, I don't have a frame of reference, really, so for me it's happening pretty fast).

It's still in the beginning stages. Thoughts?

[Coreyartus]

OK, now I'm starting to feel this is a bit more like a "map"... The symbology is too sci-fi for me, but it's what I have handy until I can find something better. I need to consider fleshing out the details in the interior rooms to make them unique. I'm pondering some stairs, a giant altar in the watery room, some tents and things inside it as well to "support a large gathering" of somethings... Dunno what they are, yet, but something tells me it's a cult of lizardy, watery creatures.

I think any labels on this will look like they've been applied by hand over the top of it, like the map has been through a couple sets of hands and people have made notes on it. I may add some water stains and wear-n-tear as well. But that will come.

And the dreaded neat line that will probably be a bit faded. And a compass rose.



This brings the total to 3 hours of work thus far. But now things start to get more detailed and more complicated, so it'll take more time...

[Abu Lafia]

Hey Coreyartus, first of all, welcome to the guild! This looks spectacular so far. I think you've done a great job making this map on the one side a playable "battlemap" and on the other a lovely piece of art. The hatching looks fantastic. Like the overall linework and symbols, it "merges" perfectly with the parchment background. Looking forward how this develops and ofc for more examples of your artistic skill being unleashed on maps .

[Cirias]

This is gorgeous! Welcome to the guild, and what a map to kick off with

[Bogie]

Welcome to the Guild, awesome map! Keep up the great work.

[NathanC]

Welcome to the Guild Coreyartus. This looks awesome!

[Coreyartus]

Thank-you everyone for your very kind compliments! I'm really happy to be here!!

So I've added some stuff, but I'm fighting how it makes the map feel dirty. I'm a sucker for cleanliness, and doing this is killing me... I had thought I would add some distressing to make it look like it has a sense of history, but now all I see is mud. I don't like the little descriptive elements in the rooms, and I think I may need to go back and make those an actual font. They're the "original thief's notations", but they're just sloppy to my eye--motivationally correct in my head, but the execution in Photoshop leaves something to be desired in my eyes. I need to read up on how to make text look like it's actually on the paper instead of floating on top.

And the compass rose and seal don't necessarily look like wax--I need to do read up on how to do that as well. The text block, seal, and compass rose are (in my head) applied by yet another hand after acquiring it from the original thief (who obviously didn't take very good care of it as it's now water stained and dirty).

I'm also wondering if maybe a more substantial border is even necessary at all. I'm thinking it will overcomplicate an already complicated visual package.

And it's progressively getting darker, another aspect that I don't like. Hm. gonna need some tweaking... This took me another couple hours, but most of it was thinking and trial and error. I think once I know what to do, it may go faster and smoother on future projects.

I gave it a name: "Beneath Kekise". Sounded clipped and possibly somewhat lizard-like to me--maybe the area above is named after a distillation of the original name of this particular locale, named by the underground dwellers who used it...

[Coreyartus]

Alright, I backtracked. I got rid of all the "thief notations" and map symbols and all that, and opted for a stamp from the Royal Archives and some much simpler notations done by the Archivist. I think this is much cleaner, much simpler, and doesn't complicate things. The map itself is very "ancient scientific tech" that I think needs to be simple. So the stains, the notes, the stamp, the compass rose, that's all "contemporary" but I'm letting the map speak for itself instead of letting some rogue do the speaking for it. I think this works for a battle map, but lets players make discoveries as they go along--perhaps there were some stairs carved in and some other adaptations to the space after this map was created? I think I'd let the players make those discoveries--I wouldn't need to give them all away.

So it's done.

Until I discover some other new and interesting thing I discover on here that I absolutely have to do to it.

I'll put this in my albums, and put it in the "Finished Maps" forum and move on to the next one. I'm thinking I need to do something a little more rigid--with dungeon walls and things like that--perhaps with some actual features that I have to deal with. LOL!

[woopingwooper]

Wow, I love this map. The cave system looks organic while still being an interesting and varied layout. I particularly like the hatch-mark texture for the cave walls, and the color change to the wall near the water. The water color changing with depth is something I've been working on myself, and you really hit the nail on the head with that pool. The details make the whole thing feel like something right out of a fantasy world. I'm super impressed!

[Coreyartus]

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments!

Regarding the hatching--I can't really take credit for it--it's a brush. A really big, huge brush that I make even bigger, then merge a couple layers to make the result even bigger...(!) I found it on DeviantArt. I've learned that the scale of the crosshatching helps convey size--tight crosshatching makes a dungeon seem bigger or smaller depending on how it's used.

I'm also learning (much to my chagrin) that I rely very heavily upon Layer Styles in Photoshop. I've been working on a new map, trying to learn a different way of doing things, and WOW I'm daunted... My learning curve is gonna be quite big. Actually trying to do something in a way on purpose is very very different than doing something "organically" as you go along, experimenting and trying things out. Geesh, I went running to those tutorials on this site, and I've learned I have a lot to learn! Haha!

But it's fun! And it's all good! I know I can do a map similar to this one if I want to--now I need to learn how to do things in different ways. And that's ultimately very exciting to me!