I start all projects with pencil and paper. I doodle ideas for how the map should flow. Sometimes I’ll do whole maps, sometimes just parts of the map. I throw things out, scramble things around, mix and match things from different doodles. Eventually it comes together.

When I move to Photoshop, I box in the layout in a very basic way. Really it’s just enough to know I’m putting the most important areas where I want them based on the paper sketches. Sometimes I find I need to go back to my paper and rework something. Other times, it turns out alright. Usually by this point, I am not shuffling things around too much unless it’s a multi-level map. With multilevel maps, sometimes what looks good on paper runs into a snag when aligning the sketches in Photoshop. All the levels need to work together and make sense.

Here’s the bottom level of the current battlemap I’m working on. The sketch is very basic, but I love it when it all starts coming together. It’s starting to look like a real place now!