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Peninsula, Adept & Expert

Welcome back Adepts and Experts! As you can see, your alternate map this week is fortless, a nice blank canvas with a dramatic drop into the water. I've got some ideas of how I'm going to use this one, which probably means you guys could come up with some real rad encounters here.

Oh, hey, remember the Adept/Expert-only post from last week? You guys gave a bunch of great ideas, and I thin...

Forest Ruins

Hello everyone! I'm back, and this week I sneakily let you guys convince me of what to draw, choosing from the suggestions made in the poll comments something that caught my eye. This (31x31) map was suggested by Baerin, who suggested something based off of the Ayleid ruins from Oblivion, a game I played shockingly little of considering how it's everything I like. Either way, this place is prim...

Fall Forest Ruins, Adept & Expert

Hey Adepts & Experts! I'm pretty pumped about this alt version of the map as I think it came out super well, and it helps that I love fall. You guys can probably tell that I can't decide on a good way to pick fall colors since every time I try it looks completely different. I like this one, but give me a week and I'll dislike it too, haha. 

Anywho, let's talk about my thoughts as...

Map Poll

Hey there everyone! I'm back with another poll, and as usual feel free to recommend more maps in the comments so they can show up on the next one. 

If you weren't around for the last poll here's how it goes, I'll go down the list each week and make whichever map has the most votes; usually I'll only do the top-voted maps and skip those which polled the worst. I think this is a nice way of p...

Desert Bridge

Mountain Bridge, Adept & Expert

Welcome back, folks! This week's map is one I've been looking forward to for a while, I made the first sketch of it about a week before I started this Patreon (of course, it looked nothing like it does now). It used to resemble a mix of this and the Desert Herbalist Hut I drew a while back, kinda like a small hut on top of a mesa with some winding rocky paths leading up to it. As you're probabl...

Cliffside Arena

Welcome back, Patrons! I'm back once again with a map, the Cliffside Arena (22x27) from that poll we did long ago. I'm still chugging along down the list, but I'm feeling that maybe we're due for another, so keep an eye out next week for that! 

This map is nice and simple, a short climb up a cliff to a fighting pit dramatically placed on the mountainside. It's a bit beat out of shape...

Stormy Cliffside Arena, Adept & Expert

Hey folks! This week your Adept version of the map is set during a storm, which is quickly becoming my favorite way to alter my maps. Maybe the fighting pit becomes muddy and slippery in the rain, making it all rough terrain? Or maybe the pillar at the center is made of metal, attracting lightning at the end of every other round? I'm a fan of how dramatic this map becomes with stormy weather, s...

Jungle Ruins, Adept & Expert

Hey there Adepts, I'm sorry to say I don't have my usual alternate version of this week's map as this is a commission I made a month ago. I still do have the PSD and outlines-only stuff for you, so no worries there.

I revisited this map to make it Volcanic, check it out here!

2018-08-24 16:52:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Jungle Ruins

Hey there everyone! I've been out of town the last week so instead of a regular map, this week I've got a commissioned map for you which I made just over a month ago. The client who commissioned this has been kind enough to allow me to keep possession of the map, which is lucky for you guys because now you all get to use it! Anyway, I've already been paid for this map, so better yet this is als...

Stormy Forest Clearing

Hey there Adepts! Welcome back, your map this week is a stormy version of the Forest Clearing map. While this one looks like a very simple map I wanted to make sure it got its fair shake, so I made sure to spend time really thinking about it. 

1. While the idea of this map is simple, I think placem...

Forest Clearing

Hey there everyone! Welcome back, here's your map for the week: the Forest Clearing! It's a simple map but I had to get around to it eventually, right? In absence of big eye-catching props, I made sure to focus on shading and coloring and I think it came out awfully pretty :) 

Due to the simplicity and basic nature of this map, this one is available to everyone, not just Patrons (tho...

Forest Stream

Dreary Forest Stream, Adept & Expert

Hey Patrons, welcome back! This week's map was a fun one and I'm very pleased with how it turned out, mostly because I was happy to be back to drawing things that aren't camps. The normal version of this map ended up looking so happy and sunny that I wanted to see how far I could flip it in the other direction, and so your alternate version this time is a spooky color swap! You know what, it's ...

Big Camp

Hey team, this week's map is the Big Ol' Bandit Camp! It just barely pulled ahead of the runner up (sadly), the forest clearing, which you can probably look forward to next week!

I bumped up the color for this one, moving more towards vibrant colors than I have in the last couple weeks. It's a bit peppier and catches the eye better, but I'm not sure I'll keep making them like this. I also...

Forest Outcropping, Adept & Expert

Hey there Patrons, this week's map is the alternate version of the Big Camp, just minus all the camp stuff. I think this will make for a nice template, the central hill is big enough to fit all kinds of things. But anyway, let's talk about the making of this map!

