Beating Captain Forever in 8:01 Michael Prescott 2015-08-29 | This is my favorite ship configuration: fast, light, and a heart of green. It takes me until 8:01 to defeat the first rainbow ship, then until 10:29 until I have the perfect ship: two green girders, three kilo lasers and five kilo drives.
Isometric Dungeon #9 - Evil Idol in a Niche Michael Prescott 2020-07-09 | Vote for Trilemma at the Ennies before July 12! http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/2020Need a creepy idol to line your dungeon hallways? This is #9 in the Isometric Dungeon tutorial series: Evil Idol!Also, great news: Trilemma Adventures is up for four ENnie Awards! If you're a fan, please consider voting before July 12. The compendium has been nominated by the judges in: Best Adventure, Best Layout/Design, Best Cartography, and Product of the Year! Click on through to http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/2020 to vote for your favorites, whatever they are!
Trilemma Adventures: Servants of Memory Michael Prescott 2020-07-07 | On August 4, Trilemma Adventures returns to Kickstarter with a bestiary of creatures for the Year Zero Engine! Join in at kickstarter.com/projects/trilemma/trilemma-adventures-the-servants-of-memory
Drawing the Kickstarter Battle! Michael Prescott 2019-05-11 | kickstarter.com/projects/trilemma/trilemma-adventures-compendiumI'm doing a 'play-by-comic' mass battle with my Kickstarter backers. Watch me draw the Grinvolt axewives and the Dradkin battling furiously, or join the Kickstarter and help direct the battle. For more information on the adventure compenedium, check out:
Trilemma Adventures Compendium Michael Prescott 2019-04-28 | Hey all, this is an overview of the Kickstarter I'm running in May, collecting 48 of my two-page 'Trilemma Adventures' into a hardcover/PDF compendium. To get the launch announcement, follow the link to http://www.trilemma.com !For more specifics about the campaign itself, there's a blog post up:blog.trilemma.com/2019/04/compendium-kickstarter-may-1.html
Lost Lair of Lorethain Shaar Michael Prescott 2018-06-16 | The 'Lost Lair of Lorethain Shaar' by Jeremy DS Marshall is one of the special prize winners of the 2018 One Page Dungeon Contest. I'm doing up his map as
Live: Drawing Scions Michael Prescott 2018-04-29 | 'Scions' is the working title for an upcoming two-page adventure with Chris Chinn! I've been looking forward to working with Chris for a while now, and this is me interpreting his rough draft. I'm trying to lay out the rooms he'd described in an isometric dungeon, which is heavily based on a circular stack of classical-inspired architecture.
#40 Mulcibers Flute Michael Prescott 2018-04-25 | This is a video overview of Trilemma Adventure #40: Mulciber's Flute!To download the adventure, the map, or the illustrations click through to my blog at:http://blog.trilemma.com/2018/03/mulcibers-flute.htmlIf you'd like to throw a buck in my tip jar, you can do that at:http://patreon.com/adventures
Isometric Dungeon #8: 2D to 3D Michael Prescott 2018-04-22 | This is a how-to video on converting a 2D dungeon to an isometric 3D dungeon! I'm using Photoshop, but similar steps will work in GIMP and other paint programs.The article I mentioned on Q*Bert toplogy:http://blog.trilemma.com/2014/05/qbert-topology-for-isometric-maps.htmlEDIT: I managed to work out the math after all. The vertical squashing factor is exactly 1/√3, which is 57.74%.
#42 The God Unmoving Michael Prescott 2018-04-16 | This is a video overview of Trilemma Adventure #42: The God Unmoving!To download the adventure, the map, or the illustrations click through to my blog at:http://blog.trilemma.com/2018/04/the-god-unmoving.htmlIf you'd like to throw a buck in my tip jar, you can do that at:http://patreon.com/adventures
Fishers and Undead #4 Michael Prescott 2018-04-08 | Working on a two-page adventure map illustration. Finishing up the unholy wreck and the drowned ones that guard it.
Fishers and Undead #3 Michael Prescott 2018-04-08 | Working on a two-page adventure map illustration.
