1st attempt hand drawn dungeon Dyson-style

[damonjynx]

Hi Folks,

Here is a Dyson-style map I drew up this afternoon (a far superior one to the original post) with and without grid. It's more of a practice map really, just trying to get the hatching technique right first but I also want to scan and possibly colour the maps I do in the future.
### Latest WIP ###
A Dangerous Place.jpgA Dangerous Place_Grid.jpg

So, I have a couple of questions. Obviously I've worked out how to remove the grid from the scan using adjustment levels and the eraser etc. but is there a relatively simple way of leaving the grid in the playable sections and removing it from the hatched sections? Or am i better off adding a grid later?

I have no idea on how to colour and shade properly. I've seen, I think it's Pyrandon's, a tutorial on basic colouring in PS but is there a more advanced version? I'm using PS CS4

I really dig this hand-drawn style and I've recently started following Matt Jackson's excellent blog as well as Dyson's. I know my hatching and basic drawing needs work, particularly the crates, they're awful. Any feedback, critique, suggestions more than welcome.

[damonjynx]

Hi folks, I updated this post. If anyone can help out with the questions I'd really appreciate it.
Cheers,
Jim

[damonjynx]

Hi folks,

I decided to jump in and have a go after re-watching Pyrandon's tut and a couple of Torstan's on colouring. I'm also attempting to clean up the line work, tidying up the hatching and removing the grid, from the hatched area. I've only got as far as about 2/3 of the left hand side - very tedious work. From now on any maps I draw that will be scanned and coloured will be done on graph paper with blue lines...so i can easily delete them! The graph paper I used for this map doesn't have a standard sized grid and the lines are light grey, everything I use in the future will be based on a 5mm grid so once I remove it I can create a grid where I want it to be. Here's my first attempt at properly colouring a map. the paper texture I downloaded from CG Textures.
### Latest WIP ###
A Dangerous Place_Grid2.jpg

Feedback, critique and advice most welcome.

Cheers,
Jim

[Abu Lafia]

Hi damonjynx, this is a very nice little dungeon, especially for a first attempt and hand drawing! I really like your colour palette here. I haven't found a good solution for removing the paper's grid myself, but i think your idea to map future dungeons on graph paper with a blue grid is a really good idea. Curious to see how this'll work. The shading looks quite good already. You could also add even more depth to it by highlighting the "edges" of the walls/ground and respectively shading along them inside the rooms. I tried something like this here. Not sure if it looks good in combination with the "dyson hatching" but i think it's worth a try. Keep up the good work!

[damonjynx]

Thanks Abu. I like the map in your link. You do sci-fi maps really well.

... especially for a first attempt and hand drawing!

The title is a little misleading, I've been GM'ing for what seems decades now, and have created a few maps (that were functional but nowhere near as 'artistic' as the ones showcased here) mostly in Dundjinni but some by hand. The hand drawn ones were for my use as GM, so they were fairly plain and utilitarian. I'm starting to get into writing and self-publishing my own RPG material and I like drawing maps, so I want to be able to produce maps for my stuff that I consider are of 'publishable' quality.

I really like your colour palette here. I haven't found a good solution for removing the paper's grid myself, but i think your idea to map future dungeons on graph paper with a blue grid is a really good idea. Curious to see how this'll work. The shading looks quite good already. You could also add even more depth to it by highlighting the "edges" of the walls/ground and respectively shading along them inside the rooms. I tried something like this here. Not sure if it looks good in combination with the "dyson hatching" but i think it's worth a try. Keep up the good work!

I just picked a dark blue for the stream/river, a light brown for the caverns and a mid-grey for the 'built' rooms. When I added the paper background below all the other layers and set the colour layers to overlay this what I got! I agree, it looks pretty nice, though it prints out really dark... Re the grid, once I draw a map on the 'proper' graph paper with the blue lines, I'll let you know how it goes! I'm also going to try your idea of highlighting the edge of the walls and shading the inside parts. Colouring etc. is really a pain in the rectum without a tablet...

[Abu Lafia]

Hey damonjynx, i know well that shading without a tablet is quite ennerving, but take a look at this awesome tutorial by torstan (if you don't know it already) "Dungeons! Using Layer Effects, Stroking Walls and Going Old School TSR Blue". You can do a lot of the lights and shadows with just stroking paths with different brushes. As Torstan says in his tuorial: "creating dungeon maps without actually drawing anything". XD
Ps: I too prefer to color my maps mostly with overlay or multiply layermodes. I only test printed some of my maps and also found that they often come out quite dark, but i really haven't tested it that much.

[damonjynx]

Hi Abu, That tut of Torstan's you mention is a great tutorial, particularly the "Going Old School TSR Blue" which is how I did the Crypt of the Witch King map and most of the Dungeon of Doom which had a couple of hand drawn "caverns" in it. I'm not sure how the layer effects method would work out with scanned linework? Perhaps you'd need to trace a path along the walls? Someone with much better PS-fu would need to advise on that...

[Abu Lafia]

I guessed you might like the tutorial damonjynx. I remember that old school dungeon challenge entry of yours.
I have no idea about PS but in Gimp i often did that with using the "fuzzy select tool" (make sure your rooms are somewhat hermetic lineworkwise) on the rooms and corridors. I think it's called "magic wand tool" in PS. Maybe adjust it a bit by growing the selection or manually manipulate it. Then convert the respective selection to a path. I bet there is a function in Photoshop for that too.

Edit: Ok, i just saw, Torstan covered exactly this in the "Using paths to give pretty wall textures" part (Step 2).

[damonjynx]

Thanks Abu, I'll check that out.

[damonjynx]

Hi Abu, gave the blue grid a go. Set tolerance on the magic wand or fuzzy select tool to 100, picked up the grid and I was able to delete it entirely...Whenever I use adjustment layers the rest of the amp turns to rubbish...mustn't be using them properly but this will work for me!