MAP: Stage 0
Progress Report
Back in August 2023, I made one of my more popular (certainly more labor-intensive) ELDERNET productions, a large1, hand-drawn diagram compiling many different cells and websites2 into one hex map. This map has never gone online for two reasons: it has more value to me as a physical object3, and I don’t think it would help4.
I recently got the idea to make another map, thanks to a few factors:
I was drawing and posting a chapter that involved a lot of new world-building, in environments I hadn’t explored much in the previous three chapters.
When people I know read my comic, they tend to come back to me with a lot of questions about the peculiarities of the setting, so I figured I should indulge them.
I’m working with a Nashville illustrator who specializes in cutaway maps and diagrams this summer and fall5, and seeing the way she promotes and discusses her work gave me some ideas.
I began with a pencil diagram of the hexes, and started filling in rooms from the center out:
Each hex is the same size as the ones in the original map6. The paper itself is 9x12”. I decided on the first seven cells, penciled those, and then stopped because the amount of underdrawings might have gotten confusing if I didn’t ink them soon.
So I began inking the cells, starting, again, with the center7. In order, from left to right and top to bottom, they are
Water storage, filtration, and electrical wiring, Page 31
The medical lab, Page 26
The “foyer,” Page 25
The bridge, also Page 25
Of course, all of these cells have been customized by Ascenkor and Sonia. These are not real cell types as far as The Eldernet is concerned.
My most recent work on the water room, and a closer zoom:
The next steps will include fully inking all the shadowy bits and expanding to the armory, the abandoned “Unboxing” cell, and the ancillary laboratory.
Even if I’m now emailing you more frequently, I promise not to email you too frequently.
As always, thanks for reading.
18x24”
Same thing, admittedly.
Not just because it took a while to make or because it means a lot to me; it has an overwhelming effect in-person that would be lost online.
Help with what? Who knows.
The excellent Holly Carden. Her specialty is puzzles based on various sinister fictions (though she does plenty of other cool stuff); her Dracula one is a good introduction.
About two inches on each side.
Nikola’s lying there not because she’s met a grisly fate, but because of having triggered a warding device in Chapter Two.