Blood falls

[Lich]

Hi Everyone LIke me third post here!
This is going to be an encounter map for a encounter i added to Pathfinder's Ap Second Darkness, now i am fairly new to maping and have several problems with specific areas,
1 I have troubles getting the size right with everything when to scale and what not,

2 lighting shadows and perspecitve any suggestions on how to get this looking good

3 liquids in this map the pools of blood and the waterfall of blood (if you hadn't allready guessed this encounter is set in the darklands)

OK the map all the colors are just representing atm the gray is just the ground basiclly the black walls and cliffs, and the red the blood dark red is the falls

Really is just telling me where ererything is going to be

Looking forward and thanks your for any advice before i post the next step!

[msa]

What program are you using? You'll get much better help if people know the app you are using.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Most programs have an option to turn on a grid, which you can configure to be any size you want. Find it and turn it on. Set it to the scale you want (1 inch = 5 feet irl? X pixels = 5 feet otherwise). It will give you a good idea of how many creatures can fit in an area or how many turns it will take a player to cross different regions.

2. I can't help you here I'm no good at it

3. Ripple effects are a fairly common way to identify water. I use the following technique.

a. Create a transparent layer above the water layer
b. Use the 'select all regions of a given color' tool to select the water area
c. Shrink the selection by X pixels (between 2 and 5 depending on scale) depending on scale
d. Fill with a different shade of the water color (lighter or darker both work)
e. Shrink the selection 1 pixel
f. Cut the selection
g. Goto c, using a larger X value

[Lich]

Oh yes I'm using gimp sorry i didn't say it says it just under my avatar=)

Thanks for the help with the water, i know about how to get a grid and all and I'll add one later!

[Lich]

Uh..... Right! next step!

Now I'm Quite pleased with the blood but i think it stilll needs some ripples near the waterfall, Also i quite like how the water fall came out but i think i need to round the bottom bit a bit more to make it look more splashy.

I added a grid, and scaled it up a bit too!

So as usual CC is most welcome! and Apretiated even!

[Lich]

Okay... next step!

I've added some stairs, some rocky textures and what not, some parchment on the background, and some more spray near the blood fall, next step is probably the camps on the main ground section.

CC is Much Apreticated! not much of A WIP with only one comment

Come on folks tell me if this map sucks atleast?

[Krome]

Asa work in progress it is looking better and better. Unfortunately I have no idea at how how much GIMP can do, as I use Photoshop.

Some suggestions any way, would be to add some texture to the blood lake and the land outcroppings.

In Photoshop you can use the Patternstamp tool to lay down the patterns. Another cool way is to use Bevel and Emboss and use the Texture setting, then draw in your pattern with the Patterstamp tool and it can give you 3D texture and feel. No idea if or how to do the same in GIMP.

[Ascension]

I'm gonna see what I can do to help ya out here. I use PS as well so I'll try to stay away from filters and layer styles. So far I have been at a complete loss as to what you're going for as I was thinking this looks more like a graphic design for a company logo (which is kinda cool). Gimme a lil bit and I'll see what I can cook up.

[Lich]

Well thanks for the reply's everyone, it would probably help for me to tell you what I'm Aiming for, I wasn't sure what angle it was going to be at at first but It's Turned out to be a top view, It's meant to be a Cavern in the Darklands Filled with Blood (Which generally isn't that uncommon in the Darklands) There is a Tunnel leading to the First uh.. Plateau? platform? Which is going to be a Camp From there theirs a bridge to the second Plateau Where there will be some stairs to an alter. And I'll Also add some more Texture to the blood!

[Ascension]

Is this more like you were looking for? I'm not really that good with words, since I'm a visual person, so I drew this and took a screenshot of where I'm at so far. All I have done so far is laid out some basic color shapes then use the dodge/burn tools, some smudge tool, some blur tool, and some black and white paint. I'm going to block in the rocks next before finishing the pool ripples.

edit: put the cliff in (flat brown and again used the burn/dodge/smudge tools), darkened the blood with a color overlay. Been a long time since I've done any illustration work so I'm very rusty, but you can get the idea of how I'm working. If you want to use patterns instead of drawing then I've put some on the lower level (rock pattern, tile pattern and a water pattern on the pool). I also added an outer bevel to the floor to help it rise up from the rock. Choose which style you prefer and then maybe one of the Gimp guys can help you further.

[Lich]

Is this more like you were looking for? I'm not really that good with words, since I'm a visual person, so I drew this and took a screenshot of where I'm at so far. All I have done so far is laid out some basic color shapes then use the dodge/burn tools, some smudge tool, some blur tool, and some black and white paint. I'm going to block in the rocks next before finishing the pool ripples.

edit: put the cliff in (flat brown and again used the burn/dodge/smudge tools), darkened the blood with a color overlay. Been a long time since I've done any illustration work so I'm very rusty, but you can get the idea of how I'm working. If you want to use patterns instead of drawing then I've put some on the lower level (rock pattern, tile pattern and a water pattern on the pool). I also added an outer bevel to the floor to help it rise up from the rock. Choose which style you prefer and then maybe one of the Gimp guys can help you further.

........ that is AWESOME! I have no idea how i can do anything like that and it kind of makes me want to crawl into a corner and die...