Neat! Thanks for the kinds words and the encouragement! It really helps. I will DEFINITELY keep working, but my progress has been slowed a little due to starting a new job. Gotta love unemployment for the time it gives ya to do art, but art doesn't pay the bills....... yet So everyone reading this, please be patient. I will work as fast as I am able.
I've made it a little further than my last post, but I'm still just working on stairs. I'm taking extra care with them, because I've tried a few variations on how to do the stairs and MOST of them looked horrible. I figure I wouldn't post every time I draw a new set of stairs Fear not, I'm still working, slowly, but surely.
I should be able to get some good work done tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Hmm. I'm not sure its much of an improvement to be honest. At the end of the day, it's something that's virtually impossible to protray realistically. I remember trying on my watchtower map, which was unsatisfying if I recall. I recommend you just keep it simple, it probably doesn't really matter which way is up or down, people will be able to work it out, and don't worry about it too much. Perfect something that's actually perfectable.
I think your stairs, and your maps overall, look very good. Even earlier versions I could tell what was going up or down.
If I was going to nitpick the only thing I would say is maybe the stair shadows could be slightly transparent (not solid black) and the edge of the shadow on the stairs going down (like the part just to the right of the horizontal red arrow tip on the last update of the two stairwells) could be less hard, more feathered.
But that is very minor and I'm not familiar with VTT so my comments may be moot.
Great job so far on these maps.
The down stairs are very clearly going down, as they always have been and the up stairs are distinct enough from them to look like they could be going up. I would still suggest shading the down stairs to give them depth going down to the shown level.
Thanks for the feedback folks! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and comment.
@Jacktannery, it is visually "impossible", but I'm close enough for my tastes. Nothing about this map is perfect though, nor am I going to try to make it "perfect".
@Savage Orc, the hard line at the very top step going down will be masked out in one of my "clean ups". When I make maps like this piece by piece, I usually wait until I have a few new things done and then go back and "polish up" the details. There are a few touch ups I need to make overall. As for the stair shadow, I'm not sure if you are talking about the shadow "Fade" at the "end" of the stairs or the individual step shadows between each step... either way, I'm not going to change much about them now. I'm satisfied with them for the most part and I've spent too much time on stairs already, so I need to move on. I still really appreciate the feedback.
@Falconius, thanks for the kind words. The down stairs ARE shaded and I'm not going to shade any further. I had them shaded more in the beginning and they were too dark. What I've got will have to do
Again, thank you all for taking the time to comment. Keep them coming!
I'm trying to crank out some good work over the rest of this weekend. I'd like to finish this main floor map completely, but at my current rate of work that doesn't seem like a realistic goal by bed time Sunday... we'll see...
Stay tuned!
Yes my apologies, I meant the "up" stairs, the "down" stairs are great. In other words the "Up" stairs should be shaded deeper as they descend to the main level otherwise they may all look like they are on the same plane but tilted like a turbine.
Ok folks, still slowly plugging along on the stairs of Map 3. Now that I have a method down it is going A LITTLE faster, but not much.
This is just a quick progress post. I've cleaned up all the stairs and adjusted some shadows and such. I've been TRYING to come up with a "mosaic" pattern for the floor in room K20 (with the curved stairs and square stairs going down), but so far nothing looks right. The adventure text just states "a mosaic floor adds a touch of color...". It doesn't specify what KIND of mosaic or what colors or anything, so I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any good ideas. For now I'm going to leave that detail to the descriptive text.
Wow looks great all together. Also looks like a very dangerous place to get lost in.
For the mosaic something Gothically nostalgic? Or it could just be a pattern too...