Maze of the Week #70 - Bagan Temple Maze

May 1, 2023

Maze of the Week #70 is a temple in Bagan, Myanmar. It was made based off of a picture I took during a vacation I took there. Bagan is a great place to visit to see the thousands of temples in the area. This is an old maze with a story. It is also the first of 5 straight mazes of religious buildings. Here is the background:

When I was thinking about this site and making mazes I made a few mazes as proof of concept and this was one of them. Except I never finished it. I made a large mistake - I tried to make a complete paper sized maze. The amount of time it was taking (I was not as good with the tools I use at the time) was way too long. 5 years later I came back to it and decided to finish it with some changes.

Photo: taken by me in 2017 in Bagan:

The Maze: I did vertical and horizontal lines with the intention to create the maze later. And I did finish it over 5 years later. I like the way the lines help create the picture of the maze. I did not end up mazing everything as it would take a long time for little improvement.

Bagan Myanmar Temple Maze — Bagan Temple Maze

I hope you enjoy the maze. Maze download is available. If you like this maze but think it could be better, I agree:

UPDATE: Case Study#8 - Improving Previous Mazes

Coming this month: 5 Religious buildings

A temple maze - Bagan Temple (this maze)

A church maze

A mosque maze

A church maze

Making mazes with AI: ToolBaz

April 29, 2023

Welcome to the 11th in a series of posts where I will test AI image generators and see how they handle making maze art. I will be asking 10 prompts and seeing what gets generated. My goal is to evaluate different AI image sites against each other to see how they perform. If you need to catch-up here is the series so far:

An exploration into Al Image Maze Generation

Making mazes with AI: DallE2

Making mazes with AI: Stable Diffusion

Making mazes with AI: Craiyon

Making mazes with AI: Dream by Wombo

Making mazes with AI: Nightcafe

Making mazes with AI: StarryAI

Making mazes with AI: DeepAI

Making mazes with AI: Canva

Making mazes with AI: AI Image Generator

Making Maze Art with ToolBaz

Today I test out ToolBaz. You can access the website here. You can just go to the website and start using it , there is no sign-in or anything. Each prompt, or generation will generate 1 image. You may also choose between 3 size outputs (Small, Medium, Large). When you generate an image you see similar ones below it - check them out as you work ! All prompts I use are the same for each site !

Prompt 1 - Make a medium difficulty maze of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with arrows at the start and finish

2 half Eiffel Towers. I see an arrow ! and maybe a lamp that looks like an arrow !

Prompt 2 - Draw a medium difficulty large maze of the Empire State Building with the start and goal embedded in the structure

A U shaped building with a red trashcan out front ?

Prompt 3 - Draw a difficult maze of the White House pixel art style

Maybe that is a white house in the middle with a brown door. And the maze is technically a maze I think - I can move from a border opening to another border opening.

Prompt 4 - Draw a difficult maze that looks like a drawing of a famous building in sketch style

I see a door ! There were like a dozen related images that others made with different prompts that I really liked. Maybe the problem is me ?

Prompt 5 - Draw a maze in the style of doyoumaze.com of a skyscraper in NYC

I thin kthe caption captures the essence of this better than anything I could ever write: “Maztet Lojze !”

Prompt 6 - Draw a maze in the style of Sean C Jackson of a scene from a large outdoor market

It has potential. The coloration, a maze intermixed with (not quite) a scene.

Prompt 7 - Make a maze of a slice of an orange in color

Better than most.

Prompt 8 - Make a maze integrated on top of a photograph of a king sitting on his throne looking cantankerous beside his beautiful queen

This is close to the directions even if it looks blah. The widows peak on the king is……….special.

Prompt 9 - Make a solvable maze that is very large and very difficult to solve because it is so complex

Not so good.

Prompt 10 - Make a 3d render of a red and blue glossy cube maze

Interesting. I like it.

How did ToolBaz do ? Well, I have to say I found many images that I liked that were made from related but different prompts. That was not what this project was about, but those options were excellent. It is as if the AI was saying I can’t make your prompt into something cool but here are examples of great generations and the prompts that made them. So if you are not looking for something specific this seems excellent.