Isometric Dungeon #7 - Circular Stairs Michael Prescott 2018-04-05 | Circular stairs! They boggle the mind, they defy the intuition—and yet, they're a nutritious part of a balanced castle. This video shows some basic techniques to make your dream staircase, step by step. (Literally.)Definitely watch #6 - Circles first!youtube.com/watch?v=73bZChoGSAoTo see the dungeons I make with these techniques, go to:http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure
Isometric Dungeon #6 - Circles Michael Prescott 2018-04-05 | A short, simple video on how to draw circles in an isometric perspective. This video isn't as visually interesting as the previous ones, but it demonstrates a skill you'll need in spades if you continue: I'm gearing up to do a video on circular stairs, and there's lots of circles involved!
Getting text to flow around images Michael Prescott 2018-03-30 | I'm working on my next two-page adventure, and figured I'd show how I get the text to flow around the images in InDesign.
Drawing Undead Island - Inking Michael Prescott 2018-03-25 | This is part II of drawing 'undead island'. I'm taking the completed sketch and inking over it.For part I, see youtu.be/SjJFZ14AWcwThe completed adventure will be posted at: http://blog.trilemma.com
Drawing Undead Island - Sketching Michael Prescott 2018-03-25 | Live stream of me working on the sketch of my next adventure! I'm drawing and talking through my thought process as I design the adventure visually. For Part II, click here:youtube.com/watch?v=NpdoMAyC7msThe final adventure will show up on my blog here:http://blog.trilemma.com
From 2D to Isometric Michael Prescott 2018-03-11 | I'm taking the dungeon I just drew in 2D, and I'm converting it to an isometric dungeon drawing!
2D Dungeon Mapping in Photoshop Michael Prescott 2018-03-11 | A few years ago I made a video on an 11-minute dungeon:youtube.com/watch?v=rpxvMiHcdG4I didn't explain much, so this is me doing something similar with audio, showing each step.
Preparing scanned line art Michael Prescott 2018-03-04 | A quick Photoshop tutorial showing how I clean up scans of my pen & ink line art before putting it into my adventures.
Quick Coastlines Michael Prescott 2017-11-30 | This is a quick tutorial for making natural-looking coastlines for fantasy wilderness maps. I use Photoshop, but similar techniques would work in GIMP, Krita, etc.
Isometric Dungeon #5 - Cave Waterfall Michael Prescott 2017-02-22 | Time lapse (4x) of me drawing an underground waterfall.
Isometric Dungeon #4 - Stone Bridge Michael Prescott 2016-11-24 | Time lapse (4x) of me drawing a stone bridge. No talking, I think it speaks for itself.In a somewhat creepy coincidence, my search for royalty-free music to go along with this turned up some pleasant pieces by Kevin MacLeod, WHO MADE THE GRAPH PAPER I'M USING IN THIS VIDEO. Weird. --Angevin & Angevin B Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Isometric Dungeon #3 - Village Well Michael Prescott 2016-11-24 | A quick tutorial on how to draw an isometric village well, with a bit of extra detail on how to draw the circles involved.
Isometric Dungeon #2 - Arched Double Doors Michael Prescott 2016-09-10 | Drawing a 3D/isometric set of double doors set in thick, stone archway.
Isometric Dungeon #1 - Stairs Michael Prescott 2016-09-05 | A how-to video showing the making of an isometric staircase for a 3D dungeon or castle map!See them in complete dungeons at http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure
Live drawing the Lenses of Heaven Michael Prescott 2016-05-22 | Live drawing my next dungeon map, the Lenses of Heaven. All the fun of a one-page dungeon, just stretched out over a really long time!
