Twisty Little Paths: Creating New Types of Experimental Mazes

I spent an entire month making Experimental Mazes were I came up with 11 different types of mazes. Each type had at least one daily maze posted on the site and some of these experiments had up to 5 different versions. Today I want to pull each of these new maze creations together and review them, see how I did, what worked and get some feedback from you.

Part 1 - Perspective Arrow Maze

This idea is pretty simple: Arrow Maze + a change in perspective. I did 5 different versions and below is my favorite example. A typical Arrow Maze is flat and I thought adding some perspective would be interesting. I enjoyed making this and getting the maze aligned as I made it in sections.

Perspective Arrow Maze

Part 2 - Multi Arrow Maze

This idea is connected Arrow Mazes. Day 1 is Arrow Maze 1 you solve normally. Day 2 adds Maze 2 (the upper left corner). The solver starts in the same place, but tries to reach the Day 2 Goal in Maze 2. This continues each day. Day 3 adds Maze 3 and a new GOAL. By day 5 you have 5 Arrow Mazes combined into one. Can you solve each maze in order ? Good Luck. To clarify, landing on a corner of the center arrow maze opens up the new maze section to you.

Multi Arrow Maze

Part 3 - Color Grid and Grid Maze Combo

Another combination maze, this one featuring a color grid maze and a grid maze. Since the Color Grid is already “gridded” this made it easy to create a 2-in-1 maze. Solve the 2 mazes in any order. In this case the start and goal is the same for each maze type.

Color Grid and Grid Maze Combo

Part 4 - Folded Grid Maze

A Grid Maze that has the appearance of being a folded piece of paper based on changing the perspectives on a few sections. I did 2 versions. Easy to make. Looks more interesting than a regular grid maze, but is nothing earth shattering.

Folded Grid Maze

Part 5 - Layered Grid Maze

A Grid Maze that uses multiple layers to give the maze a more interesting look. Honestly, this is not very experimental in hindsight. It looks marginally more interesting, but at the end of the day is still just a grid maze.

Layered Grid Maze

Part 6 - Arrow and Grid Maze Combo

Another 2-in-1 maze experiment. This one combines the Arrow and Grid Mazes. I made it to be solved Arrow Maze first, then Grid Maze after, returning to the original start, but you can technically solve in either order. I like the idea of the start of one is the goal of the other. I did 4 different mazes of this type.

Arrow Maze Grid Maze Combo

Part 7 - The Sectional Maze

A Sectional Maze uses lightly connected sections and weaving pathways to travel throughout the maze. Nothing too crazy, but a new type of maze for me. Maybe the newest portion is the one way pathways between sections. I feel like this is a small version of something much larger and more interesting.

Sectional Maze

Part 8 - Standard Perspective Maze

A standard maze where I have played with the perspective. I think this is the least appealing maze I made playing with perspective. Boring in this example and possibly boring in most examples. When I originally thought of it I was thinking it would look like a folded piece of paper. This particular example is also a Kids maze.

Standard Perspective Maze

Part 9 - Stacked Grid Maze

A Grid Maze (blue) inside a grid maze (black). Day 1 included only the black walls, while Day 2 uses both black and blue to create the walls. I stopped after 2 days as the solution stays generally the same on day 2 in this version.

Stacked Grid Maze

Part 10 - Pipes and Arrow Maze Combo

Another 2-in-1 maze that combines Pipe Mazes and Arrow Mazes. These can be solved in any order. I looks a bit odd but these are 2 of my favorite maze types. I will say as a designer this maze type takes a long time to make. If I could make this faster I would make more.

Pipes and Arrow Maze Combo

Part 11 - Stacked Standard Maze

5 Mazes in 1. Each Day for 5 days I added a new layer to solve. Each smaller arrow adds a new layer of walls to impede you. So the maze starts with black walls only. The next maze on day 2 uses black and grey walls. Then + Blue, + Red, and finally + Green. I thought this was a fun idea. But the actual execution is tough on the eyes and not as enjoyable to solve as I thought. I wonder if wider spacing for all maze pathways would improve it.