Coming Next: Photosonic

Making mazes with AI: AI Image Generator

April 27, 2023

Welcome to the 10th in a series of posts where I will test AI image generators and see how they handle making maze art. I will be asking 10 prompts and seeing what gets generated. My goal is to evaluate different AI image sites against each other to see how they perform. If you need to catch-up here is the series so far:

An exploration into Al Image Maze Generation

Making mazes with AI: DallE2

Making mazes with AI: Stable Diffusion

Making mazes with AI: Craiyon

Making mazes with AI: Dream by Wombo

Making mazes with AI: Nightcafe

Making mazes with AI: StarryAI

Making mazes with AI: DeepAI

Making mazes with AI: Canva

Making Maze Art with AI Image Generator

Today I test out AI Image Generator. You can access the website here. At the time of this writing it is ranked #1 on Google search for AI image generation (makes sense with that name). You can just go to the website and start using it , there is no sign-in or anything. Each prompt, or generation will generate 1 image. I found that the site would error out a lot, and during my 10 prompts I got about an equal number or errors. All prompts I use are the same for each site !

Prompt 1 - Make a medium difficulty maze of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with arrows at the start and finish

It is almost a maze map of the city surrounding the Eiffel Tower which is a really nice idea, but it isn’t quite that.

Prompt 2 - Draw a medium difficulty large maze of the Empire State Building with the start and goal embedded in the structure

I see the base of the ESB and the core…with the top, actually 2 tops on each side of the building…

Prompt 3 - Draw a difficult maze of the White House pixel art style

Nope.

Prompt 4 - Draw a difficult maze that looks like a drawing of a famous building in sketch style

I like the angles in the mazelike drawing that looks nothing like any famous building I can think of.

Prompt 5 - Draw a maze in the style of doyoumaze.com of a skyscraper in NYC

Almost a maze. Not close to NYC or really a building either.

Prompt 6 - Draw a maze in the style of Sean C Jackson of a scene from a large outdoor market

No market. It looks like a maze within a labyrinth which is a fun idea !

Prompt 7 - Make a maze of a slice of an orange in color

I have never seen a slice of oranges cut into a square piece before.

Prompt 8 - Make a maze integrated on top of a photograph of a king sitting on his throne looking cantankerous beside his beautiful queen

Not even close.

Prompt 9 - Make a solvable maze that is very large and very difficult to solve because it is so complex

So large is this maze that it must be completely off the page. Is that a small man standing in the middle ?

Prompt 10 - Make a 3d render of a red and blue glossy cube maze

Not bad. Not good either.

How did AI Image Generator do ? Once you get past all the errors it made some interesting concepts that could be used as inspiration for other mazes. I would not recommend it otherwise.

Coming Next: ToolBaz

Maze Art: Advanced Tips to Creating Your Own Masterpiece

April 25, 2023

So you want to make some maze art. I’m here to help. I will take you through some things to think about and give you tips to make the best possible mazes. I can’t construct a maze for you, and while maze art, like all art is subjective, my goal is to help you make your mazes more interesting. Ideally, you will layer on your own particular style and make beautiful mazes. My goal is to help you Unlock the Secrets of Maze Art.

Before we get started:

I assume you understand how to make a maze and just want advanced and specific instruction and tips. If not start with the blog post how to make a standard maze. On this website I have a section on how to make a maze includes over 40 different maze types (and there are even more types not shown made by others) if you want - browse around for some inspiration and ideas.

Maze Construction:

I also have done a series of blog posts that pull together different aspects of maze making, like starting and ending a maze that will help you see the different options and come up with a style you like. Personally I like to experiment often, but build off of 2 things: the first is making more of what I I like while the second is making mazes similar to what is successful on the site ! Tip #1 - Make lots of experimental mazes. When I initially made mazes on this website, and I used to make daily mazes, I did a large variety of maze types and constructions. I also did monthly voting where people could vote for their favorite mazes. This feedback was essential to help me find my lane. Tip #2 - Get feedback. Some options: Voting, posting mazes online in the reddit mazes forum, looking at traffic on your site by maze. I prefer to ask strangers vs. friends and family, because they tend to only give uncritical, positive feedback.

Here are the 3 blog posts that deal with Maze Construction:

Part 1 - Options for Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Pathway options

Part 3 - Conditional Pathway options

And some case studies:

Using Color for Maze Pathways - A Case Study

Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

A Case Study - The Free Stamp Maze

My first attempt at a how-to for making maze art is my project that made Maze of the Week #46 - The Free Stamp, located in Cleveland, Ohio. I turned this into a case study that includes step by step instructions. Let’s look at those 6 steps, each of which has a few tips in the how-to. Here I will add some additional tips specifically suggested to elevate the quality of your maze.

