So after almost 20 hours of working I have finished my newest map illustration. This is an underground crypt map for a tabletop game like Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, or similar. This was created in Photoshop with my trusty Wacom tablet.

What follows is a pic by pic follow up of how this was created. Keep reading because the background lore for this is right after the illustrations. As usual the first illustrations are done on a white canvas. I usually work from the biggest things down into the smallest details, as can be seen next:

This is the finished sketch, it includes all the elements I'll have in the end. For the next step I'll add the illustration's title, and a margin. The margin was created with the stock photoshop brushes, setting opacity at 40 and brushing with confidence.

It's time to start with coloring, for this illustration, I've decided that I won't set any kind of transparency for the floor or other stuff so I have to create all detail and shading directly with digital paint. I start with the floors.

Now I add color to the rest of the furniture and map elements. Notice that there are some torches in some of the rooms. The light from the torches is set in a different layer. I set it with an overlay mode, this way the floor texture below is still visible and the reddish color from the light merges with the colors below.

Finally, since this is supposed to be a real map made "in-world" I add some details to the paper background to make it look aged and torn. I do it with grunge and ink spot brushed that are readily available online for free. I set it to different opacities to have a varying effect.

This is the last step. We now add some text labels to help the Dungeon Master better understand the location and how to play it with the other players.

Now, who lives here? or what's hidden in here? here's some background information.

It is whispered only in myth how the hero Demian defeated Freanna the hag, and saved the common folk. Only the wisest of sages know that this legend is the origin of the common saying “Protect them like Demian did with the weak”. Only no one really knows about the so called Demian. Stories vary and even contradict each other, oral tradition is often an unreliable source of information.

What appears to be real from the different stories is the fact that Demian was a good fighter and a hero to the peasantry. He defeated Freanna singlehandedly in combat. His sword pierced the crone’s heart, in an unexpected turn of events, the sword was imbued with the hag’s essence. It was forever after enhanced with a magical aura. Demian died and as a small idol of the peasantry, was soon the stuff of children tales. His deeds forgotten. His sword passed down to his son and kept changing hands in the family line until it too was either lost or forgotten.

The sword is something mentioned by would-be adventurers and tavern show-offs; They call it Hag’s Bane, The Tinman’s Sword and Demian’s Sword, unaware that they are all the same weapon. The magical sword’s last owner was a knight. His name was Gorman, he was not related in any way to Demian’s bloodline. His father won the sword in a gambling house. Gorman was killed by a pack of wild boars during a hunting expedition. Sir Gorman’s family built a crypt for his bodily remains and personal possessions under his manor. That is were Demian’s Sword currently lies.

I'm a graphic illustrator and I focus my work in tabletop RPG games like dungeons and dragons.

I'm new on Steemit but have great aims to share my work in posts like this one where people can see illustrations be created from the ground up.

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I do this full time and I love creating fantastic locations !

If you're interested in my work, take a look at my Patreon page

There is a pledge level that gives access to my photoshop source files, in case you wish to see my workflow and learn in the process.