I spent all summer drawing hex map tiles.....

[sword peddler]

I haven't posted to CG in a while, because I spent all summer on a massive cartographic project! I illustrated over 1,100 individual hex tiles for people to use to make their own hex maps. They look something like this:

oJJ6CsF.png

and this:

adQt5Sy.png

There are a bunch of tiles. So many. I used a hand stamped template on thick mixed media paper. Each tile was given a feature, sketched in pencil, then the background was painted in watercolor colored pencils, and then the feature inked. Then I traced the original template stamp. I tried to touch the tiles digitally as little as possible, so they were given brightness/contrast alterations and some minor sizing things were fixed.

2eamr7s.jpg

Just thought I'd share the project with you guys. I called the project Hex Kit Volume One: Fantasyland. It has been on sale since wednesday and has been pretty succesful: it has sat on the Hottest/Small Press Hottest lists since it went public. I also released a version of it to Roll20 that has been selling pretty well too. I wrote a bit more about it over on my blog, swordpeddler.com. I saw in another recent thread that someone was asking how much a professional cartographer makes. I do alright, but projects like this really help in small ways. So if you're interested in a side hustle, think about publishing a book of maps or something. Its a little extra cash from time to time.

owMLyrf.png

Thanks for lookin'! Oh and I stepped outside my comfort zone to make a (very unprofessional) tutorial on using it, if you want to see some more of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm49wdMee_8

[Josiah VE]

Wow! How neat. Nice job!

[darcycardinal]

Great work sword peddler! And i love how you made the hex's so sharp and clear. It must have taken a really long time for all those pieces. I noticed you used Prismacolors, they are great subs for Copics.

-darcycardinal

[sword peddler]

Great work sword peddler! And i love how you made the hex's so sharp and clear. It must have taken a really long time for all those pieces. I noticed you used Prismacolors, they are great subs for Copics.

-darcycardinal

I actually did these hex tiles in all watercolor pencils; i'd use the pencils to lay down the colors and then give them a wash with a small round brush with a bit of water. The watercolor paint brings the texture out much much better, and the markers just eat the paper. I try not to use markers, and only use them when I absolutely have to. Its why I only have a handful of colors, mostly to accent parchment paper tones for other maps. Things are too damn expensive.

[darcycardinal]

I actually did these hex tiles in all watercolor pencils; i'd use the pencils to lay down the colors and then give them a wash with a small round brush with a bit of water. The watercolor paint brings the texture out much much better, and the markers just eat the paper. I try not to use markers, and only use them when I absolutely have to. Its why I only have a handful of colors, mostly to accent parchment paper tones for other maps. Things are too damn expensive.

Thanks for clarifying. I have found it to be a trial and error process with alcohol markers like Prismacolors/Copics. Some of my drawings got destroyed from using the wrong paper. The key is finding a heavier paper for the markers. Regardless, the water color paint has done a wonderful job of bringing the titles to life. Saw your website too, i was surprised by the Creative Commons license.

-darcycardinal

[rusty1001]

sword peddler the colors are amazing. Looks fantastic.

[ChickPea]

Nice work on these!

[snodsy]

That crazy good! these are beautifully done and a nice variety of even similar items. Have some reps for your artist ability and staying with it!

[jshoer]

This is a neat project! The tiles have wonderful individual style. I hope they get plenty of use in the gaming community.

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[ThomasR]

Really nice work !