Category: Uncategorized

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Sorry for not posting, Windows tried to brick my computer.

So, about a week ago, Windows found a problem with my PC. I didn’t notice anything wrong, but Windows decided there was a problem anyway and offered to help. Click here to fix it. Sure, why not. One reboot later and my computer is a toaster with a keyboard. Thanks, Windows. Thanks for helping.

So between then and about an hour ago, I’ve been going insane trying to get this thing back up and running. System restore, failed. System reset, failed. Full wipe and reinstall, failed. I don’t even know how that can fail, but by god it did. A few times. I’m not even sure how I got it back up and running, but I guess I finally mashed enough buttons to get it to work again.

Anyway, that’s why the next map isn’t up yet. It’s also why I haven’t responded to any messages in the last week. But my machine is running again, so give me a minute to reinstall Photoshop and I should have the rest of the High King’s Palace up in a day or two. Again, sorry, everybody.

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Many Thanks! And also, Mont-Saint-Michel

Yesterday was a big day. The good people of reddit took quite a liking to Neuschwanstein and I just wanted to thank all my patrons, new and old, and anyone else who can’t afford to support me, but has given me an upvote or shared my maps with a friend.

When I started this, I decided to try and make the kinds of maps I’d never seen before and that nobody else makes. I wanted to do big, ambitious stuff and I hoped that there were people out there who liked it and were willing to help me keep making it. As it turns out, there are. So, thank you to all of you. It really is a big deal to me.

Also, before I go, I should let you know that some people on reddit talked me into doing a map of Mont-Saint-Michel. It won’t be in the next month or two, but it’ll happen at some point. Just thought you should know.

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Work In Progress: I bit off more than I thought and I’m chewing as fast as I can.

I seriously thought this whole thing would take a week. All of it. I was very, very wrong about that and I’ve come to realize the scale of this project more and more as I’ve been working on it. I do like the Neuschwanstein maps so far, but I’m not sure I’d have signed up for them if I’d known they’d take this long.

The picture above is what’s left to do. Most of the pencils are done and I’ve got a lot of it inked. I expect it to take another four, maybe five days. For those of you looking forward to Brazenthrone, I’ll balance this out by drawing all of the High King’s palace at once.

Here’s what the next few maps will be: the Hall of the Long Banner (Brazenthrone), the Cartographic Congress map (a haunted mansion with secret passages), then the High King’s Palace. Sound good? Alright, I’m gonna get back to work. Despite my repeated requests, this thing steadfastly refuses to draw itself.

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Two Things: Reddit, and the Abysmal Floor Plans of Neuschwanstein Castle

I just want to say two things. First, some of you may not know this, but I recently posted the Great Hall on reddit and it was a pretty big hit. It’s actually the top post of all time on /r/battlemaps. I feel like I won an Oscar. Except I don’t care about the Oscars and I do care about the opinions of the people on /r/battlemaps.

So, anyway, I just wanted to thank all my patrons, new and old, for helping me make it. I know I don’t say that enough and I should, but I want you to know that Brazenthrone seriously would not exist without you.

The second thing is about the map of Neuschwanstein Castle I’m working on. I knew this would be a fairly big map, but I figured it’d go quicker than usual since I was drawing it straight from the floor plans and I could save time on designing the layout. Then I started looking more closely at the floor plans and OH MY GOD.

The different floor plans out there disagree. With each other and with actual photos of the castle. One has a staircase starting and ending on the same floor. None of them show the cellar. There’s more, but… the point is, it’s not going to be as quick as I thought, so I’m going to break it up into two parts. The first will be the first and second levels, which include the courtyard. Then I’ll draw the upper 3 floors. If I go hell-for-leather, I think I can finish the first part in around 3 days.

Alright, it’s 11:40 PM. I’m gonna hop off here, finish this coffee and lay down some ink.

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The Great Hall – Final Update

Here they are with the walls and floors finished. My hand is killing me and I don’t care. Time to fire up the scanner, stitch these together, color them and annotate them. I’m going to guess that’ll be three days’ work. It might be less. I’m going to stop typing and get started.

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The Great Hall – Fourth Update


Everything is inked except for the tiles and the wall fill.

If you’re wondering how I draw wall fill, it’s pretty simple: First, draw little lines over and over until your hand hurts. Next, keep drawing lines until your hand feels like it’s going to fall off. Then, keep drawing lines until your hand actually falls off. After that, go to the hospital and get your hand reattached. Repeat.

It’s my least favorite part of drawing maps, but I really, really like the way it looks. The things I do for cartography.

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The Great Hall – Third Update

Okay! Here’s a photo of the finished pencils for the Great Hall. Drawing furnishings for most of the rooms really makes this take a lot more time, but I think it’s worth it. I had a photo of the other half (which is also finished), but it’s really blurry and, between spending ten minutes getting another one and skipping it so I can start laying down ink, I think I’ll just leave it at this and get back to work. I’ll post another update in a couple days.

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The Great Hall WIP – Second Update

These are the early final pencils for the Great Hall. Most of the buildings only have their outer walls drawn in, but the upper left of the top image has a number of finished buildings with the rooms and furnishings done.

The big things against the walls and columns are giant dwarven statues, which are basically mandatory for something like this. I’m not trying to make Brazenthrone a completely unoriginal dwarven city, but I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here, either.

The building in the middle of the top image is the amphitheater. The one in the middle of the bottom image is the Great Festhall. I’ll say more about it later, but for now I should get back to work.

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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – Work In Progress

Just wanted to give you an update on the Great Hall. These are the layout sketches, which are 25% of the size of the final maps. Since a lot of this is connected, I decided to plan out the most substantial levels all at once. The above is the ground level. Below is the top level, The Promontories. It’s the area where many of the city’s wealthiest commoner families live.

Finally, here’s a sketch of the two biggest columns in the middle of the hall, which lead up to the walkways of the Promontories. Time to get started on the final pencils for the ground level.

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Work In Progress

 

This is a work-in-progress picture of the next map.  It wasn’t originally going to be quite so big, but somewhere in the planning stage it turned into kind of a semi-megaproject and now I’ve got six levels planned and… anyway, it’ll take a bit longer than usual.  I’ll probably have the first level by Wednesday and the rest of it about a week after that.

I love zaratans.