Fall Logging Camp, Adept & Expert (Patreon)

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. 

1. Camp maps, I'm discovering, aren't horribly interesting to draw. I admit I'm no woodsman, but think the idea behind pitching a camp is that it's in a safe and clear location, ideally with cover from the elements and access to water. With that in mind, I made it as exciting as I thought was reasonable while keeping some realism. 

I figured that the most exciting thing about it would be making it fun to sneak up to, which I think the log piles accomplish (they can make for some Metal Gear-style sneaking?) 

2. So, I got a little ambitious with the rocky shoreline. Remember my crumbling throne room map, the collapsed corner that's full of rubble?  I promised myself I wouldn't go through with that type of thing again as it takes sooo much time, but here we are. My mistake was looking at 2 Minute Tabletop's maps, how awesome his rocky shores look, and taking a crack at imitating it. I think it looks neat, but not quite right.

You might notice that after the rough sketch, I altered the scale I was working with. The tents and log piles got much bigger, and the overall scale of the map shrunk from about 33x25" to 29x21". The tents just felt so small on the screen, the actual camp didn't stand out as much as I wanted, so this was my compromise. This meant that some props had to disappear to make the new scale work (just a log pile here and there, they probably didn't make much sense where they were anyway).

One other thing, I was very very tempted to steal tents from my other maps but I stayed strong. I know it's not that bad, but it feels like cheating.

3. It's an interesting color palette, the bushes pop a lot. Actually, I'm not too sure I like them much but I'm a very stubborn guy. Honestly, even if the bushes seem strange as they are, the map actually looks worse when they're green. The orange-red adds a very nice flavor to the map, and I'll have be strong and stick to my guns here.  

I don't think there's much more to talk about this time here, this is otherwise a pretty typical palette for me. I did take it a little easy on the shadows, hopefully it feels more like noon than 5 in the afternoon (which my typical maps feel like).\

4. Man, I'm just in love with the night version. Something worked this time and I'll have to really study it to figure out exactly what it was. Very nice.