Stacked standard maze

The odd sizes mean I did not make these mazes into a traditional free downloadable book, but I did gather them into a 31 page booklet. It is not recommended for printing. The download is 392Kb and is best used on screen.

Are there some mazes you like that should be continued and explored ? Send me a request.

Making mazes with AI: Photosonic

Welcome to the 12th 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 mazes with AI: ToolBaz

Making Maze Art with Photosonic

Today I test out Photosonic. You can access the website here. You must sign-in to use the site and you are given 10 free credits to create with. Each prompt, or generation will generate 2 images. You may choose between 10 different styles and 3 different sizes. 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

I like how the apparent maze around the Eiffel Tower is made by buildings and enormous hedges (possibly trees).

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

Looks like the ESB in NYC. Why do they often generate without the needle ?

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

I am a big fan of this White House, and if the grid was a maze instead this would be great !

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

Have a child draw a maze of a Christmas tree in black and white.

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

Weird building.

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

I like the colors. Is this taking place on a roof of a brick building ?

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

This person uses a knife creatively.

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

I think I saw that queen in a horror movie before.

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

I should mention I selected “fantasy” instead of the normal “illustration”. It was like swinging for the fences in baseball, I was going for a home run…but I think I struck out.

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

This has potential. I could see an experimental maze made in this style.

How did Photosonic do ? Just like ToolBaz I liked the prompts shown below the generations more than the things I created. I think this will help me create better prompts in the future. I like the wide variety of styles used.

Coming next: Bing AI Image Generator , our last site before reviewing everything we did

Maze Comic Book Reviews - Theseus And The Minotaur

If you are a fan of mazes and the mythology behind them you know the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Most people know the core portion of the story where Theseus meets the Minotaur in the middle of the maze. Today I will review 4 different comic adaptions of the story, show you some illustrations and hopefully help you pick the comic you want to read most. Or, you know, read them all.

Theseus And The Minotaur: A Graphic Retelling (2015)

from Capstone, 32 Pages

by Matt Chandler ; illustrated by Estudio Haus

The first comic is a quick read (32 pages) about the entire story of Theseus.

The comic is broken into five chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus from birth, to growing up, to his quest-like journey and finally his meeting with the Minotaur and return home. All of this happens in 32 pages. The illustrations are good.

Chapter 4 is my favorite chapter, called The Labyrinth, and is the showdown between Theseus and the minotaur in the labyrinth (which is actually a maze as you can see in the comic panel below).

And of course part of the story is the fact that the maze is very challenging and has never been exited before. This Greek myth originally was written by Apollodorus in his book The Library of Greek Mythology. Part of me loves that he has his own Amazon author page, and part of me hates it. Anyway, this story survives from this book.

Comic strip from the book

This is a good telling of the Greek Myth, and a fast read with nice illustrations. 7.8/10

Theseus And The Minotaur (2009) AMZN

from Capstone, 72 Pages

by Nel Yomtov ; illustrated by Tod Smith

The comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. If you compare to the 32 page version above, you get a longer and more detailed story. An event that was 5 separate panels in the first comic is now 10 panels, etc. The additional space also makes the quest portion of the book much longer and I think that helps tell the story.

Chapter 5 is titled The Labyrinth and this is the portion of the story I am most interested in. One thing that disappointed me about the book was there was no large illustration of the labyrinth, just the slender picture below.

One thing this comic does well is illustrate the battle between Theseus and the Minotaur and expands that to multiple pages. Here is the initial meeting in the labyrinth.

Overall, if you want a bit more to the story, read this version.

This is a nice telling of the Greek Myth, and has good illustrations. 7.2/10

Kill The Minotaur (2018) AMZN

from Image Comics, 184 Pages

by Chris Pasetto, Christian Cantamessa ; illustrated by Lukas Ketner

This version has the most recent publication date (2018) and is from Image Comics. It is also our longest version of the story at 184 pages.
Of the 4 different comics I review on this topic, this has the most unique story. The other three basically told the same story of Theseus from birth, growing up, a journey, meeting the king, the minotaur in the labyrinth, and his return. This is really focused on the Minotaur and the labyrinth, and I would say 80+ percent of the story takes place in there. This is also the only book to feature curse words and adult situations (this comic is not for kids IMO).

