Month: September 2023

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Varlaam Monastery in Meteora, Greece

The monastery of Varlaam sits atop a large rock formation in Meteora, Greece. Look at this place and tell me it’s not absolutely epic. This is something I’ve wanted to draw for a long time and I hope I do it justice. I’ll probably draw a sideview as well, but this is the art for the map itself done.

Well, what do you think so far?

By the way, it looks like the Château de Brézé will be the next historical map. I actually went there last year and took a TON of pictures specifically so I could draw a map of the place later. Castles with complex networks of caves and tunnels underneath them are much more common in D&D maps than in real life, but this place is one exception. Anyway, I think you’re gonna like it.
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Ethermont House

Ethermont House is the guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers, who have done pretty well for themselves over the years. As it turns out, breaking into the homes of evil wizards, killing them and selling all their stuff is a fairly profitable line of work.

When the job is done and you’ve finally cleaned all the little chunks of Saruman off your battleaxe, Ethermont is a great place to go and relax with some friends. Then, after a night in the beer hall and the billard room, you can go up to the guildmaster’s office, pick up another contract and head out to smoke Voldemort.

So, I started my patreon 5 years ago this month and it feels like I should do something special. So I’m going to hold a vote for all patrons on which historical map I should draw. The options will be:

  1. Château de Brézé – A French castle with an elaborate network of caves and tunnels dug around and underneath it.

  2. Stack Rock Fort – A British sea fort off the coast of Wales.

  3. Church of St. George, Lalibela – A very unique church carved into the bedrock in Ethiopia.

  4. Castel Sant’Angelo – Hadrian’s Tomb, which later became the pope’s castle.

These are places that have been on my to-do list for a while now and I think they will all make amazing maps. One of the monasteries of Meteora, Greece would have been on the list as well, but it just won last month’s Cartographic Congress vote, so I’m drawing it next. Between that, the giant ship and whatever wins the vote, there’ll be some cool stuff coming up.

I want to say thank you to everyone who’s supported my art over the last five years. Being able to wake up and draw maps for you every day is the best way I can imagine to make a living and I appreciate it more than you will ever know. Thank you all.

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Guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers (Work-in-Progress)

This adventurers’ guildhall is a large manor with a courtyard, library, music room, training hall and a gallery of various artifacts acquired (“acquired“) by guild members over the course of their adventures. It could also make a nice base for the party or a good location for a classic armed robbery-themed adventure.

Anyway, I’m gonna get to work on coloring this place. Let me know what you think!

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The Hall of the Bearded Men

This is the ancient ruin found on Tir Thelandira. The wood elves who inhabit the island don’t know who built it or why, only that it was here before they were. The “Bearded Men,” as the elves call them, are a great mystery. They certainly weren’t elves and they don’t look like humans, either. A few claim to have seen a Bearded Man who arrived on a ship centuries ago, but few believe them. Perhaps, one day, another Bearded Man will arrive, if any still exist.

This map is the ancient, mysterious ruin that patrons voted for. I hope you like the way I went with it. I thought it’d be funny to put this big, obviously dwarven ruin on an island full of elves who don’t know what a dwarf is and think of them as an almost mythical race.

There’s one more map to draw before Tir Thelandira is finished and I’ll be sending out a message to patrons asking for proposals for what it should be as soon as I post this.

The next map will be the guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers, including their library, vault and exhibit hall. If that doesn’t sound like something you’ll need, don’t worry. It’ll basically be a large, well-appointed mansion and that’s something everyone’s got a use for. “Adventuring” usually involves a lot of burglary, in my experience.

Anyway, I hope you like the map! I used to draw dwarven stuff a lot and it felt good to be back in that saddle again.