Cutaway Map of a Fantasy Temple/Palace

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

I had the rare time this month for a personal portfolio piece. The majority of my work is for fiction authors wanting small, 6 by 9 black-and-white maps, often of cute towns. With my available time, I decided to tackle a type of map I've always loved but have found intimidating -- architectural cutaway maps! I've also been admiring the work of some fantastic artists making cutaway maps, like Guillaume Tavernier and his recent Kickstarter project.

Anyway, I also posted WIPs pretty regularly over on the Guild's Discord server, which was fun and something I don't get to do with my commission work! I started by using MagicaVoxel to create a rough 3D model of a cylinder that I then cut into to hollow out the middle and slice chunks out of to give myself perspective guide lines. I tried to stick to an isometric perspective, which was tricky with the cylinder. All the actual drawing, coloring, and texturing was done in Photoshop with my Wacom tablet.

I love creating worlds and settings, although I don't love the process of writing them down into stories. I don't ever plan on becoming an author, but this piece is from one of the story settings I've had in my head for years. A goddess of the mountains falls in love with a sculptor and creates a giant cylinder of rock with a palace and waterfalls for her mortal lover. Then time goes by, power shifts among the gods, a god of the sun gains control over the heavens and his city state becomes ascendant over the mortal world. The palace of the mountain goddess is appropriated for the sun god, as a home for the demi-god son who serves as a vessel for the sun god's forays into the mortal realm. The once palace becomes as much of a prison as a palace.

Prison Palace Map FINAL.jpg

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

Here's one of the early WIPs that shows the 3D model I used as a perspective guide!

Prison Palace map2 wip2.png

[Tiana]

Wow, incredible, I'm sure this will inspire future commissions!

[IllustratedPageBookDesign]

I hope so! I've shared it around some groups on Facebook and have gotten a couple of inquiries, but nothing new booked yet.

[Diamond]

Mad respect to you. I'd love to be able to create something like this, but my mind just don't work that way.

[Adfor]

This is such a hard one to pull off, but you've nailed it. I've had similar feelings about them, and have yet to try it. Love the orb.

IR

[Ilanthar]

Great work! The carpets and their different designs are a very nice touch. I also like the roots in the ground. A lot of excellent ideas.