# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  Levtrona's sketchbook

## Levtrona

As this place is such a inspiration to me, i would like to share my work. I hope it is ok if it is not only map related. 

I was given a watercolor box some months ago and now i am practicing every other day. Still have my problems, as i usually only draw with pigma fine tip pens.

Also i need to check the settings of my scanner, the colors look paler than on paper. 

Four Towers, random setting

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## Eowyn Cwper

Looks really good! You make trees look easy to make. ^^ And the towers look adorably mysterious.

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## Levtrona

i practiced the trees on an extra piece of paper  :Smile: . usually my trees are just green blobs or i am going mad and draw a tree. 

Finding zen in drawing willow trees.



Dont know why it is showing twice.

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## Eowyn Cwper

Woah, it looks so messy up close!  :Surprised:  Great effect.

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## Styescape

Wow the towers painting is really nice and if this is just your pratice-work after a few days, I'm looking forward even more to see more of your sketches! The tree is pretty cool, nice tecnique with great result!

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## Levtrona

thank you, i love drawing trees and plants. Especially the ordinary unimposing weeds. could fill some pages but back to maps.

The Secret Study

Someone leading a life full of leisure and enjoyment on the outside and hiding the library in the basement behind a secret door. 



Still couldnt find out where to change the settings of my scanner.

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## Levtrona

the watercolors teaching me patience

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## Hermit

That is beautifully colored  :Smile:   I'd say you have the patience.

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## Bindusara

Very beautiful, a nice use of watercolor.

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## Ilanthar

That tree is gorgeous!
And the maps are also very nice. You're clearly good with watercolors  :Smile: .

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## Levtrona

thank you

black and white plant drawing. This is an older one, made with ink and one of these classic pens (Google says it is a quill) 



field chamomile

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## Tiana

Google is right.

And it's great, I couldn't tell it wasn't drawn 200 years ago, classic feel with that pen is perfect.

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## Levtrona

first test for a arctic setting

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## Hermit

Oooh! Very clean, and the orange makes it pop  :Smile:

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## Levtrona

Some more test. Unfortunately it is not leading anywhere really. 
For the last 3 days i stared at this one, not knowing what to do next. 



sort of Scifi arctic setting. Add the igloo from above, and some sort of energy mining. 

Another mining thing and a little carrier.

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## snodsy

Maybe add more area around it to provide context, to provide the arctic setting?  This could even be an inset drawing to a larger setting?  Just a thought.

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## Levtrona

thx for the feedback. 

my reply from yesterday went missing.

I have seen a photo which had the perfect dark but ice cold feel to it. Guess you are right to work out the area design first and then get to the details. 

I have always loved the idea to spend some time on one of these real arctic / antarctic research stations.

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## Levtrona

Illustrator + photoshop, textures from unsplash

still needs some work

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## Levtrona

Working in agriculture keeps me busy during the summer. (Full sustainable, ecological, biological cattle farm.)

there so many random sketches lying around, this is one i definitely would like to finish later this year. A submarine:





got to add more "stingray" to the design.

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## Levtrona

This little dude left uncolored under a pile of sketches.

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## Levtrona

not much mapping recently.  practicing the human head. I used to do this a lot when i was a teenager. Some recent sketches:





this is red chalk, which i loved immediately, and it broke immediatly. 


The others are watercolor pencils without water.

The second is my FIL, the others are from images from unsplash

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## Levtrona

Yesterday i was working on a map and messed up the coloring. So some more drawing practice

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## Ilanthar

Those looks great!
I particularly like the sulky toad  :Smile: .

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## mixerbach

That's two votes for the sulky toad! I dig it!  :Very Happy:

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## Levtrona

Very little mapmaking recently. A lot of drawing practice though. 

Here is the Map for the AUG/SEP 2020 lite challenge.

I found in the original version the light was somehow off. i couldnt get my head around it. Shadows should be falling away from the viewer. But on the other hand light looked better coming from top left. 

Here are they both

original


flipped and twisted in Photoshop



The composition was better in the original.

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## Ilanthar

Very nice and effective!

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## Levtrona

WIP of the floating city of Zya. 
ready for color but i cant make up my mind...

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## Levtrona

WIP 
I thought i could finish this in one day but there is so little daylight these days here.

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## Levtrona

anyone remembers the good old Diablo 2 LoD Game with its confusing dungeons?
WIP


I startet this with Adobe CS Illustrator, then my sub was cancelled out of the blue. So i thought its time to look around for other software and found affinity designer. so far i can absolutely recommend. I have a few days of testing left, will see how far i get but i think i will buy  Affinity.

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## Adfor

> anyone remembers the good old Diablo 2 LoD Game with its confusing dungeons?


I grew up playing it online, before online games were really refined. Such a classic. 

The pinnacle of confusion was when Nihlathak betrays you on Act 5 Hell difficulty, and you descend into his massive randomly generated hole.

The map looks great for your first shot on Affinity, and you certainly nailed that confusingly constructed dungeon feel from D2.

IR

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## Levtrona

I resisted the urge to install D2 and play all day. 

Got busy with Affinity instead. 
WIP


There are still some decisions to make and figure out the export options, the colors look a bit off.

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## Adfor

> I resisted the urge to install D2 and play all day.


Gonna have to not help with that urge. This mod rules: Median XL

It's essentially a complete overhaul of the entire game, and it is sooooo well done.

IR

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## Levtrona

Stuff i have been enjoying doing lately. 



I know spiders have 8 legs  :Smile:

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## Arimel

This is an amazing thread! I don't know how I missed it for so long. The line sketches you have on the earlier pages are absolutely amazing (not to downgrade from anything else, they just stood out a bit more to me!). 




> I know spiders have 8 legs


I think I may be more worried about the eyes it has on its back!

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## Levtrona

i am obsessed with insects, most recently moths.





Now that i got my new glasses, i am getting back into drawing. Hope to show some, or maybe one new map soon.

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