caeora

Progress and a Quick Poll.

Bit of a weird post today, just a bit of rambling as well as updating everyone on progress and new stuff. There won't be a new map for another few days, as I’m working on a large modular tileset. I won't say what it is just yet, (I like surprising people!) but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time and is a little bit different compared to some of the stuff i've done so far. After I’m done with the tileset, next month i'll be back to finishing up the planar maps series and patreon ...

Patreon Maps: Island Cottage

Today I finished up another patreon supporter map, with an added shark! I was asked to create a tropical island similar to the caribbean islands with a small cottage overlooking the beach for a wizard and his bardic wife.

I added in the shark as a little extra because I thought it was cool but there is a version without it and a token of the shark in case you want to use it for an encounter! :) 

<...

Planar Maps: Feywild Bridge

I feel like every time I draw a new map, I learn something new and I want to draw it better the second time around. Today I finished up another Feywild map with new and improved trees! They took much longer to colour than the ones in the previous Feywild map and I think it's a step up! I also played around a lot more with the fireflies, really adding to the glow.

This map also has a bunch of other versions to go with it. For example, the map below does not have the bridge, in case you need tha...

Planar Maps: Feywild Forest

Today I finished up another map of the Feywild! This time with a slightly different colour palette and a few more lighting effects. As I already drew and coloured a bunch of foliage for the previous lake map, this one didn't take as long, which was nice and allowed me to play around with colour a lot more. 

I will say that it’s hard to draw massive trees for a battlemap... At least this way you can move underneath and have some encounters without everything being hidden!  

Planar Maps: Feywild Lake

This is the first map of the Feywild, I aim to release a few more in the next few days! I will be playing around with colour and attempting to get the right feel but the hard part is basically done. Making this map was very time consuming, drawing bushes and foliage take so much longer than you think and colouring them to match an environment that is alien to everything on earth is quite tough! 

Still, this is a place that I absolutely love, and i've been leaving it for so long becaus...

Planar Maps: Gehenna

Today's map is the plane of Gehenna, Formed out of four impossibly huge volcanoes floating in an endless black void, with little open ground anywhere. The slopes are always in between a 45 degree angle to a full-on cliff face. Aside from the rocky and soot-stained walls, the dangerous terrain (lava, the River Styx, acidic ash) and the hostile inhabitants (Yugoloths and other fiends) make Gehenna a thoroughly unpleasant place.

This map is very dark, covered in lava flows with thick poisonous ga...

Patreon Maps: Earth Isles

This map was made for a patreon supporter and is actually my first map made for anyone supporting at over $6 a month! (Yay! Achievement!) They asked for a city map, which is something I don't draw very often, but it was a very fun and interesting concept. They described the city as five small, floating mountains. In the center of them is a valley that is used for farming and cattle. Each section is connected by dwarven bridges between each other (except the royal palace that only connects to the...

Map Hook: October

After reaching a goal here on patreon (Thank you all so much by the way!)  at the start of each month you guys can vote on a map to receive a map hook. This will be something that springs to mind when looking at the map, adding written details and a little narrative description to make it easier to insert into a campaign or adventure. I will also be adding example monsters or characters that you can use or fit into the map environment. 

Currently there are a few maps on my patreon an...

Building Maps: Chapel

So this is another experiment of mine. I was going to draw an environment in the Shadowfell but wanted to include some buildings. So far though I haven't really drawn the interior of anything, so I spent some time figuring out walls, and floors etc. It ended up being very bright, so I will definitely be changing things and playing around with shadows and colours in the future!  

There is also a blank version without all the furniture, windows and doors, and png tokens as extras if you wan...

Desert Maps: Tokens

Another desert map? Well.. kind of! This map was made using a bunch of desert tokens! I was looking back at the desert map series and realized that I wanted to change up the way I draw my maps a little bit. Most of the time (planar maps not really included) I draw certain things other and over again when I could just draw tokens for those objects, like palm trees for example. I will still be drawing the majority of my maps like I did before but tokens help when I need to add a few extra bits and...

Planar Maps: Limbo

Today's map is Limbo! The plane of chaotic neutral alignment, a place where everything is in constant motion and change, especially the landscape, which can shift unpredictably and randomly change between liquid solid, and gas. 

Limbo is home to the Slaad, a particularly dangerous and evil creature that delights in corrupting and spreading themselves across the cosmos. I used this map as an opportunity to make a few tokens!  

This isn't really a tutorial but I thought I would s...

Milestone Map: Beast Cave

Phew.. This one took ages! One of my most detailed maps I've done here on patreon! 

I decided to take a quick break from doing the planar maps after reaching a goal here on patreon for $100 a month. So this map is for all the people currently supporting me. Thank you so much! 

This map has two levels, the pit in the center of the final cavern drops down into the water of the area in the north west. In addtion there is a "hidden" tunnel that connects two areas but its very hard ...

