How the HELL can I make good dungeon maps with *watercolor*???

[ZoraSpringer]

Any ideas?
I mean I kinda need that isometric paper, but how do I get from isometric paper to watercolor paper??? I want to learn to do good dungeon maps and stuff on watercolor paper is sorta my thing... it's just... how I do stuff...

[johnvanvliet]

you really are not going to like it but..

just paint it , watercolor is NOT supposed to be perfect but an impressionists idea of what is being painted .

[waldronate]

The overly expensive and technical approach would be to use a projector to shine the desired pattern down onto the paper. It will work for every kind of grid that you might want to use.

A lower-tech but work-intensive option would be to use a ruler and a pencil to very lightly sketch down a few gridlines like you would for any kind of drawing. I am told that if you do enough of this sort of thing that you can eventually eliminate all but a couple of baselines.

[ZoraSpringer]

@JohnVanliet: This is not about coloring methods. This is about, how the hell do I get the structure that I need for a good isometric dungeon map on watercolor paper (which is very, very thick afterall).

@Waldronate... yeah maybe. though I am kind of insecure, whether a tracing table *can* shine through a watercolor paper, I mean those *are* 300g/m2 paper that is rather heavy and thick and everything. I also thought about maybe working with tracing paper? I mean that should most definitely work, right?

[Gidde]

I use this trick - it's still very labor intensive but it works without expensive equipment.

Draw your basic thing that you need to transfer over (like the outline of your dungeon) on a different piece of paper (or on the computer and print it). Then turn that paper over and cover it with graphite (I actually bought sticks because using a pencil takes FOREVER). Then lay it on your watercolor paper face-up and trace over the outline with a pencil or stylus, pressing hard enough to transfer the graphite to the watercolor paper but not hard enough to indent your WP. (That part takes some practice). Voila, drawing transferred. Incidentally if you buy watercolor painting "kits" that come with an outline of what you are painting, this is how they do it (I got the idea off the back of the box at the store).

[waldronate]

I meant to use a projector to shine a light from above down onto your paper rather than using a light table from below. You'd contend with the shadow of your hand, but that's rarely a problem for most people that I have seen do this. It's complicated to set up (the projector has to be mounted high and possibly shine into a mirror) and expensive because you need the projector.

[Rochnan]

As an alternative; I've seen some painters use acetone transfers after sketching something out digitally (which is ideal if you want it to be correct on a technical level.)
In fact, Dan Dos Santos (an illustrator for Wizards of the Coast) made an excellent tutorial over on Muddy Colors.

[PaperGriffin]

You could try drawing a very faint pencil grid on the watercolour paper. As you are drawing an isometric map the grid lines would allow you to draw straight on to the paper. Alternatively, if you didn't want to draw it directly you could also grid your original (or do the grid on trace so you don't ruin the source map) and then transpose the points (just google 'Drawing with a grid' for demo videos). As long as your grid lines are light enough, the watercolour should hide them. Alternatively use water soluble pencils, so the lines blend into the paint.