Pirate Cove

[torstan]

So I have a bandit camp and pirate cove to put together for my players. I threw together a quick sketch that would serve but they didn't make it to the cove this session so I didn't have to use it. This is a good thing as I'd like to do a good job on it, and at the moment it is pretty rough. Anyway, here it is in its current form.

PirateCove.png

I'm playing with the style of things at the moment so any suggestions are very welcome. I have to get it done before next Friday (25th) so it should change pretty quickly over the next few days.

[Sigurd]

I can see it forming. Pretty layout. Nice starting colours.

Needs a gallows or some such bloody monument for scaring away locals.

Are you starting these with pen and paper then scanning them?


Sigurd

[torstan]

No, these are done with a tablet from start to finish.

The cove is off the beaten track - they are hiding from the locals rather than scaring them away.

[Badger]

I'm liking it .... can't wait to see where its going in the final version

[RPMiller]

I like where this is heading. This looks like a great start. The terrain and sketches of the buildings and cave really pique my interest and I want to know more about this place. Great job!

[torstan]

I'm playing with the different methods of drawing in the lines and colouring the terrain. I'm doing this on some other sketches to try and get a style down for the different elements. Here's the current iteration of this work. Here the height difference at the cliffs is shown using a burn on the parchment texture to give a subtle shadow effect. I'm not sure whether to put in the ink hatching to emphasise the height difference.

The inking in this one was done using my new best friend in Gimp - the ink tool. I like the more sketchy feel of it.

The colour was laid down using an airbrush and the the colour from gradient function with the default Gimp 'Greens' gradient. This was smudged to even out the more obvious lines and then used as an overlay to allow the parchment to shine through. I applied the burn layer to this as well.

colourtest.png

Any thoughts/comments welcome (and indeed actively solicited!) as always.

[RPMiller]

I like the direction. I'm torn on the escarpment lines. In a way they have a more "cheating" feel to them in this particular map. I don't think they will be required once you add the depth of the jungle on the top elevation. Definitely keep them on a separate layer that is for sure. I love that color though. It all has a very old world gritty feel that is befitting a pirate setting. There is a little optical play with what is higher, but as I said once you add the canopy I think this will go away especially if you have some of the canopy overhanging the cliff edges.

[torstan]

Those are interesting comments RP. I have a couple of other ideas I want to try for the escarpment lines. I'll have a shot with those tomorrow and see what comes up.

Here's a slightly updated sketch sheet with some ideas for the trees (ignore the mountains - they were just a random doodle after I had an idea)

colourtest.png

Actually looking at this one, I guess I will drop all the colours down a fair bit more in the final version. Just a hint should be enough on this. I'm not sure whether the trees should be flat or whether they should be more shaped (as they are here).

Anyway, enough fun doodling for tonight. I'll play more with this tomorrow.

[torstan]

I've drawn out a finished outline for the cliff edge around the camp and sketched in the location of all the buildings, tents, ship and so on. The next step is to ink these in properly, do the trees and then start on the colour wash. I decided to move the layout around a little to allow for three different points of entry to the camp to make the encounter less linear.

cove2.png

The story behind this is that the pirates (south area) and the bandits (north area) share the same cove as a base but are only in an uneasy alliance. The pirate ship is holed up here in need of repairs and the two groups are getting fractious. In addition, a monster (I'm thinki and ankheg or two) has entered into the loot cave, meaning that neither the pirates or the bandits can get at the treasure. The players follow some tracks down the river to the northeast and arrive in the middle of this situation. They are definitely outnumbered by both the pirates and the bandits, but if they can play them off against each other they should stand a much better chance. If it sounds familiar, it is taken from the Mysteries of the Moonsea book set in the FR. I just decided their map was dreadful and didn't have half of the fun promised by a pirate cove.

Anyway, that's the latest WIP. I'll ink it later today.

[torstan]

Now the trees are inked in. I need to go back to the places where they overlap the cliff and river lines and clear them up, but otherwise the trees are now done. Next step will be doing the final ink lines for the structures and then colouring the buildings and the ground and water.

cove2.png