This week I made this, the Jungle Cave (40x35)! I picked up a few tricks with all my desert maps that I wanted to try out in a different setting and additionally I've been wanting to draw some new plant life with which to populate lush forests, so join me for a few Jungle-ish maps while I tool around with some things and experiment further with more detailed natural environments. Sounds like a fun month to me!
Gotta love a cave. Remember when I avoided making caves for a long time because I couldn't wrap my head around how to draw the walls in a way that looked right? A map like this was nearly impossible back then, so thank goodness I learned a thing or two from my peers' techniques.
Anyway, like I mentioned I wanted to use some things I picked up from my desert maps in a different setting, mainly my quicker method of drawing ledges. In February I put myself in a crucible of my own creation, and in there I spent half a month trying to draw tiered ledges in a way that both looked good and made any sense. Desert Gorge was the first attempt and few weeks later I was feeling pretty good about where I had ended up. I wanted to try these out in another setting where I could add grass and other props, and on top of that I wanted to toy around with waterfalls in conjunction with them. I don't know if you've noticed but I've long avoided waterfalls in my maps so this is something tricky for me.
Yeesh, this was a detailed map. I wanted to try adding more plant life to my jungle maps, so I started with those little grassy plants I was adding to my desert maps but much more densely packed. I also wanted to add in more large plants to the cave, so I drew some large leafy things that I think are fun and hopefully don't feel too out of place here. As for the rocks, I decided to go with a different vibe for them than usual, giving them flatter tops and round contour lines around the sides rather than the rougher and more jagged shapes I typically give them. I thought that these would match the style of the rock walls and ledges better, seeing as they now have similar contours.
The waterfall was tricky btw, I was tempted to have the large one at the top go completely off screen so as to imply that it's falling into the cave from above but ultimately I liked the thought of it coming in out of the wall so as not to imply any more of the environment off-screen, just in case this map is maybe found at the bottom of a cliff below a village or something.
Colors! I largely stuck with the colors of the Craggy Shore from earlier this month, tweaked a bit to be more green and shadowy. I also wanted to make sure the cave itself was nicely lit despite being an area that's supposed to be in shadow, so I just gave it a slightly bluer type of lighting rather than layering on more shadows. I think it looks nice but I feel like it would have looked nicer if I had actually gone with the open ceiling thing so I could have thrown in patches of sunlight. Hindsight, I suppose.