Planar Maps: Mount Celestia, Part 2

Today's maps are the second two levels of Mount Celestia! the ultimate expression of good in the Dungeons & Dragons cosmology! Also know as The Seven Heavens! 

Drawing both of these maps was a new challenge for me, drawing snow maps was a first and drawing crystals and ore was another. While I quite like the crystals I definitely need to do some more work on making ore look good in a map setting. The gold on the Solania map is just too similar to the rocks around it and could very eas...

Planar Maps: Mount Celestia, Part 1

When I was brainstorming how to draw Mount Celestia, I quickly realised that each level was a distinct and very unique environment. It really warranted a map for each. This is also part one of three. There will be another two parts with the other 4 levels of Mount Celestia this week! :)

(I cant really draw the seventh level, as it isnt really a place you can walk around)

These maps might also require a little bit of background for anyone that is unfamiliar with the plane. 

2017-09-11 16:52:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Planar Maps: Ysgard

Today’s map is Ysgard, the realm of glory! The eternal battlefield of Chaotic Neutral/ Chaotic Good alignment in the Dungeons and Dragons cosmology.

This one took quite a while, so much so in fact I’m taking a day off tomorrow haha. So many highlights on this one, and honestly I wanted to spend longer on some of the little bits on this map. Though I am very happy with the detail and depth to the map in general!

Planar Maps: Hades

This map was really fun, but very hard to draw at the same time. Hades is the realm of despair and described as a grey wasteland without colour. Which makes it quite difficult to make a map out of. The river running though this map however is the fabled river styx and I always imagined it to be a kind of formless mix between blue/green mist and water. There are also some strange and almost delicate bridge like structures present in this map which can add some interesting encounter options. :)

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Planar Maps: Portals

No map?!

Quite a few portals though...

After the vote decided that planes would be the next series I thought I should make some portals to go with them, afterall you always need a way to get to the planes!

Oh! I'm going to change the series name to Planar instead of planes, just because it was a little confusing. :)

Planar Maps: Astral Sea

While I was waiting for the poll results I decided to draw a map that I've wanted to draw for ages now. I wasn't sure how to draw it or how to colour it but I've always had this image in my mind of what the astral plane looks like and I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with. It was pretty tricky to make it look right with a lot of little details, stars and flowing lines.

The astral plane is described as the transitive plane and is largely empty apart from a few floating rocks. But the rocks...

New Series

Been a little busy with life stuff over the last few days but I'll have another map up tomorrow! In the mean time here is the poll to determine which environment/biome/series I will be drawing next! 

Just to clarify a few, the planes option means places like the 9 hells, the abyss and the elementals planes. While Ash means volcanic or related locations. :)

Desert Maps: The Maw

The final updated version of the desert map series. If you are looking at the dates to see when each one was made you might be wondering why a bunch of maps were posted on a single day. I was simply updating everything and making a seperate post for each map!

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Desert Maps: Cave Entrance

This is one of the only maps that really works well with another. You can use this cave entrance to start down into the underdark or use it with the Hive map! :)

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Desert Maps: Outlaw Camp

I didnt like how simple this map was and drew the Encampment map to increase the size and scale but I will keep this map on the desert map list for now as a small encounter location.

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Desert Maps: Quicksand

This map was updated with new versions and stronger highlights to match other maps. I dont really like how this one turned out in general but it does add an intrestering place to fight in a desert so I'll leave it for now.

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Desert Maps: Sand Skimmer

Another update, This one has been shrunk a little to fit within the grid and there is now less brown around the sand skimmer itself. There are also new non 3D versions for battlemaps! 

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Desert Maps: Boneyard

This map has been updated with a larger scale grid to keep it in line with other maps, it does mean that the bones are now huge! Which is quite nice really. :P

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Desert Maps: Pyramid

This map has been updated and changed abit to give a little bit more space, which you can crop out if you dont need it. I want to do another pyramid at some point. This one is great but a little small and is only on one level. :)

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Desert Maps: Canyon

EDIT: First map I ever made for my patreon! (I was so bad at writing posts for my maps then XD)

This is an updated version of the desert canyon and the first map I coloured in the series. You can see how the shadows are undefined and the highlights are not as bright as later maps.

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Desert Maps: The Pit

When drawing this map I considered adding something in the middle, either a portal or pedestal but without any specifics this map can be used for a variety of purposes. Personally I like to think something is buried within the central rock island and the chains are keeping it contained.

This map also comes with an orange/red version. :)

This is the final completed map of the desert series! Tomorrow I will be updating my patreon posts, adding gridless versions and large versions to maps, ...

Desert Maps: Encampment

This map has four different coloured versions for anyone that needs a certain colour for the army they are using. Or if you prefer one colour over another. 

Only one more map to go in the desert series! :) 

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Desert Maps: Shrine

I was tempted to try and re-draw the pattern in the center of this one and make it a little more interesting or draw some kind of desert animal carving. In the end this more generic pattern can be used by more people for various encounters so I left it! :)

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