Hidden Secrets (Facebook Challenge) WIP

I saw the hand drawn image for the face book challenge, and was immediately inspired. I also have been wanting to do something 'under water' for a very long time... ever since I saw Lorelei's challenge map on the guild website.

So this is my WIP for the Face book challenge. I'm creating what looks like a home nestled beside a cliff face, perhaps out in the woods somewhere? But the lake actually has an underwater cave entrance, perhaps used for smuggling, perhaps something else!

I've really only just started this, so let me post what I have.
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Comments

  • ScottAScottA Surveyor
    Looks great so far. I was thinking about doing the Bates Motel and house. There is a pond behind the house, so it would work out perfectly. I'm in the middle of a whole bunch of projects, though, so don't know if I'll get to it or not...
  • Josh.P.Josh.P. Traveler
    Oh I like where this is heading
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Intriguing start, Storm :)
  • So I got a bit of this done today. I finished off the cave itself, and I'm starting to detail it out a bit. One of the things I'm trying to decide, is whether or not to 'cap' the cave walls. I still haven't decided what I'm going to put IN this cave... but I'm starting to have ideas. I haven't even started the cabin or shed yet. One thing at a time. Also, I decided my water wasn't 'see through' enough, so I changed the transparency there, to make it more visible.

    Anyway... feedback is always welcome!
  • nice touch on the transparency of the pond. I like that you can see the graduation of the bottom. only thing I would suggest is making the center of the lake/pond a bit darker giving the illusion of depth
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Totally agree, and you could also make the edge more transparent than it already is?

    Blend modes work really well to create transparency while maintaining the darker stain of 'wettness' on the material below. I've used a lot of multiply blend modes to generate water transparency in the past - a mixture of at least 2 sheets - one with a blend mode underneath one without, and both with an EFI on them.
  • Yes, I realized the pond/lake isn't quite right yet... I'm still playing with it.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    You might find the extract file I did of Merelan City's ocean useful?

    http://forum.profantasy.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=7918&page=1

    I know you aren't trying to create an ocean, but it might help in some small way :)
  • This is looking cool Storm. I always enjoy seeing your maps progress. This one is sure to be a beauty.
  • Here is the next bit of progress. I did darken the center of my lake/pond a bit. I'm not sure how noticeable it is, but I can always tweak that now that I have the mask in place. I also darkened up the cave a bit, added some torch light, and a few nasty little surprises! Of course, I'm not finished with the nasty little surprises... but this was all I had time for today.

    The cave is starting to come together. Once I get it done, I can start to work on the outside!
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Looks good to me, Storm :)
  • So I'm continuing my work on this... but I haven't decided whether I want to put any 'visible' creatures in my cave yet. I do have some slimes and oozes in there... but I think I want to leave the rest to the imagination.

    So I started working on my hut. Now, I've decided that my 'house' is going to be inhabited by a 'hermit' that lives off in the forest alone. She's a sorceress, by the name of Niurette (Nyu-ret). I'm trying to decide whether she's half elf, or tiefling. I'm leaning more toward tiefling, which would, in part, explain why she's living a hermit's life out in the forest. Chaotic good in nature, but under the tiefling stigma, with the typical sterotype... men want to bed her, women hate her, and no one really trusts her.

    Any way, this hut is one that she built herself, mostly by hand, with a little aid of her magic. And this is what I have so far...
  • Josh.P.Josh.P. Traveler
    Love that 30 seconds of doodling on a piece of paper is spawning this sort of imagination :)
  • Believe it or not... Niurette is an npc I'm currently creating for a game I'm working on... she's more in the concept stages right now. But I had always planned for her to live in the forest as a 'hermit'. It's not that she doesn't want to be around people... far from it, she's very social. It's just that she's been shunned most of her life.

    Your doodling just gave me the connection I needed to bring her (and her home) into the campaign I'm currently working on. You see... when I take part in challenges like these, if there is any way to make a map that will work for my game... then that's what I do... that way, I'm killing two birds with one stone, so to speak...
  • I'm still working on this.... and I've added a few details.

