Dungeon WIP
I'm playing around with dungeon maps, trying to get a feel for technique and style. This is what i came up with to day. What do you think?
(Photoshop, about 3 hours)
Looks very nice. But, assuming you're using a five-foot grid, your objects seem a little big, particularly the barrels and the beds--they're almost 15 feet long! And they seem a little cartoony in comparison to the floor and wall textures, which I very much like.
All in all, a great start! Is there a story that goes with it?
-IG
Have to agree with IG on the size of the beds, etc. but I think its a great start.
Unless you really like to create your own beds, etc. you could add things from the Dundjinni (and other sites) user creation forums. Lots of really nice stuff folks have created and made avaialble for everyone to use.
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You guys are absolutely right about the size. I will fix that. Im struggling to with the cartoonish look, to get the object to look more real.
I'll take a look at the forums for inspiration, but i really like to make my own things
Thanks for the tips
That cartoony appearance most often is a result of strong contour lines. When you look at objects in the real world(tm), there isn't a black line that separates them from each other. Punch up the gradients and shading a bit and lose the strokes, and I think you'll find your objects look much better. On the other hand, you'll need to find a different way to keep them from blending too much with the background and each other. Cast shadows will help with that, I'm thinking.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Nice work on this.
To avoid the cartoony look, try mussing up the shading on the opjects. The smooth gradients you have here are reminiscent of the cell shading you see in cartoons. This is emphasised by the black lines. Equally, a bit of texture would break this up and help integrate them into the style of the map.
Ok so i used some objects from dundjinni forums. They indeed are very nice.
This the new version.
Its an secret underground lair for escaped convicts that like colorfull beds.
That's better, but I still think your objects are a bit big in comparison with your scale (again, assuming it's a standard 5-foot grid).
For instance the skulls in the southeast corner; one skull looks to take up about one quarter of a square--that'd make it 2 1/2 feet wide. Unless they're giants' skulls.
And the fire in the next room would be 10 feet in diameter. A warm fire indeed. I'd think it would also cast a more dramatic shadow in that area, regardless of it's size.
I don't know if reducing the size of your objects any more would render them incomprehensible or not. Depending on how your layers are structured, maybe you could increase the size of your grid?
Regardless, I still think it's a quality map.
They fit in much better with the look of the map.
One thing I'd consider playing with is the way you've done the walls. The dark edges of the walls make them visually drop beneath the lighter floor. It looks almost as if the floor itself is casting a drop shadow.
Perhaps have a darker general wall colour and lighten it towards the floor?
As a note, the scale for battle-map art in the DJ forums is 200px=5ft.Originally Posted by woekan
-Rob A>
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