The lines for the basilica are finally done: the walls, the statues, the furnishings, the floors and all the rest. It was an enormous amount of work, but I think it’s been worthwhile. I might even say the map is looking fairly… is Catholicious a word? I hope so.
Anyway, it’s time to color this thing. It’ll probably take a minute, so I’ll post a few pictures along the way. Well, I’m gonna get started on that. Let me know what you think so far!
It’ll be a few more days, but we’re in the homestretch now. All right, I’d better get back to it.
This is the basilica with the statues and altars and most of the furnishings done. I tried to draw everything as accurately as I could and I’m pretty happy with it so far. There’s only one more thing to draw before I start coloring this, which is the floor. That may take a minute, since the floor here looks like this, but I think it’ll be worth the effort.
Well, this thing isn’t going to draw itself (none of the rest of it did, anyway), so I’d better get started. Let me know what you think so far!
Here’s where I’m at with the basilica. The structure of the building is done and I’ve started working on the details. I’ve got the pipe organs and altars drawn into two of the chapels and the main altar is done as well, which you can see up close in the second picture. It has statues of four popes holding up a giant chair and looks like this in real life.
This place is pretty enormous and the first image is around 160×100 tiles or so. That, combined with the fact that I’m trying to give this place as much detail as possible, means that it’s going to take a minute. There are a LOT of statues in this place and I want to draw in all the major ones.
So, I hope you like how it’s coming so far and I hope you’ll find this thing worth the time spent on it. Either way, let me know what you think!
Here’s the upper level of Cladwater Lift Lock, as promised. And for patrons, I made a night version as well.
With that done, I’ll be getting back to the Vatican City megaproject, where I’ll be drawing St. Peter’s Basilica. Because the place is gargantuan and the floor is extremely elaborate, I’m not sure how long it’ll take, but I’ll post some work-in-progress pics along the way to show you how it’s going.
The basilica is an incredible work of art and I’m going to try to capture as much of that as I can in the map. But, ultimately, there’s only so much I can do. I’m going to show you two photos. Okay? This is Notre Dame in Paris. A world-famous masterpiece of architecture, no question. And this is St. Peter’s Basilica. I mean, like… that’s just bananas. My point is that I’ll do what I can, but I can only do so much in the face of that.
All right, I’m going in. Wish me luck.
So the idea for this map is that it’s an outpost with a lock that lets riverboats cross a waterfall. If you’ve never seen one, boat elevators are a real thing. Here’s a Canadian one. And here’s Scotland’s super deluxe fancy one. I’m not sure if there are any that go over waterfalls, but it seems possible.
These things don’t go too far back in history, but Germany had one in 1789, so you should be able to get away with it in a fantasy setting. If you need an excuse, the phrase “dwarven engineering” has been letting DMs get away with putting sci-fi stuff in the middle ages for years. There’s a little pro tip for you.
As you may have noticed, this place does have stairs and there is an upper level to draw. It’s nothing fancy, just some ramparts, but I’ll draw that next. It should only take a day, two at most. After that, we’re back to Vatican City, where I’ll be getting started on St. Peter’s Basilica and its perfectly reasonable floor.
All right, I’ll be back with that soon! If you’ve got any questions or thoughts about the map, let me know.
So the first part of the Vatican City megaproject is done. Well, kind of. One of the tricky things about drawing the Vatican is that there are parts of it I haven’t drawn yet in the background. In the top left is the Apostolic Palace and, at the bottom left, there’s a church called Santa Maria della Pieta. That stuff on the right is Italy. So I’ll have to remake this map with all the other stuff included once it’s done.
Also, St. Peter’s Square is huge. Like, this is actually one of the biggest maps I’ve ever made. That’s 199×160 tiles right there. You can fit multiple football fields inside it (either kind). The pope has a pretty big front yard.
The next part of the Vatican I’m going to draw will probably be St. Peter’s Basilica, the entrance to which is on the left. And I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little apprehensive about that. Because, you see, the floor of the basilica looks like this. Am I going to draw all that? Yes. Is it going to look really cool? Probably. Am I looking forward to it? No, I really am not. I’ll be honest with you: I’m a little scared. But it’s gotta be done and I’m going to do it regardless.
But first, I’ll be drawing last month’s Cartographic Congress winner: a dwarven fort built around a waterfall. There’ll be a lock for boats, a waterwheel or two, stuff like that. And after that, we’re back to the Vatican. Sound good? I hope so.
Anyway, if you’ve got any thoughts or questions, let me know!
In the seven years that I’ve been making maps for a living, I’ve drawn exactly six city maps. When I say a “city map,” I mean not a battlemap. So stuff like Vayl’s Firth doesn’t count. Here’s the list, from oldest to newest, along with my opinions on them:
The basic idea for this place is that Lyndorne Falls is a unique kind of trade city. Goods come in on riverboats at the top of the waterfall and they’re moved down to the bottom on cargo lifts, where they get sold on to seafaring traders. Enabling goods from upriver to reach the sea makes this place a big deal, especially if there are a lot of towns out there. Also, the cliffs and the surrounding jungle serve as natural walls to protect the city. On the whole, I’d say it’s a fairly unique town that wouldn’t be hard to find a place for in most settings.
Next, I’m gonna get started on the Vatican megaproject. I’ll be drawing this one piece at a time and I’ll alternate between Vatican maps and other maps, but I’ll start with the famous stuff. First, I’ll be drawing St. Peter’s Square, which looks like this. It’s not the most interesting part of Vatican City, but it is the biggest and it should help me to calibrate the size properly so that all the pieces fit together in the end.
All right, I’m gonna go transubstantiate some paper into a map. Our journey begins.
This is where I’m at with the city map I’m working on right now. I’ve only got the buildings sketched in, but I’ll finish those next and start coloring it.
What do you think so far?
