Category: Work-In-Progress

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Whaleship Spelljammer (Work-in-Progress)

You voted for the biggest spelljammer and this is all the art for it. This thing has five decks with 17 private cabins, 12 bathrooms, a 2-floor lounge, a billiards room, a poker room, a pool and a harpsichord.

The whaleship is a passenger liner, but I suspect some DMs will have other things in mind for it, so I’ll be making three versions of the map: unarmed, lightly armed, and Whalehammer 40K.

I’m about to start coloring all this now, so I’ll be back with the map in a few more days. Hope you like it so far!

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A few things to mention before I leave for Mont-Saint-Michel

As I mentioned previously, I’m heading to France today. I’m going to visit Mont-St-Michel, the Chateau de Chenonceau and the Chateau de Breze. I’ll be gone for a little over a week, which is a little weird for me, since I very much like what I do and hardly take a day off. Anyway, before I leave, there are a few things I wanted to mention.

First, the picture above is the Silver Dragon Inn, an inn with a dragon’s lair underneath. I did get everything drawn (including the lair), but I didn’t manage to color it before the trip. I’ll finish it up as soon as I get back.

Second, I promised a while back that I’d draw another spelljammer map in three months or so. When I get back from France, it’ll have been three months, so that’ll be the next map. I said it’d be a larger, late-game spelljammer and I’m going to let patrons decide which one. I’ll be posting the vote on my patreon as soon as I’m done posting this.

Third, one of the places I’m going, the Chateau de Breze, is something I’ve wanted to draw a map of for a long time. The best way I can explain this place is that it’s a castle with a sprawling set of tunnels and chambers below. It’s like it has a D&D map from 1986 underneath it. Seriously, have a look.

I haven’t been able to draw the place because I’ve never been able to find a decent floor plan. But I’m going to bring a sketchbook with me and make one. I won’t be drawing it for a while, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I haven’t forgotten about that Indian temple, either. It’ll still be the next historical map, but I might wait until the Black Loch is done.

Finally, if there’s anything you need while I’m gone, feel free to send me a message. I’ll get online a few times while I’m away and answer any messages.

Before I go, I should say that I’ve wanted to see Mont-St-Michel for a long time and I want to thank all my patrons for giving me the ability to finally go. This is kind of a big deal for me and I want you all to know that I truly do appreciate it.

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Black Loch: The Drow Outpost in the Ceiling (Work-in-Progress)

So, I’m in the middle of coloring the drow outpost in the ceiling of the Black Loch. I decided to put the outpost on the edge of the Great Breach, which led to some interesting ideas. And now, the drow have an airship. In a secret hangar. On the edge of a giant waterfall. In the underdark.

You know, completely normal stuff.

Well, I’m gonna get back to it. I should have it all done in a few more days.

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Submerged Temple (Work-in-Progress)

Here’s the top level of the submerged kuo-toan temple in the Black Loch. There are three floors below this and I should have them all done in a day or two.

By the way, I mentioned earlier that I was taking proposals for a new location in the loch and that all patrons were welcome to submit proposals. I originally estimated that there might be 40+ proposals in all, but I may have overestimated, because I currently have 11. So, if you’re a patron who was thinking about submitting an idea for the vote, your chances may be better than previously expected. Anyway, you’ve still got another week to shoot me a message if you want to propose a location.

Okay, back to work!

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Man-O-War-Class Spelljammer (Work-in-Progress)

The Man-O-War comes equipped with side-impact airbags, power windows, authentic white rhino leather seats (from a planet where there are millions of them) and a standard 4-year manufacturer’s warranty. Low APR financing available, see your Nissan dealer for details.

Couple more days and this should be done.

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Town on a Bridge (Work-in-Progress)

Inking all this took a little longer than I expected, but here’s the town on a bridge. There are two levels on top of the bridge deck and another one underneath. The town has a tavern, a livery, various shops, a few gardens and a few empty buildings so you can add in whatever you need that isn’t there.

I’ve got a little bit left to ink tonight and then I’ll start on the color tomorrow. Anyway, what do you think so far?

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Mountainous Island Settlement (Almost Finished)

I wanted to show you what’s been taking so long. The rest of the island is done as well, I just need to color the interiors of the buildings. That should take one more day, two at most.

By the way, this island is based largely on Skellig Michael in Ireland. My wife convinced me to draw the buildings like the ones they have there, which are very unique. Which is to say, they’re big, stone beehives.

Anyway, I’m going to try hard to finish this up tomorrow, so I’d better get back to work!

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Mountainous Island Settlement (Work-In-Progress)

As sometimes happens with me, I started on this map with relatively humble plans, which ended up becoming a bit more grand. I’ve spent the last week drawing this island and now I just need to draw some buildings to put on it and we’ll have our town. I think I’m going to draw some caves underneath it as well, but I’m not sure yet.

Anyway, this is a real island and I’m curious if any of you would recognize it. At least 50% of you have seen it before, probably more like two thirds. Not in person, but it was in a movie from the last ten years. Also, there’s a location in a popular video game named after it. I’d guess that 5-10% of you have played it. Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll tell you if you’re right.

Okay, back to work!

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Fort Bourtange – Second Update

This is the linework for Fort Bourtange finished and ready for coloring. I’m planning to crop this map to a few different sizes, since I don’t think most people will need this much space around the fort. This will be the largest size, however, and is intended for people who want to do something crazy with it, like have a full-on battle between two armies. I’m not gonna lie, the grid size on it is absurd.

I also wanted to mention that I’m not going to draw the upper levels of the buildings here. The best way to explain the reason is that I think including them makes the map worse. They’re all small– mostly attics and lofts– and there’s nothing interesting going on up there. If I include them, that means doubling the size of an already huge map, which means more to load on a VTT or more to print for the table. Mont-St-Michel had interesting stuff on the upper levels, but this place doesn’t and I think it’s better to just leave it at one floor. Hopefully, everybody’s cool with that.

Before I get to coloring this, I want to share a few things I’ve learned while doing research for this map:

  1. William the Silent, who ordered the construction of Fort Bourtange, looked like this. I have never seen a 500-year-old portrait of someone who looks anywhere near as badass as that. Everyone else is a ponce in a wig. But that dude? That dude is serious.
  2. Fort Bourtange has three drawbridges. One of them has a bathroom on it and it’s still in use. Don’t swim in the moat.
  3. This is unrelated to the fort, but super interesting: Grutte Pier was an early Renaissance Dutch man the size of Andre the Giant. A mercenary group called the Black Band raided his village and killed his wife, after which Pier started a peasant rebellion. Later, he became a pirate. This guy was the D&D character you created when you were 15, except he was real. This was his sword.