March/April 2012 Lite Challenge Entry: Ritradenix's Lair
Hello! First submission in a challenge for me. I decided to go with an internal theme using the inkblots instead of using them for continents or bodies of water. Instead, I used them for a cave system for the lair of a dragon--Ritradenix--and his mate. Using D&D or Pathfinder systems, the tunnels between the caves are usable by the dragons via their ability to assume the form of a humanoid. They don't often leave, so they prefer the tighter entrances to keep out bigger creatures.
I created it using a combination of two programs: most of the lair work was done in PS, while the sprites were added with CC3. I'm fairly new to both programs, but this provided a great opportunity to explore each a bit more and was overall a good learning process. I might still tinker with it before the deadline, but if I'm being honest I think this is my final version.
If I've messed something up with the rules of submission, let me know! I think I followed the posting guidelines correctly, but I might've overlooked something.
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Last edited by Joshua; 03-23-2012 at 02:05 PM. Reason: Changed attachment to make it in-line.
Welcome to the comp! Nice use of the shapes.
I had thought of doing the same thing, making caves out of them, but settled on islands for my entry.
My main suggestion to give this a little more visual "pop" would be to use a floor texture of some type.
I like the dark brown background, where did you get it, or can you post it?
Last edited by Bogie; 03-23-2012 at 02:43 PM.
My Battlemaps Gallery http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...p?albumid=3407
Thanks! And for the suggestion. I wanted to actually put in a grid so it'd be a functional battle map, but I couldn't figure out a way to grid just the floor (I only found ways to grid the entire thing). Other than that, if I can't find a way to make that work, I might just have to go back and fill in a floor texture as you suggest.
If you were to place a grid and then use a layer mask to blank out the areas of the grid you don't want to show that should do the trick.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt
What he said. Layer Masks are one of the most useful tools you could ever learn in PS(or any other program that has them such as GIMP, etc). See link in my sig, though it's made for GIMP, it's fairly easy enough to port to PS...Originally Posted by Jaxilon
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Awesome! Thanks for the tips.
After much reading and learning about creating saveable, visible grids in PS... Here's the newest revision. The layer masks are awesome but I'm still slow with them since PS CS3 has some different and odd steps compared to GIMP. Truth be told, I'm contemplating switching to GIMP just so I'll have the newest software. And considering how many people here use it.
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You might want to lighten the grid up a bit just so it isn't quite so bold.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
Will do! Thanks for the tip.
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