First Cave of My Own

[Coreyartus]

So I decided to make my first "Pure Mine" map--a dungeon cave battle map I'm completely making up on my own. I think this may be a deeper dungeon, with subterranean features that might do well for a Level 2 or 3 dungeon that has come from something less organic but leads to yet a deeper level...

I drew a quick rough idea in Photoshop:



Then I started making it more of a map... I made the lines more organic, added in a bunch of shading in different ways, some very subtle textures. And a grid. I have a long way to go, but since this site is about process as much as product, I figured I'd make my first forum post by sharing how I'm moving forward each step of the way.



I think it's a bit dark, but I'm going to adjust that. I tried layering in some stone and water textures and giving them some effects (toying with the opacity of each) bit I think I may have gone too far--they may be too subtle now. And then I added in a crosshatch pattern layer around the entirety.

I've learned how to make a Neatline (good grief that's tedious in Photoshop even when it's simple) based on what I'd read here in various posts, but I haven't reached that point yet. I'm trying to make it look like an amalgamation of hand-drawn/watercolor analog and digital, but I think that may have more to do with the "packaging" of the map itself which has yet to happen.

The parchment layer is a bit intense, but I'm planning on lightening it up and dressing the whole thing up with Arcane symbology and such. I like the idea that a map is a work of art in itself, that the form is as delightful as the function, so I've got plans. But I thought I'd share what I've done thus far. The whole thing has taken about 2 hours so far, so it's progressing at a nice clip (well, I don't have a frame of reference, really, so for me it's happening pretty fast).

It's still in the beginning stages. Thoughts?