milbysmaps

St. Peter's Basilica - Annotated Version

As soon as I posted the basilica, I realized I had completely forgotten to make an annotated version, so here it is.I only labeled the things I thought would be most relevant to people, but if you want to know more detailed information on every single altar and monument, let me direct you here. Also, hats off to whoeve...

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is finished. Well, provisionally finished. I really do hate posting the map without the background and surrounding buildings, but it's necessary for now and I want to explain why.Since I'm drawing all of Vatican City, I will eventually draw each building, but I need to draw them separat...

St. Peter's Basilica - Patrons' Edition

St. Peter's Basilica is finished. Well, provisionally finished. I really do hate posting the map without the background and surrounding buildings, but it's necessary for now and I want to explain why.Since I'm drawing all of Vatican City, I will eventually draw each building, but I need to draw them separat...

St. Peter's Basilica: Here's where things are at right now.

There's still a fair bit of floor left to color, but we're getting there. I've been so engrossed in this that there have been a few times where I've started working, then looked up and, oh, hey, it's five in the morning. Something about this really puts me in the zone.Anyway, I'm gonna get back ...

St. Peter's Basilica: The floors are finished.

The lines for the basilica are finally done: the walls, the statues, the furnishings, the floors and all the rest. It was an enormous amount of work, but I think it's been worthwhile. I might even say the map is looking fairly... is Catholicious a word? I hope so.Anyway, it's time to color this thing. It'll...

St. Peter's Basilica: Here's where I'm at with the floor.

It'll be a few more days, but we're in the homestretch now. All right, I'd better get back to it.

Some work on the floors – St. Peter’s Basilica (Work-in-Progress)

Statues are done, on to the floors - St. Peter's Basilica (Work-in-Progress)

This is the basilica with the statues and altars and most of the furnishings done. I tried to draw everything as accurately as I could and I'm pretty happy with it so far. There's only one more thing to draw before I start coloring this, which is the floor. That may take a minute, since the floor here looks lik...

St. Peter's Basilica (Work-in-Progress)

Here's where I'm at with the basilica. The structure of the building is done and I've started working on the details. I've got the pipe organs and altars drawn into two of the chapels and the main altar is done as well, which you can see up close in the second picture. It has statues of four popes holdi...

Cladwater Lift Lock: The Ramparts

Here's the upper level of Cladwater Lift Lock, as promised. And for patrons, I made a night version as well.With that done, I'll be getting back to the Vatican City megaproject, where I'll be drawing St. Peter's Basilica. Because the place is gargantuan and the floor is extremely elaborate, I'm not ...

Cladwater Lift Lock: The Ramparts - Patrons' Edition

Here's the upper level of Cladwater Lift Lock, as promised. And for patrons, I made a night version as well.With that done, I'll be getting back to the Vatican City megaproject, where I'll be drawing St. Peter's Basilica. Because the place is gargantuan and the floor is extremely elaborate, I'm not ...

Cladwater Lift Lock

So the idea for this map is that it's an outpost with a lock that lets riverboats cross a waterfall. If you've never seen one, boat elevators are a real thing. Here's a Canadian one. And here's Scotland's super deluxe fancy one. I'm not sure if there are any that go over waterfalls, but it seems...

Cladwater Lift Lock - Patrons' Edition

So the idea for this map is that it's an outpost with a lock that lets riverboats cross a waterfall. If you've never seen one, boat elevators are a real thing. Here's a Canadian one. And here's Scotland's super deluxe fancy one. I'm not sure if there are any that go over waterfalls, but it seems...

The 86th Cartographic Congress Vote

Sorry it's a bit late, but here's this month's vote!Morgan proposes a fortified abbey that serves as the chapterhouse of a Templar-style military order.Kevin proposes a spider-themed Underdark city, whose residents include drow and other races.Diresquirrel proposes an abandoned library.Pope Dezzicus propose...

Vatican City - St. Peter's Square

So the first part of the Vatican City megaproject is done. Well, kind of. One of the tricky things about drawing the Vatican is that there are parts of it I haven't drawn yet in the background. In the top left is the Apostolic Palace and, at the bottom left, there's a church called Santa Maria della Pieta. That...