1. I had a couple of ideas in min...

Logging Camp

I'm back this week with the next in line from the poll, the logging camp! It's currently sitting tied with the big ol' bandit camp, so unless something changes quickly, expect to see that one next week (please vote for something else, I don't want to draw another camp so soon). Anywho, I don't know if this is what an actual logging camp would look like (google wasn't too helpful) but hopefully,...

Fall Logging Camp, Adept & Expert

Hey there folks, here's what I've got for ya this time: an alternate fall version of the logging camp! This was surprisingly tricky for me, I forgot how difficult it can be to swap color palettes (even one as minor as this one looks).  I like fall palettes a lot though and I thought it would be fitting for this map in particular. 

2018-07-27 15:26:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Tiered Waterfall

Well, look who got bumped up to tying for third this week! I reserve the right to break ties and I wanted to draw me some water, so your map this time is the multi-tiered waterfall. 

So, notably, this map isn't very accommodating to people who move via walking. Ain't that just the way adventuring goes though, sometimes you have to get your feet wet? Anyway, there will probably be ene...

Tiered Hill, Adept & Expert

Welcome back, Adepts and Experts! This week your alternate map is slightly different than usual, a complete swap of terrain from waterfalls to a nice rolling hill, perfect if your players are afraid to get their feet wet. 

Anyway, let's talk about the way this one unfolded!

1. As you c...

Moutainside Temple, Adept & Expert

Hey folks, I'm back a little bit later than normal for a rare weekend map but hopefully, it was worth it! Your Adept version of the map this time is set at sunset, which should make for a very dramatic fight (what happens at sunset??) Anyway, let's talk about the map!

1. While I don't have them p...

Mountainside Temple

Nestled onto the side of the Rust Mountains, visible from miles away as a grey domed structure, is an old temple manned by either a single old cleric or a hoard of cultists (they alternate weeks). The cultists would call themselves 'particularly zealous druids-of-a-sort' and actually the old cleric is a human supremacist, which blows. Either way, no one really enjoys trips to the temple, no mat...

Infested Cave

And the winner of the most recent poll is the Infested Cave, winning out barely over the Mountainside Temple by 4 votes (you'll get there someday, Little Beach Camp)!! While it may seem to be an unassuming cave at first glance, a perceptive adventurer will notice large tunnels carved into the rock, and an eerie glow coming off of clutches of strange yellow eggs in the distance. 

I ba...

Infested Cave, Adept & Expert

Hey Adepts and Experts! Your alternate map this week is a different palette than the normal one, less sandy and rockier.  Gray rocks bring a completely different vibe to the map, perhaps colder than the original version. And don't worry, if you don't want this cave to be infested I've made sure to include a version of it with no signs bugs. 

2018-07-06 16:08:30 +0000 UTC View Post

Rocky Stream

I'm back, and earlier than ever! Now that I'm no longer sick, my map making muscles are aching to draw something zesty, so here's what I've got for ya!

This one is a whole smorgasbord of terrains, which I thought was kinda neat; depending on which part you want to focus on there can be any number of encounters here. Are cultists up to something down by the waterfall (you bet there's a cav...

Rocky Stream, Adept & Expert

Continuing on my series of larger maps, this week is a nice big rectangular map! The inspiration for this one came from from a little area in the Bloodtide Coast region of Guild Wars 2, where a waterfall empties into the bay under a bridge.

As you can see above, the Adept version of the map is a vision of a bleak bridgeless future. Your players will have to be crafty crossing now, using resource...

Map Poll! (Sick Week)

Hey folks, I'm sorry to say I won't be posting anything this week (I caught a fever that I'm struggling to shake). I'd rather not try to rush out a sub-par map when I get better, so I'll try to whip up something extra good next week to make up for it :) 

So while I'm down and out I figured I would take the opportunity to hear from my Patrons. What would you like to see next?  If you ha...

Environmental Token Pack #1

Hey folks, I'm back for a rare weekend post! I've been talking about putting together some tokens for a couple weeks now and that day has finally come. As suggested, they are just a handful of things from the maps I've made so far, but cleaned up and isolated. There are a few more props I'd like to isolate for the next batch of tokens, but they will take a bit more elbow grease to clean up (I'm st...

Chain of Islands, Adept & Expert

This week's map is a bit bigger than usual (and significantly bigger than last week's map) so hopefully it will accommodate you long-range people better. Also, check out the bonus version of this map, an alternate stormy weather version (perfect for when bad weather sweeps away your players' boats when they're at sea).

2018-06-15 18:02:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Chain of Islands

Hey folks, here's what I've got for ya this time: a fistful of islands! It's another one in the rougher style I've been trying out, a little more cartoony and fun (I've never liked photo-realistic battle maps anyway). I wanted to try and improve on my Island Shrine map (one of my first) with something a lot more extravagant, so now it's three times the islands!

The alternate Adept version...