    I decided to change some things around in my little hut. I realized a hermit probably wouldn't have fancy blankets, so I changed them out. I also added some other things here and there. Then I made my food shed, where she stores her vegetables and herbs. She needs those herbs for her alchemy, you see...

    I also added in a bit of a 'trail' through the woods. It doesn't look like much now, but by the time I'm done, it will be about right.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Coming on nicely, Storm.

    I'm not so sure a hermit would have to have only plain stuff. I once made a VERY colourful blanket by crocheting all my mother's unused wool into one ;)
  • I didn't know you crochet! I'm crocheting a lovely little blanket (bonnet, booties and dress) for Robbie's newborn daughter right now!

    As for my hermit. what you say is true, but I've decided that where she lives simply. She puts her extravagance into her books and her trade.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    I can knit, tat, crochet, embroider, make lace - all kinds of stuff. I was taught by my granny when I was about 10, but I've never really been all that interested in it. Born in 1897 She was of the Victorian generation that believed girls should do these things and be 'proper ladies'.

    She died before I realised I was more interested in climbing trees and having imaginary adventures...
  • So I'm now on the home stretch, so to say. Cave, check. Lake/pond, check. hidden entrance, check. humble shack, check. little shed, check. Now it's time to add those little details, such as the garden, the forest, and the little meadow where this hidden cave is.

    I've already started, I'm by no means done with that, so it will look a lot more random once it's finished.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Its quite difficult to see the details at this size, Storm, but what are those yellow things?
  • flowers... don't worry I will be making it bigger.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    LOL! I thought they were mushrooms or magic stones. You might want to use a few different symbols instead of just the one set of yellow flowers. To me they are very repetitive.

    Mind you - I have a pattern finding brain (much to the distress of all at the Guild, in whose maps I often see accidental animal shapes)
  • I agree with Sue. Or, maybe rotate them a bit so they are a different angles, helping the bunches in looking less repetitive (I do this with trees when I use the same one over and over on a map). I would also suggest putting a sheet with a layer of dirt under your garden. It just looks a bit too neatly trimmed against the grassy background. Just a little dirt extending unevenly around the garden may make it look a bit more natural. Otherwise, I like what you've got going on here and am looking forward to the finished map :)
  • the dirt under the garden is a good idea. As for the daisies... there are going to be other flowers mixed in... I just haven't finished it all yet. There are actually other flowers in there too, and there will be even more. Then there will also be fallen leaves, bushes, and different sized trees.... I'm hoping that by the time I am done with all of it, you won't notice the 'repetition' of the daisies. I think they stick out more right now, because they are yellow... and all of the other flowers are different colors. We'll see. :)
  • This map is now almost complete. I need to decide what labeling to do, titling, and I have to decide whether I want a border or not. I'm leaning toward not, but we shall see. In the mean time, I've made it larger so it's easier to see, and I think I have taken care of the 'redundancy' on the daisies. You will have to tell me if I succeeded or not. :D
  • GatharGathar Traveler
    This Niurette it clearly a powerfull sorceress. In no time, she has been able to grow a full forest around her hut :)

    What is the blue-half-transparent-watery thing inside of the cave?
  • a pool inside the cave, and the secret entrance. It's linked to the cave entrance that's inside the lake/pond outside the cave. :)

    And it was actually the other way around :)... she cut the meadow, and built her hut and shed out of the forest :) Now, does she know about the cave? Probably...
    Has she been inside? Maybe... :)
  • GatharGathar Traveler
    @LadieStorm: Not sure we speak about the same watery thing... I'm talking about the small half transparent blueish thing, not far from the top, in the middle of the cave (from the top left corner, it's about 5cm on the right, 3cm down).
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Isn't that some kind of pool in the top of the stone?

    Anyway - great progress, Storm :)
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