Eleven-Minute Dungeon Michael Prescott 2015-03-01 | Making an old-school dungeon map in Photoshop. To make things as easy as possible, I'm painting the corridors directly, using layer effects to apply the grid and walls, which lets me build up the crinkly architecture iteratively.Maps like it can be found on my blog at blog.trilemma.com.First time out, so sorry about the sucky frame rate, and the fact that VLC didn't seem to record my mouse movements. :/The basic idea is that the dungeon is drawn in white paint, with a "stroke" layer fx that puts the blue border around it.Above that, you put a grid pattern, and turn it into a clipping mask of the dungeon layer. That means that you'll only see the grid where there's dungeon. To make the grid blue (if it isn't already) use a Solid Color adjustment layer, also as a clipping mask.Then you can go ahead and draw the dungeon in white, solid brushes. I have some squares, hexagons and circles, and to make the outlines interesting I erase with them as well as paint. The columns I'm drawing around 4:50 are erased, for instance. Make liberal use of copy and paste and flipping to make the layout symmetrical.The 'dais' and 'pool' layers are special; again, I draw in white, but I've used layer fx (stroke, inner glow, and outer glow) to make concentric outlines. You'll have to experiment with spread, transparency and size for these effects, but it's not too hard. You can actually see me make a larger staircase out of 'dais' around 6:00. If you were to see the actual paint, it's just two thin white strips, which you can get a sense of via my screwup at 6:11.The 'pool' layer is more or less the same as 'dais', except it's got a pattern overlay of wavy lines (you'll have to make that yourself). The stair triangle and filled-in black is just a separate, layer on top called 'details'.The doors are a separate layer, too; just white with a blue stroke effect.Around 7:40 I start laying down the rock texture, which is a multi-step process. First, make a new layer (under the dungeon layer, of course) and lay down some interesting texture using some sort of charcoal-like brush. I then add a layer mask to it (which controls where it shows up) and invert it so that it all disappears.I then paint on that layer mask with a random-scatter hexagonal brush to bring the texture back, but with a rough outline instead of whatever edge my charcoal brush has.That scatter-hexagon brush is amazing (I call it my 'lightning' brush) and versatile. You can see me using it again (just with way more spacing) at 8:54 to add some debris around the rock texture.I then do that again, but this time painting in white on a new layer with a stroke on it, making little boulders embedded in the rock texture.At 9:38, I paint on a white, uppermost layer to make the doorway lead 'outside' (since otherwise the dungeon layer's stroke would keep the entrance closed off).Then numbering, which is just a free font I found with a white stroke effect.
Where do Vanishing Points Go? Michael Prescott 2013-05-22 | See also the handy dandy photoshop brush that I made as a result of this video:http://michaelprescott.deviantart.com/art/Perspective-Crosshairs-371619925
Giant Halloween Costume - More Tests Michael Prescott 2011-10-24 | Now half-dressed, Morgan tries on the Giant costume for another walking test. It's heavy and awkward! Can I get the weight down in time? Only eight more days until Halloween!
Giant Costume Construction Michael Prescott 2011-10-22 | Work continues on "the giant", this year's big costume project for my daughter. The structure is made of plastic plumbing pipe and aluminum straps. The teeth are Sculpey, the face is styrofoam and Crayola Model Magic, spray primed and painted with acrylic (Golden Fluid).
The Giant - Planning Michael Prescott 2011-09-07 | Early sketches for this year's big articulated Halloween costume, a giant. The costume is being built for an eight year-old girl, so keeping the weight down is enormously important. Sorry it's so fuzzy! I had to zoom in so you could see what I was sketching.
The Eco Alien Michael Prescott 2011-03-29 | A girl discovers the consequences of littering. A stop motion animation Morgan and I made together at home. I painted the background, moved the figures and assembled it in Vegas; she sculpted everything, puppeted the animatic and did all the voices.
Childs Centaur Costume Michael Prescott 2010-10-30 | The centaur costume is finally done, and today Morgan wore it to school for her Hallowe'en party!See a walking test of the skeleton:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF1TAr12rEYVisit the "making of" blog!http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/centaur
Centaur Halloween Costume Walking Test Michael Prescott 2010-08-23 | SEE IT COMPLETED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8aHu33LKxY--I'm making a centaur halloween costume for my six year-old. This is the second leg design I've tried - the first involved metal rods attached to her ankles that would drag the rear hooves forward. This new design has bungee cord tendons that make the legs want to stretch backwards, and strings attached to her knees that pull them forward as she walks.There's obviously several problems with it - the biggest one that the feet slide across the laminate hallway floor. I think it will work better on concrete, but I'm considering weighting the hooves and putting rubber treads on them.More details at http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/centaur
Giant Spider Costume 2009 Michael Prescott 2009-11-02 | The results of my efforts at making a giant spider costume for Hallowe'en. A test run in the back yard, some footage of my kids, and then the spider in a residential Toronto neighbourhood. I couldn't see a thing! Thank goodness for the spider herders.
