Mountain Bridge, Adept & Expert (Patreon)

Welcome back, folks! This week's map is one I've been looking forward to for a while, I made the first sketch of it about a week before I started this Patreon (of course, it looked nothing like it does now). It used to resemble a mix of this and the Desert Herbalist Hut I drew a while back, kinda like a small hut on top of a mesa with some winding rocky paths leading up to it. As you're probably starting to gather though, I really prefer drawing maps with bridges and winding rocky paths, so this version is obviously my favorite. 

Also, as you can tell, your alternate version this week has a more mountainous color palette than the original. It reminds me of the time Frodo, Sam, and Gollum traveled through the mountains to the Black Gate, pretty spooky.

Anyway, let's talk about the Desert Bridge map and how it came together!

1. The idea for this one went through a couple iterations when I started earlier this week. I had a short list of features I wanted to make sure were included beyond a desert and a bridge: a chasm that the players can travel through, multiple paths to climb the chasm on both sides, and a level of height above the bridge. With those specifications in mind, it fell together easily. 

At the end of the day, I think the desert vibe comes through mostly via the palette I end up using, so in every sense I was just drawing a mountainous map with maybe less grass and trees than I might have added otherwise.

2. I'm starting to get tired of the way I draw rock walls. They've performed well for a while now but I think they're just about retired. Maybe for a week or two I'll draw more flat terrain as I work it out..

Moving on, my main concern for this map is how confusing the elevation will be. I've found repeatedly that I have no problem seeing the map in 3D, but I know how it's supposed to look. This was a problem that came up with the Infested Caves map, which I attributed to the lack of the sun to cast clear shadows. I'm hopeful that I drew it clear enough this time and that the bridge will give a nice frame of reference as to where the height is at.

3. I've mentioned this a couple of times before but I like to run around in video games for inspiration, typically Skyrim, Witcher 3, and Guild Wars 2. The inspiration for this came from Guild Wars, the Crystal Desert area from the newest expansion, specifically the mountains in the Northeast. It's very handy to be able to see an environment from all directions and get a feel for what works by jumping around a 3D space. I highly recommend doing this if any of you are interested in making your own maps :)