Sept / Oct 2016 Lite Challenge: The Minotaur's Lair

[Poison]

Hi all! I've decided to join another mapping challenge, and for this one I'm mapping the labyrinth that the Minotaur of ancient Greece dwelt in. So far I have only made the maze itself, but I plan to add more decoration around the edges - definitely a Minotaur and perhaps even Daedalus and his son Icarus, designers of the Labyrinth. Not quite sure on a colour scheme yet!


The mosaic tiles are quite limiting, but they are a fun challenge so far.


### LATEST WIP ###
wip1.jpg

Ever since I saw pyrandon's mosaic tutorial for the first time I've wanted to try my hand at one. The technique I'm using is a little different: I also work with a custom brush, but rather than using selections I drew the walls by hand. I then filled the background with smaller tiles, and erased a border around the walls.

Ideas, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome!

[7Sided]

Welcome to the challenge Poison! I look forward to seeing the minotaur and other characters. You might consider a "sandstone" color scheme to represent the stone it would be made out of. Although, if I recall correctly, there was a lot of red paint used in Minoa so the red might work fine. If you do go with the red you still might consider desaturating the color a little bit to make it more natural looking.

A couple questions: Is there an entrance? I couldn't identify one at first glance. This image is fairly low resolution. Is the original higher resolution?

Keep going!

[Bogie]

Welcome to the challenge Poison!
A couple questions: Is there an entrance? I couldn't identify one at first glance. This image is fairly low resolution. Is the original higher resolution?

The Entrance is in the lower left corner.
I would also like to see this at a higher resolution / larger size so the details show up better when you get it all done.

And I second this: Welcome to the challenge Poison! Glad you could join in. The challenge ends Friday night, hope you can get it all done.

[Poison]

@7Sided Thank you for the feedback! I think you are right about the previous colour scheme being too saturated and dark. I think I will head towards a colour scheme that's a bit lighter, with tones of orange, yellow, green and brown - I'm not going to be too fussed about what might have been standard in Minoa, because perhaps the mosaic itself was made elsewhere, or they imported rarer pigments through trade.
The preview is still fairly dark now because so much of the "mortar" shows, but that should be remedied by the end.

Like Bogie said, the entrance is at the lower left! The original file size is about 3000x2000 pixels - I've attached a full size WIP this time

@Bogie Thank you! I've attached the full resolution WIP this time.
Even if I don't get it done in time (which is a real possibility) I'll still have tried something new, and I'll have gotten back into this really nice community. I enjoy how people here give real, helpful feedback a lot!


### LATEST WIP ###
wip2.jpg

As you can see, I added the Minotaur. I have to say, I don't envy those who made the actual mosaics, getting every stone in the right place is a challenge! At least I got to make minotaur abs. I decided to go for the more classical human-with-bull-head rather than the human-shaped-bull you see more in modern videogames.
I also made a start in refining the labyrinth background, cleaning up half-stones and removing a couple here and there. Next I'll probably work on some decorative framing.

[Poison]

### latest wip ###
wip3.jpg

As it's fairly apparent what I add, I'll tell you about the things I tried, but ended up rejecting:

- having a labyrinth in that awkward old semi-perspective on the top
- adding in a temporary background of tiles all over to cover the background. It looked really bad, and I can already tell you I won't have big slabs of plain straight tiles.
- having the Minotaur in a circle, the contour of which curled loose and connected to the outline of the labyrinth.

Going into challenges like these I rarely have a finished image in mind. Instead, I work flexibly, thinking of elements I want to incorporate and moving those around until I like it. It's kind of fun, because I'm never sure where exactly I'll end up, and I'm never disappointed because it doesn't look exactly as I had pictured it.

[Greg]

Nice job on this so far, Poison. It's looking nice already and I'm liking the minotaur.

Be interesting to see what you do with the background, if you choose to do anything at all. I just guess it depends on how any further elements affect the composition. Anyway, some good stuff here.

Going into challenges like these I rarely have a finished image in mind. Instead, I work flexibly, thinking of elements I want to incorporate and moving those around until I like it. It's kind of fun, because I'm never sure where exactly I'll end up, and I'm never disappointed because it doesn't look exactly as I had pictured it.

And I know that feeling a lot. Except, usually I have an image in mind to start with and I allow it to evolve so far from the original plan. It's always the best way to approach things I think, but knowing when to stop is the hard part.

[ChickPea]

This is looking great. I really like the mosaic style.

[Poison]

Another update! Thanks for the feedback

### Latest WIP ###
wip4.jpg

[zhar2]

Looks awesome! was it time consuming?

[Poison]

That depends a little on your definition of time-consuming, I guess! Making all the tiles is quite a lot of work, but so are a lot of other methods of map-making.