STEP 1 - CHOOSE YOUR MAZE SUBJECT

While your neighbor’s shed may make a nice maze…will anyone really care ? Tip #3 - Famous landmarks/locations/objects get more interest. 5 of my top 6 voted mazes from last year were of famous buildings. Here are some examples: The Louvre, Sydney Opera House, Rock N Rock Hall of Fame.
I specialize in making mazes of buildings and signs. I like them as subjects and make them well. Other maze artists specialize in cityscapes, comics, map mazes, or colorful landscapes. One thing I am terrible at is drawing faces. Human faces are difficult to draw and if you have that skill you should use it. Making a human face that is recognizable as a specific person is even more impressive, so if you have that very difficult skill - leverage it ! Tip #4 - Leverage your unique skills. This could also be Specialize in the maze types you do best.

STEP 2 - TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SUBJECT (OPTIONAL)

Tip #8 - Take lots of detailed pictures of your subject. I will explain this later with an example !

STEP 3 - DRAW THE MAIN OUTLINE OF THE SUBJECT

When I first started making mazes I tried to have each maze fit on a standard size piece of paper. This made me leave out details I wanted to include and not optimize the shape of the artwork. Now, I make mazes that fit the subject matter- tall, short, boxy. Tip #5 - Don’t worry about “fitting” the maze into a particular size. If a maze needs more room, take it !

STEP 4 - BEGIN THE DESIGN OF THE MAZE

My best mazes all took the longest amount of time to make. It is not a perfect correlation but it is definitely there. For me, the juice is worth the squeeze. Tip #6 - Slow down and take your time. Don’t rush. Take your time. Get it the way you want it.

STEP 5 - DRAW THE MAZE

STEP 6 - MAKE ANY AESTHETIC CHANGES TO COMPLETE THE MAZE - COLOR, SIZE, BORDER, TITLE

Not sure if this tip becomes part of step 6 or a new Step 7. Tip #7 - Add as many small details in the maze as possible. Even if they are not relevant to the solving of the maze. In my ‘how - to’ I give this example of a maze of The Alamo - and I repeat it here:
Example 1 - a basic maze of The Alamo. I think people would recognize it without a label:

Example 2 - a detailed maze of The Alamo:

Do I even need to comment on which maze has been more popular ? Both are recognizable as the Alamo Mission.

Added detail includes the use of shadowing. Depending on your subject matter this could become it’s own tip (Consider adding shadows) It is the #1 thing I struggle with adding or not adding to a maze…here is an example where the use improved the finished product, the Lotus Temple Maze.

The maze with shadows:

And without shadows:

When I was making this I thought I was done with the bottom version but after I experimented with shadows I knew that would become the superior version.

Another example:
I decided to make a maze of a church near my house. I went to the church and took a picture from an angle that I thought would look good. I went through the steps of making the maze…and when I got about 80% done I went back to the church and took more pictures (close-up this time) of items on the church and the surrounding area that could be included in the maze. That maze has not yet been published, but here is a collage of some of the details I added ! Similar to the Alamo example, without these details the maze is still good, but adding details enhances the interest in the maze. Tip #8 - Take lots of detailed pictures of your subject.

Additional example: The Louvre

This was one of my most popular mazes. A world famous building that everyone knows. But look at it closely. The maze is completely housed in the pyramid. This part of the maze was easy to make. The details of the other buildings of the Louvre in the background have nothing to do with the maze, but without them this maze is completely different. Those buildings took more time to create and draw but really change the maze. Let’s compare them:

Compare to this version:

The Louvre Maze no background — Nio background buildings

A few of you might prefer the 2nd cleaner version….but without the label do you know that is the Louvre Museum ? You know it is a pyramid, and a modern one because of the straight lines/edges, but that’s about it.

Tip #9 - Know what you are drawing. Sounds obvious but it is not. I realized this myself while making some of my own mazes. The best example to illustrate this is if I asked you to draw a brick wall. Let’s look at the most common way this would be done below. Looks like a brick wall.

brick wall in black and white — Brick Wall

What did I draw ? I did not draw bricks. I drew the mortar. Maybe it is not important, but maybe it could be. And what did I draw below ? Bricks in a brick wall. Know what you are drawing !