It's recently become the in thing to do to create "cd terrain". That is, create some terrain that uses a cd as its base. This actually has several good things going for it. First, you can create something rather quickly because it can only get so big. Second, it helps to get the creative juices flowing because you have to be judicious in your use of space. And third, it's great for storing the pieces, since they'll fit just about anywhere.

I had recently ordered the first two (of hopefully many more) cavern molds from Hirst Arts. I'd cast the molds a few times just to see how the pieces looked, but i hadn't built anything from them. I know what i'm eventually going to use them for but i was itching to try them out right away. A simple and quick "cd terrain" piece seemed to fit the bill nicely.

As i glued the pieces together i had the idea of a door that leads to a dungeon or something. But all by itself the door seemed rather drab. My first thought was to have it cracked slightly open and try my hand at the source lighting technique (which is basically, paint the light and shadows that would be there if there were a bright light source such as a lamp, torch, fire, or lightning bolt). I was going to have a bright beam of light coming out of the door. Some excellent examples of this technique can be found here, here, and here.

But it still seemed rather uninteresting. Almost sci-fi alien, and I wanted more of a fantasy feel. So I decided to go with one of the horror movie 101 tricks: Show just enough of a monster to make the audience imagine the rest. Hence the tentacle was born. Who knows what scary creature might be lurking behind the door and what treasures it might be guarding?

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