Avatars of Catan

Follow me (@robowaffle) as I work through sourcing and/or creating all the designs, illustrations, and a custom wood, laser-cut set of Settlers of Catan, but with respect to and inspired by the series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

[avatarsofcatan]

Posts incoming slowly...

Not sure why, but I’ve been treating this project like a book. There are three main sections and a write up on the background, techniques, learnings and the like. It’s slow going at the moment due to my own choice in coloring technique, which... If you’re trying to go for “color-safe” watercolor on wood. I wish you all the luck in the world, this has truly been a test in patience for me. Anywho. I’ve already got plans on how to box the set and what a V2 might look like. But I figure, let’s finish this V1 before endeavoring on another project.

Basically, what I’m saying is that the project is not dead, just... like a giant lion turtle, moving very, very slowly.

[avatarsofcatan]

I’m actually in the process of coloring now!

First set I focused on was the Red Lotus player pieces… I mean, why not start with chaos? From left to right we have:

watercolor ground coat

two layers of different red watercolor pencils

a damp watercolor brush pass.

If the colors looks inconsistent and you can see varying levels of wood grain? Perfect. That’s what I’m going for. I don’t want bright and shiny so much as old and wooden. Like the set was made some time ago. :)

After all was said and done I took a pic of the whole set (Colonies, Cities, and roads)! After they they have a day or so to dry I’m going to coat them with a uv matte spray resin. To both protect them and the player from colors leeching off the pieces. :) 

[avatarsofcatan]

Cheat Sheet!

Lol. These pictures are so out of order. There will be some kind of Uber post with pictures in the right order.

Anywho, this is a scrap piece with a barrier of watercolor ground (a transparent medium to protect the pigment from the acids of the wood), 1 & 2 layers of watercolor per color, and a topcoat of Krylon Matte UV spray to further protect the piece.

[avatarsofcatan]

Avatars of Catan lives! Finally unpacked my glowforge and am now dialing in the settings. The ootb settings are good... If exhaustingly long. I find you can achieve just as good a result if you jump in and dial in the resolution, speed, and power. Vive le maker!

[avatarsofcatan]

You know how jazzed I was to start doing the final proofs of my laser cutting project this morning? So I get there and the rastering looks like this. THIS. A wibbley-wobbley design-skipping mess.

Ultimately this would be the last engraving I would try on the Epilogue. Some untrained folks ended up unintentionally hurting the machine pretty bad over the next few weeks, and without the ability to rely on it, I decided to bide my time and wait till I could use my newly arrived glowforge.

[avatarsofcatan]

One of the first passes at designing the towns and cities...

[avatarsofcatan]

My first successful cuts. 😊

[avatarsofcatan]

Time to start sharing things here...

Over the past 9 (or so) months I've been working on my game. In that time I've also bought a house, remodeled and sold another house, dealt with two major shifts in my professional life and celebrated some fun things in my personal life.

Through it all I've worked on this project when I could and couldn't be more pleased with the results.

So. Expect a smattering of posts including progress pictures, larger written bits about process and learnings, and even some technical bits like settings and resources.

In the words of old blue eyes himself...

🎶

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I've traveled each and every highway

But more, much more than this

I did it my waaaaaaay!

🎶

[avatarsofcatan]

Let’s start at the very beginning.

I hear, it’s a very good place to start. :)

Back in September of 2017 (I know, that’s ancient history) I started working on a custom version of Settlers of Catan based on two of my favorite series, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. Now, custom Settler’s sets aren’t that uncommon, but in the end I still get asked- Where did I get the idea? 

Like a lot of folks I saw the Game of Thrones custom version of Catan posted on Reddit and imgur (link). The link included files and a simple write up on the effort that went into them, so combine this with the fact that I just got trained on a laser-cutter... I figured, “I’m only buying a new house, selling the old one, and remodeling, and project managing all the hassles... why not?” 

At this point it should go without saying that I’m (apparently) a masochist. Or at the very least a fan of large projects.