Deserted Mines

[jfrazierjr]

I finally got a chance to go over this more carefully with cliff colours and a dodge/burn layer. I'm not 100% happy with the results, but here it is:

Attachment 5397

C&C welcome as ever.

Acckk... Torstan, you got some madd skillz with da pen... I think my next(or perhaps second to next) map I will be trying to emulate your Dreestan(sp?) map style for the CWBP map that I have yet to touch. So that means you will have to be sure to give me plenty of pointers....

Joe

[Redrobes]

Yeah thats looking nice. If I may suggest a few things. I think the snow is a little too smooth all over. It seems that when snow goes into a gradient it starts to break up and get little ridges over it. This looks like the sort of place where that would happen. Also I think lots of little icicles around the stream would be authentic too.

I was reading Ghalevs post too about how he uses these black and white versions and thats pretty similar to how I have been using stuff. What I do is blur B&W stuff up and then use the gray value to determine which and how much of each texture to apply - a lot like the map he posted. I think its a powerful technique.

Anyway, always enjoy looking at your maps. I find drawing snow scenes immensely hard work.

[torstan]

I agree that the b&w stuff is very nice. I think I might have a shot at that for the mines area as I could do with trying some different styles.

I see what you mean about the snow. I'm not going to worry about the icicles though - top down icicles, how the hell do you draw that ?! I may come back and put some ridges in the snow to break up the blanket of white.

I've had quite a learning experience tackling these maps. The snow doesn't respond to dodge/burn at all so I've ende dup using one transparent layer set to multiply with black and a large soft airbrush to get the overall shadows in place. Then I do a detailed dodge burn layer over the top. With the shadows already in place it gives the dodge/burn overlay laye something to get its teeth into. It's the more broken cliffs here that caused the real headache. Not sure I really nailed it, but I'm going to set it to one side for a little while now while I do the internal mine maps.

@Joe: Happy to provide pointers. Ask away when you get onto it.

[torstan]

Okay, took a slightly different tack with the abandoned mines interior. Please chip in with comments on the style.

upper.jpg

[torstan]

Right, didn't like that so I decided to go the other way and to go a bit more hand-drawn again. Here's this version so far:

upper.jpg

[ravells]

I love them both! I can't choose.....arrrrgh!

[Steel General]

Though both are good, I like the second one better, looks more "parchmenty"

[torstan]

Right then, try this one on for size.

upper2.jpg

I went for a more desaturated rock colour and I'm now experimenting with the detailing.

[Ghalev]

I was reading Ghalevs post too about how he uses these black and white versions and thats pretty similar to how I have been using stuff. What I do is blur B&W stuff up and then use the gray value to determine which and how much of each texture to apply - a lot like the map he posted. I think its a powerful technique.

Yeah, exactly so. I started doing it for a book I did for GoO back in 2000/2001 (long eons ago when there was a GoO to do maps for), and I don't think I'll ever be able to shake the habit. The most labor-intensive part (for me) is developing and perfecting the base gradients and patterns ... I get extra-finicky about it. the gradient method I'm currently using for dungeons took me over a year of fiddling to get it exactly how I wanted it, constantly tweaking the process by a pixel here, a pixel there.

Holy crud has it really been 8 years since I wrote that thing? Aieee. I am old ... ooooold ...

Anyway, since my specific target medium is the home laser printer, black and white offers a lot of advantages in both file-size and printer-friendliness, in addition to being the look I prefer for my own gaming.

[torstan]

I'm definitely going to bother you for that technique in a bit. I can see the basic principles of how it's done, and I'll have a shot at it, but there's some subtleties I may need to ask you about. I never print my maps, so it's less of an issue for my own use, but definitely an issue for commissions.

Here's an update. I think I've settled on a style (more or less). The next stage will be to do some detailing of the contents, most of which will be placeable objects, but some of which will be part of the map itself.

upper3.jpg