Vatican City - St. Peter's Square - Patrons' Edition

So the first part of the Vatican City megaproject is done. Well, kind of. One of the tricky things about drawing the Vatican is that there are parts of it I haven't drawn yet in the background. In the top left is the Apostolic Palace and, at the bottom left, there's a church called Santa Maria della Pieta. That...

Lyndorne Falls

In the seven years that I've been making maps for a living, I've drawn exactly six city maps. When I say a "city map," I mean not a battlemap. So stuff like Vayl's Firth doesn't count. Here's the list, from oldest to newest, along with my opinions on them:Irredeemable garbageCrap, but crap w...

Lyndorne Falls - Patrons' Edition

In the seven years that I've been making maps for a living, I've drawn exactly six city maps. When I say a "city map," I mean not a battlemap. So stuff like Vayl's Firth doesn't count. Here's the list, from oldest to newest, along with my opinions on them:Irredeemable garbageCrap, but crap w...

Waterfall City in the Jungle (Work-in-Progress)

This is where I'm at with the city map I'm working on right now. I've only got the buildings sketched in, but I'll finish those next and start coloring it.What do you think so far?

Hackett's Pass Blockhouse

This map is a good place for an on-the-road encounter. It probably starts with the party traveling through the mountains and finding themselves in front of the gates here. Then, somebody tells them they need to pay a toll if they want to pass.Now, in real life, people would see two options in this scenario: pay the tol...

Hackett's Pass Blockhouse - Patrons' Edition

This map is a good place for an on-the-road encounter. It probably starts with the party traveling through the mountains and finding themselves in front of the gates here. Then, somebody tells them they need to pay a toll if they want to pass.Now, in real life, people would see two options in this scenario: pay the tol...

The 85th Cartographic Congress Runoff

We're down to three in the runoff this month, which is between a multidimensional tower, wet dwarves and the most famous thing in Italy. Good luck to everyone!Ralph proposes a tower in the regular world as well as its echoes in both the Feywild and Shadowfell.Shawn proposes a dwarven fort around a waterfall. The fo...

Sarissa Square Market

Sarissa Square is an arcade market with a variety of shops, vendor stalls and a tavern. It's a place where your players can have a drink, get pickpocketed, browse a few shops and steal, like, 1gp worth of rope or something despite the fact that they drag a giant wagon full of cash around wherever they go.Some of yo...

Sarissa Square Market - Patrons' Edition

Sarissa Square is an arcade market with a variety of shops, vendor stalls and a tavern. It's a place where your players can have a drink, get pickpocketed, browse a few shops and steal, like, 1gp worth of rope or something despite the fact that they drag a giant wagon full of cash around wherever they go.Some of yo...

The Necropolis of Khamos

I won't claim that this is a perfectly accurate depiction of Egyptian tombs, but I did do some research on the Valley of the Kings and other necropolises and I tried to capture the general spirit of the layout.The middle tomb on the left is a good example. The stairs lead down from the entrance into a room with a d...

The Necropolis of Khamos - Patrons' Edition

I won't claim that this is a perfectly accurate depiction of Egyptian tombs, but I did do some research on the Valley of the Kings and other necropolises and I tried to capture the general spirit of the layout.The middle tomb on the left is a good example. The stairs lead down from the entrance into a room with a d...

Egyptian Tombs (Work-in-Progress)

I've got this mostly colored and I should be done before long. Anyway, thought I'd give you a look at what I'm working on. Okay, I'm gonna get back to it. Let me know what you think!

The Kernsridge Barrows

These barrow mounds are a great place for your party to fight some undead and score a few "graveyard souvenirs." Some of these tombs are meant to be the graves of common people, while a few are for leaders or nobility, and others are the graves of warriors.The warriors' graves contain the weapons wielded by...

The Kernsridge Barrows - Patrons' Edition

These barrow mounds are a great place for your party to fight some undead and score a few "graveyard souvenirs." Some of these tombs are meant to be the graves of common people, while a few are for leaders or nobility, and others are the graves of warriors.The warriors' graves contain the weapons wielded by...

The 84th Cartographic Congress Vote

We've got ten proposals this month, which are genuinely excellent in my opinion. There are two with volcanoes, two in a river, one in France and one in Romania (it's not the Dracula one, that's in Hungary). Anyway, here are your choices:Jack proposes a map of a city on a volcanic island, featuring a militar...