So working on another hand-drawn commission map, this time a temple. While I can't post the map, I will post the first map object I am creating for it, which is a statue of the goddess for the temple. She is described as having four legs and four arms and is armed with a whip, a longbow, a sword and a club. (The map is for EN Publishing's "What is O.L.D. is N.E.W." game system starter kit - this will be a 24 x 36 inch printed map.)

While I can draw people, getting it right for a commission isn't easy, so I cheated. I used Poser (a 3D program) to create a nude woman posed on one knee with arms outward holding a weapon. I exported that. Then I changed her leg positions and arm positions, keeping the head, torso and butt in the same place and exported that. Then I imported to Raydream Studio, another 3D program placed the 2 statues on top of each other in the exact same place, so it appeared as a woman with four arms and legs. I did model the weapons from scratch though. I printed this out, traced hand-drawn lines on the edges, scanned and imported to Xara. I placed the line drawing on top of the 3D render of the statue. And voila - what you have below. Normally I don't put this much work on a map object, but its a key illustration for the map, so I often create 4 or 5 key pieces with extra special attention.

I also used Nendo a 3D subdivisional surface modeler to create the weapons in her hands - its quick and easy to use (once you know what you're doing) with very satifactory and organic results.

GP

goddess-statue-improved.png