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This week's map is the Woodland Glade (35x35), titled to be synonymous with Forest Clearing because this is essentially a remake of my original Forest Clearing map! I realized just how old the original was looking, which would be a problem if you tried to use it alongside my newer forest maps, and on top of that the setting is so incredibly generic that it is no doubt one of my most useful. Anyway, it was time to update it.

On top of that, your alternate version is Snowy! I figured it wasn't a bad idea to update a couple of the ol' classics while I had a chance and this wasn't a terribly difficult one to whip up fairly quickly.

1. I went into this one feeling like making a proper dense forest map, and I quickly realized that I would probably have to whip up some new trees in order to make that happen- I simply didn't have a big enough stockpile to fill a map like this without using each one 5+ times. Resigned to that, I made the map without concern for how many trees I'd have to draw to make it happen.

My plan here was to lay out the clearing to have various zones to it, with lanes and sightlines created by patches of trees. I thought this would feel fairly natural and create more a more complex and interesting battleground than if I had just placed a ring of trees around the border of the map. I'm not convinced that it feels 'natural', necessarily, but the layout I ended with does feel fairly satisfying.

2. Wow, the outlines-only version of this map is extremely difficult to parse! I don't think there's much I could have done to prevent that, so bear with me.

So, I got around to drawing new trees! I finally got sick of the old batch and drew up some new ones, this time in a slightly different way. I drew these to feel a little more 3D, with greater detail around the edge of the tree to imply height. This also has the effect of implying a more rounded shape to the tree, rather than the vague cone-like shape that the previous batch implied due to the evenly-spaced details. I think these will do for a while, but, of course, I'm already planning on what I'll do for the next batch haha.

3. Colors. I had a hell of a time here. The map is so simple that I felt that I had better get this perfect, and I'm 100% certain the final result isn't perfect. I've rebalanced the highlights, vibrancy, colors, shadows a dozen times each and I suspect I could spend another 3 hours making minor adjustments back and forth.

So, what's the problem here. I think the trees might be too dark, the grass too colorful, the paper texture too pronounced, the lighting a little too dim, the shadows not blue enough. Honestly, there's a chance, for the first time ever, that I'll look at this map tomorrow or Monday and decide to completely rebalance the lighting and effects and reupload it. I'll leave a note here if I do and maybe even write a little more about the changes I'll have made. We'll see.

Update, 3 days later: I didn't change anything! Strangely enough I feel much better about the lighting and palette after sleeping on it, who could have guessed? 

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