Dungeon Level Symbols
Shessar
🖼️ 34 images Mapmaker
I've just started playing with creating symbol art for dungeon level symbols. I'm starting with a room by room workflow in what is known as Celtic Revival Style. Here's my first attempts. Nothing is scaled correctly, this is just a conceptual test to see if I can actually do what I want. Fireplace is from the current Shessar's fireplaces and Floors and walls are from SS2. Furniture are all new artworks.
and 2 others.
Comments
OMG, Celtic Revival is exactly what I’ve been wanting! These are amazing.
Okay, it seems there is some interest, so...
This will be a photo-realistic style. I'll want to make enough symbols and fill styles to make it usable. My original thoughts on it are for a manor house, making both fine furniture for the owners and more rustic for the serving staff and kitchens. I'm still experimenting but am pretty happy with what I'm getting so far.
This is not something that will be done any time soon. The earliest might be the end of this year. Maybe not until next year? In any case, I'm hoping to offer it as a free symbol set, kind of like the fireplaces (ProFantasy willing of course). I'll post my progress here as I go for thoughts, requests, and input.
In the back of my mind, I have the idea of someday designing a Rivendell-inspired elf-lord's manor home. This kind of furniture would be so perfect for that.
Obviously, we need some entwined knotwork wyvern designs for the furniture, but it's otherwise looking wonderful so far 😁😉🐲!
What with Wyvern wanting Wyverns, and Remy wanting cats, we need a style that is all the pets and monsters.
I want a dog. Does that help?
These symbols are excellent, by the way.
Best that I could do quickly. 😎😁
Love the mouse!
Amazing! They're all fantastic but the dragon (or wyvern) is my favorite.
I have a new favorite table. Guess which one.
These are amazing!
I can't wait for these, and am looking forward to seeing them progress!
@Loopysue and Quenten wants dogs. Did the celts even have cats? Never seen them depicted in their art.
They did! Domesticated cats played a role in rodent control and hunting, and cats also played a part in their mythology and spiritualism
Mmmm. I missed that - thanks for the info. I will do some delving into it. Though dogs of course were a much greater part of Celtic life.
I can't find any true Celtic cat designs, only ones thought up by modern artists. But I like this one:
Addendum. This may be of interest
How Were Cats Viewed by the Celts: Historic Facts & Beliefs - Catster
Dogs in Celtic Mythology – Mallon Ireland
I was obsessed with unicorns as a kid and dragons as I got older, so as long as we're throwing out ideas to inspire Shessar, imagery with dragons or unicorns would get put to good use.
One of the things I've been experimenting with are decorative elements that can be placed on floors, tables, etc to looks like carvings. I'm still experimenting, but am getting closer to what I want. Like I said, this is going to take a while to make everything that I have in mind.
I love this! Love how it appears to work well on both wood and stone textures. I can think of all sorts of ways to use this sort of thing for architectural enhancements, even when just on a top-down view.
Naturally 😁🐲!
Things that immediately occur in this regard include having symbols prepared as Sue did in Marine Dungeons 2 as Colour 6 shapes for use as cut-outs, showing her metallic textures beneath as inlaid floors - which would of course allow any other underlying inlay texture to be used as well - such as different coloured stone or wood.
Also, having the symbols available as outlines using the Solid 10 bitmap fill, so they can be used immediately to produce low-relief indented or inscribed designs, as Remy showed back in 2020 in this blog post, but without needing to explode the symbols first.
Great suggestions, Wyvern!
I just finished working on a number of beds for this. I've made a couple with two different colors, but may consider making vari-color symbols for all of them instead. It's been years since I've done vari-colored symbols, so I'll have to dig into the Tome to refresh my memory of how to do it.
Well, anyway, here are the beds that I have so far. Suggestions are very welcome, but I'll admit that I'm starting to push the limits of my skill level, so no promises that I can accomplish what you suggest. ☺️
Those looks great. But there doesn't seem to be a cat lounging on any of them??
It was going to be a surprise, but I guess I'll let the cat out of the bag. 😁
Sorry, no dogs yet.
Those are absolutely lovely. Maybe you should do a household animal annual?
Those are absolutely lovely. Maybe you should do a household animal annual?
Like...pseudodragons!
Definitely need dogs - mine sleeps every night with me on the bed. And we also need single beds as well, I think.
On the beds subject, I spent part of today constructing a plausible top-down, dungeon-scale view of a four-poster bed, with curtains. Essentially, it's a cutaway, because the top's missing, given seeing where the bed (and anything hidden by the drawn curtains) is more important than that top cover panel (which could be added using a rug/carpet, if available, anyway - or even a repurposed and maybe resized wooden table).
What surprised me a little is there aren't any such beds in the styles I was using (DD3 Dungeons Digital and SS2 Fantasy, so all vector designs); generally, the vector styles have a lot more variety in their symbol options, probably because vector is an easier style to work with/draw in overall, of course. Which at least meant it wasn't that hard to take a suitable bed, and resize different varicolor pieces to work as posts and their feet, with wall-symbol curtains, to create such a bed.
For raster symbols though, it would be great to have some actual options that don't need extra user input!
Quick cat hijack, since they've been mentioned in this thread :D
Owen Underfoot is the latest member of our family... Right now he's not too much of a barrier to map making, but I think he's gonna be a big boy before he stops growing.
These are really gorgeous!
@Maidhc O Casain I can hear him purring right through the picture. 😻
@Monsen I don't think I'm up for an animal annual, at least not until far into the future.
@Quenten I will include more single beds.
The problem with dogs is that there are too many breeds plus the crossbreeds. If you have a breed that you would like to see, I'll do my best with it. If I get no suggestions, or just can't get it right, this is what will be included in this set of symbols. I might try an Irish Wolf Hound, but other than that, what you see is what you get.
The more that I work on these symbols, the more I realize that sometime next year is the most realistic timeline.
They all seem good to me. I agree about not including too many breeds - these 4 seem about right.