Choosing a winner...just got that much harder.
I love the sails trailing off into the depths...very spooky.
Is the drawing scanned in? If so can you recommend an entry level scanner for your fellow cartographers? Any other basic tips are most welcome in exploring your methods.
This is all done from scratch in Gimp with a Wacom Graphire4 tablet (I think they've been suplanted by the Banboo range now but should be cheap on ebay).
I do have a scanner that I use now and again and like a lot. It's a Canon and cost about £40 (~$80). I'm not at home so can't give you the exact details.
As for other tips, 'm keeeping a running log of screenshots so that I can write up the promised tutorial over on the other pages but as I am going to be cutting it tight to get this done on time, I'm certainly not going to get the tutorial written up before the deadline. However, any more questions - feel free to ask away!
This is progressing real well. Looking forward to more...
Torstan, man, jaw dropping stuff - really. I love your work..
Couple things that worry me here though as far as the contest is concerned. This 'map' is becoming and will probably (knowing you) a visual masterpiece. What worries me though is playable gaming area. Because the ship is tilted sideways, treasure and boxes have probably fallen into the water. The surface of the ship really won't be walkable and this encounter map looks like it will probably send the players inside or under water to get the goodies under the ship. That being said, this doesn't remind me of a "map" but more like a picture showing the scene rather than something that is playable. In other words, what are we to do when the party says "let's go in and get us some treasure"? I could be wrong, maybe I am just not using my imagination enough here.
But I have to make something very clear - I love your work. My hat goes off to you my friend, you are a fantastic artist. I will be keeping a close eye on this one.
I too am totally in awe by the beauty of this. The illusion of being sideways is masterful. You have been duely Repped.
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.
Thanks for the praise. It's coming on, but as this all shuts up shop tomorrow I think I'm going to be stuck with an unfinished entry. Nevertheless I'll do my best to get it to some state of finality tonight as a last push.
Dorpond: I disagree (obviously ) This was designed from the start as an encounter map. It is based on a 50px=5' scale so the staircases should all be the right size (roughly) for VTT use. The decks are intended to be at a 20 degree slope at the most - making this treacherours footing, but not lethal.
I can think of a number of encounters for this map. A tribe of sea creatures resides in the reef below. This ship came to grief on it and now acts as a watchtower on their front door. The party come to onvestigate the ship. Though at first it seems like a deserted hulk, the piles of debris on the deck turn out to be concealed pill boxes for snipers and a lethal fight ensues on the sea slicked decks....
The design of the location allows for treacherous footing and a cleaver use of terrain - the natural obstacles of the fallen masts, lots of loose ropes, the chasm between the two wrecked halves and the peril of being battered on the rocks if you fall. I'm going to run this as a location for my group so my plan was to design a practical locale.
As for the playable area, I would have creatures coming from the sea and the players arriving at the wreck in a boat. This makes it a very broad map with every inch consisting playable locale. The challenge is getting to the ship and making it on board before fighting whatever has made it their lair...
Any suggestions for improvements on this more than welcome