[WIP] Second Map Ever: Village on the back of a Colossi

[TavernMage]

Starting with an Apple iPad with an Apple Pencil and the apps Concepts and Procreate...

This is the cover of a module we are writing:


We wanted to create a medieval, fantasy world version of the village on the colossi's back.

Here's our latest:


The process and progress is below.

We were inspired by Caeora's desert village:


Our first version was uninspiring to us:


Then we tried clipping out the tents from Caeora's map. We tried to add blur to the edges of the tents but the results were disappointing.


Then we started with a new outline for the beast from an elephant drawing:


We then retraced the buildings ourselves which gave this:


We were still unhappy with the tents. Then we found Caeora's uncolored drawings of the buildings and so we combined them, to get this in Procreate:


But the lines were very fine and clipping art left white borders around everything that had to be colored. We also tried coloring the beast in ProCreate with a corrugated pattern which gave this:


As a result, we decided to move everything back into Concepts so it was all vectors. We traced the village elements so they became vectors as well. Then we were able to add the shading that we wanted. This gave us this result:


Then we tried adding a shading layer. Because everything was vectors, the shade went right through the buildings - so we had to color the village as well. We only wanted a partial grid, so we had to draw that as a separate layer as well by hand. Which gave this:


We then added more color to the village. We discovered at that point that we don't know how to make Concepts create a flat masking shadow layer. As a result, when we put the shaded layer to have some transparency (so objects below it show through) - the shadow isn't smooth. Every brush overlapping brush stroke is seen. As a result, we had to go back and remove all the overlapping brush strokes in the shadows so the color worked fine. This gave this result:


We are now trying to decide what to polish next. We seem to have reached the limits of our craft. The beast? it would be great to make it match the map a bit more but we are unsure what to think of trying. The village? All the objects have very abstract flat colors - which we think balances well - but we are wondering what would be the "next step" to think about for what direction to take this.

We thought this is reasonable for a second ever created map - but I guess we will leave that to you to decide. Our one question is - does anyone think this is reasonable enough to use in a DMSGuild.com published adventure? We have been quoted $500 to polish this and we are trying to decide whether to pay for that or just go with our own maybe with some additional work by our hand.

Lastly, which do you like better of the last two - the black and white or the color?

[Caenwyr]

Hey TavernMage, this is impressive!

One thing to keep in mind (and I'm afraid this is going to make it a whole lot harder): the back of the beast is not flat but curved along 2 axes. You'll have to take that into account in your shading.

Also, the image you posted first (of the beast from a human perspective) shows a whole ton of tents in several levels one built on top of the other, with a huge pavilion overlooking it all. Your most recent version on the other hand shows just a handful of tents, all on the same level, with wide open spaces between them. So there's this discrepancy to explain away too.

But, don't take my words too harshly! I really like your map, and both points are rather to help you bring this piece to perfection than to demotivate you. Because this is absolutely awesome!

[TavernMage]

Thanks - that's great feedback. It is helpful to get a sense what sticks out to people.

Our next version aims to add the platform, heap the tents, and two tone shade the beast. Thanks again.

[Paper Labyrinth]

This sounds like a fun adventure -- both the module itself, and the process of creating a map for it.

I like the artwork for the tents and ballistae. I prefer black and white, because I'd prefer to see the interior of the tents, rather than the fabric that covers them.

I'll second Caenwyr's comments about the cover, which depicts a terraced structure with a lot of tightly packed terrain. What sort of encounters take place there? As a player, I'd want to be able to run around inside the tents, and scale the outside of the platforms while suspended far above the ground. I picture the map as having multiple levels, similar to one for a tower on a hill.

Does the adventure anticipate that a character might fall off the map? It may also be useful to add hanging platforms or saddlebags along the flanks, so that characters have a chance to catch themselves.

[XCali]

Hi! I was thinking the whole elephant head doesn't sell the same creature from the cover for me. So, late at night with the way wrong pen for this, I did a quick 5minute sketch. Hope it helps in getting the top down head in a better shape.
I'll probably post a much better version of it tomorrow if I can. But, I wanted to post this tonight.

[TavernMage]

Thanks for the overhead view on the “titanothore.” (Baragumu is what it was called by the original game company that commisioned this work.) Yes - you are right its not an exact match. We held off matching it exactly until we knew if we were going to be able to license this art or had to recommision something new. So far we have been unable to reach the artist Jay Wong. She seems to have disappeared off the Internet ceasing all posts - so unfortunately we fear the worst for her health but have no idea how to find out about her. In the meantime, we are looking for an artist that can repaint a version of it.