vexillation
@vexillation
Architect / Amateur Illustrator / Cartography Enthusiast / Science-Enjoyer / Forever DM
Day 4 is ‘Underground River’ - This was a fun experiment to work on…tested out some ideas of how to express the dynamic shape using a series of intersecting circles as guidelines. The banks were also a test and I kind of like how it turned out! #map #cartography #ttrpg
Also, for anyone interested, here is a quickly pieced together list of the prompts I will be adhering to (hopefully!). Definitely wouldn't mind having people following along if they are looking to recharge their batteries, and I certainly would love to see other folks' work as well!
A brief evolution of logos I’ve used from most recent to the oldest - they’re fun to make but mainly a legacy from my old Patreon, but I think they also work well for a degree of anonymity? I’ve been toying around with the idea of starting my own design firm so maybe that will be my next project!
Another one of my favorites! This was meant to be one of a couple of explorable areas for a short adventure I wanted to write but never got around to. I’ve been slowly recharging my batteries and starting to work on new stuff (I swear!), but I won’t lie it’s been hard to rekindle the spark.
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks with work deadlines and the holiday but I recently watched The Terror on Netflix and now I’m obsessed with Arctic expedition maps from the 1840s and 1850s! These are some I found and thought would be worth sharing (though the resolution is awful!)
I think I can definitively say these are two of my favorites - a dwarven city with a lava lake variant (Cinderbridge) and an underground lake (of water, duh) variant with a dam (Thunderbridge). Just lots of fun to bring to life…and I really want to try making an even city next! #ttrpg #map #dnd #art
Covers from IDEA magazine (a Japanese graphic design magazine) No. 43, October 1960, No. 45 from February 1961 and No. 98 from January 1970. I have always been obsessed with the cover art for the magazine and just wanted to share some of my favorites - the abstract designs just resonate with me.
When you see this, post a room. Had to dig into the way back machine to find a decent photo offhand! Also a good lesson in how the part can be more appealing than the whole!
Some more mapping feature guidelines to round out my feed - these show a variety of annotation features and icons to boot! Hoping these prove useful to anyone interested in taking the plunge into crafting their own maps! #map #art #cartography #ttrpg
Continuing the process of porting over some of my older photos from Twitter - these were meant to be demonstrative little snapshots of how I map certain features for fantasy cartography. Part of me has been meaning to do an update to these soon. #map #cartography #art #dnd
A while back my old firm was working on drawings for a historical restoration project, doing work for NV State Parks at Spring Mountain Ranch. Loved seeing some of the hand drawn drawings from a previous partial restoration. Something so pleasing about hand drawn plans (but definitely more tedious!)
When we were walking around Waikiki there was a building with a striking facade ‘exoskeleton’ that really stood out to me. I found a bunch of fun architectural details while we explored…will probably post more in the future but I think for non-architects a little bit of detail goes a long way!
So I guess we’re best friends now. He only offered to lower my car insurance rate once, too! Better not tell my dog or cat…
One day I’ll run a campaign set in this world, where reality itself is an island amidst incoherent, cosmic chaos. Here’s an enlarged shot of the Main Drift and the enlargement of the Jarappa Wasteworld. Lots of science-fantasy vibes (my favorite genre)
I never did get around to posting the ‘full’ version of my Broken Constellations setting map on the other place. Apologies for the awkward angle…hard to fit everything in the view. Pen, ink, colored pencil. Lot of tooth in the paper. #map #cartography #art #scifi
This was also an attempt to create a more interactive map experience for my players, showing a somewhat traditional hex grid layout that could be enhanced as the players explored further. I’ve been really wanting to perfect the wilderness exploration aspect of adventures and this seems to work.
So, a while back, I ran a one-shot (read: two-shot) where my friends played an elite squad infiltrating a citadel ahead of the main army. As reference, I made a map of the nation they had invaded, which turned out to be a fun way to try out some new hillshade techniques and a few other items.