I'm back this week with the Misty Ruins (30x35), not the most creative name but I've got several variants of Jungle Ruins in my library so I'm a little strapped for unique names. Or maybe I could stop drawing jungle ruins but honestly if there's a setting that could make use of a variety of different old, destroyed buildings then it's this one. But, for the sake of keeping things somewhat fresh how about I go ahead and promise you that I won't be making any more for 1 or 2 years. Which reminds me, didn't I say a few years ago that I'd take a break from making Spooky maps for a few years? According to my notes it's been just over 2 years since the last one, very interesting..
As you can tell, I had different plans for this map when I started. I still have plans for a small, rickety, hunter's shack set in the jungle but this week I ultimately decided that, while I liked the environment, the shack itself wasn't the right centerpiece for it. I think I'll make the actual shack map significantly smaller so you can enjoy all the little details better, and also I want to make the shack itself more a part of the environment. This one here looks like I plopped a shack down wherever it fit, it doesn't feel like it's actually a place someone would build a house.
Anyway, I cut it out and instead drew in some crumbling jungle-y ruins and a little platform, the usual stuff.
I opted for a swampier look for this one, not quite as muddy or rocky. I liked the thought of the ruins having partially sunk away into the mire with just a few chunks of old wall still standing. Classic battle map stuff, you've seen it all before.
I was toying around with adding a small dirt slope down to the water, adding a little bit of height to the map, but after sketching it all out I felt like it didn't look quite right, not really nice to look at and it didn't read particularly well. I honestly thought I'd really like it, enough so that I spent a good chunk of time trying out a variety of different looks for it, but at the end of the day it was a waste of time.
It's the Haunted palette again, the old classic from my Haunted Forest maps! It's a touch more mild this time but the bones are still all there, misty border, big contrast, vibrant greens and mellow blues. I nearly used this palette with last week's map but I didn't think the energy was quite there for the setting, it needed a spookier centerpiece to tie it together.. like some crumbly ruins with a mossy dais at the center.
I was a little uncertain about how to color the water, however. In the past I wasn't a huge fan of how uninteresting the water was whenever I used this palette, but since then I've been taking a heavier hand when detailing, more plant life, shore details, variation in the colors, the works. A bit less stark, I think, though I plan on working on making my water look a little bit more painted. I was inspired this last week by a map I saw on reddit by GoAdventureMaps, their water looked really nice and I would do well to learn something from them. We'll see!