Category: Work-In-Progress

Here are a couple more parts of the city finished. I’ve got the palace about halfway drawn and I should have the whole thing finished before long.

The great market is the town’s main marketplace, with a variety of shops and vendor stalls and a cistern in the center. The manor is the home of one of the city’s powerful merchant families, who are allegedly involved in piracy, smuggling and other forms of maritime naughtiness. Allegedly.

All right, I’m gonna get back to finishing up the palace. Let me know what you think!

Most parts of the city only have a single floor, but the wealthy district has an upper level. Most of the buildings here are houses, but there’s a shrine, an amphitheater and a library as well.

The city has a name now, by the way: Vayl’s Firth. Vayl was the guy who founded the city long ago and still has a major impact on how it’s run. I’ll talk more about him later.

With this done, there are only four more parts of the city to draw: the Great Market, the manor, the palace and the mages’ island. The palace will be fairly large and will have at least 3 levels, but the rest will be pretty quick. I suspect I’ll have them all finished by around the end of the month. After that, all that’s left to do is color it.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll be back with more before long!

This is all small stuff, but there’s a lot of it. The fort is the one in the center of the map. It’s more of a fortification rather than a fortress, but it’s a small island and that’s about all you can fit on it. I imagine it being a bit like the Torre Scola.

The admiralty is the island marked “navy.” It’s got facilities to administer and resupply the city’s fleet.

The barracks is where the city’s men-at-arms live. They also serve as the town watch, so the jail is there as well. It also protects the main entrance to the harbor.

And finally, there are all the outlying buildings on the mainland. These are mostly farmhouses, a stable, a loggers’ camp and a sawmill. Couple of sheds in there, too. Nothing super exciting.

With that done, there’s not too much left. I’m going to start with the wealthy island next. That and the palace are the only big parts left to draw, so I’d say we’re in the homestretch at this point.

Well, I’d better get back to it. I’d love to know what you think so far and, if you’ve got any questions, let me know!

Here are two more of the larger islands. The only big parts left are the wealthy district and the palace. Everything else should be pretty quick. I’m going to draw the farms and a couple other smaller parts next, like the admiralty base (marked “Navy” above) and the barracks.

Also, there’s a little island to the left of the shipyards and I haven’t decided what I want to do with it yet. I’m thinking there might be flooded tunnels running underneath it, but I’m not sure. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know.

Anyway, I’m gonna get back to it. Let me know what you think so far!

Here are the drawings of the first three islands of the river delta city megaproject (which I really need to come up with a proper name for). These are three of the smaller islands, but they seemed like a good place to start. I’ll be drawing the trade harbor next.

Most of the islands will only have a single level, but a few will have multiple floors, like the palace, the forts, the wealthy district, the manor and a few others. This should help to make the map a bit easier to use. I’ll probably still draw a roof level for the whole map, though.

Anyway, I’m gonna get back to work. Let me know what you think so far! And if you’ve got any ideas on a name for this city, I’d love to hear them.

As you can see, I completely redesigned the layout from the original sketch. I had a few problems with it, but by far the biggest was the fact that it was crap. I like this one much better and I hope you do too.

The second picture is the sketch of the island layout with a basic description of what’s on what’s on each island. These are pretty broad strokes, but I’m going to start figuring out the details next. I’ll decide what the various buildings will be, make a few edits to accommodate some things, then start drawing all this at a 5′ (1.5m) grid scale. I’ll draw one island at a time rather than all at once and I’ll post each one when it’s finished. When all the linework is done, I’ll scan everything and start coloring.

The layout above isn’t carved in stone yet, so if you have any thoughts about the map or what might make it better, by all means let me know. Or if you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask!

The upper level of the village is done, I just need a few more days to finish up the caves and tunnels underneath. See the underwater tunnel mouths? That’s what those lead to. Anyway, hope you like it so far!

Here’s the art for the upper level of the tidal village I’m working on. There’s a lower level as well with a network of underwater caves and tunnels running under the village. The main idea is that this is a place where humans or elves live alongside an aquatic race that dwells in the caverns below. Of course, the tunnels could also be occupied by something more malevolent that torments or controls the villagers in some way. Or maybe there’s cult stuff going on down there. There are a few ways to play it.

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

Here’s what I’m coloring right now. There are five more levels, but this should give you the basic idea. All right, back to it.