This version also tells a slightly different story than the previous versions, although with the same basic characters and themes. We also get a Minotaur that is deformed and has magical properties, roaming a labyrinth that also has some unique characteristics. I enjoy this version of the story because it takes place in the setting I am interested in, the labyrinth.

From an illustration standpoint the longer length also means more larger landscape artwork. Check out this large format illustration of Crete and this drawing of Theseus overlooking a portion of the labyrinth.

Different than the other versions, so worth it’s own read even if you know the story, you do not know this one ! 7.5/10.

Theseus Battling The Minotaur (2007) AMZN

from Lerner Publishing Group, 48 Pages

by Jeff Limke ; illustrated by John McCrea

Like our previous review, the comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. The extra few pages mean an expansion of the story from previous versions. We even get introduced to a few more characters that didn’t fit into the shorter versions.

Chapter 5 is titled Into The Labyrinth and if there is one thing this is missing is an illustration of the actual labyrinth. But there is a reason for this - in this version the labyrinth is underground ! So while I could show you a panel of Theseus in the labyrinth, it will just be a picture of him in a dark cave. Not very exciting. What IS exciting is the battle as shown by the panel below.

This is a nice version of the story, I just wish we could have seen the labyrinth. 7.0/10

So there you have the 4 different books. All are similarly rated by me it just depends how much time you want with the story with 32, 48, 72 and 184 page options available. I liked the short and long versions best, but none is a bad read.

Other blog posts you might like:

Jim Henson’s Labyrinth Comic Reviews

Neverwhere Comic Review by Neil Gaiman

A Review of 4 Comic Books that Feature Mazes and Labyrinths

I am back with another comic book review that involves either a maze or a labyrinth. Today I take you through 4 different stories, 2 that I highly recommend you check out. We get a warrior that can’t die, a creepy horror story, a secret society of magical families and a young adult fantasy book series that was made into a few movies.

Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior Vol. 2: Labyrinth (issues 5-10) AMZN

from Valiant Entertainment, 176 Pages

by Robert Venditti ; illustrated by Raul Allen, Juan José Ryp

This comic has a body count that is high and very bloody. Our main character is a warrior who cannot die which means when he does battle others there is a lot of bloodshed and it is rarely his. If you are looking for some background on the story I suggest you start with Volume 1, but if you jump into Volume 2 to start you will be fine to follow along.

The comic begins with the left of the Eternal Warriors child, named Kalam while he is away doing battle and the subsequent quest to get him back. From there we begin the Labyrinth portion of the story. A mysterious man has captured the Eternal Warrior and is hoping to test him and figure out how he heals himself and can never die. The testing zone is an enormous high tech labyrinth (actually a maze) where he tests him with a variety of deaths/healing scenarios. That is the comic.

Of all the comics I have reviewed this has the most extensive artwork of mazes and labyrinths. Really great work by the illustrators. Here are a few of the covers/alt covers:

And here are some additional scenes of the labyrinth itself:

Comic strip from the book

If you like blood and destruction this is the comic for you. Excellent illustrations. I recommend. 8.5/10

Check out information on all 14 Eternal Warrior comics.

Ice Cream Man #30 (2022) AMZN

from Image Comics, Part of TPB: Ice Cream Man, Volume 8: Subjects & Objects 136 Pages

by W. Maxwell Prince (Author), Martin Morazzo (Artist), Chris O'Halloran (Artist)

I have read each issue of Ice Cream Man. It’s a twisted horror comic that isn’t afraid to try interesting story formats. When I was reading the TPB and I flipped to Chapter 30 and saw the cover above I knew I was going to enjoy it ! Two mice making their way through a maze, one black and one white. What happens if they meet since they seem to be trying to get to the other side ( ones start is the others end ?). And you get the theme of the Chapter from the title, “Experimental Storytelling”.

This particular story is about a medical test. One patient gets a pill while the other gets a placebo, typical in a controlled experiment. Except this, like most stories in the series has a Twilight Zone experience to it. Everything is not what it seems. And more information would require a SPOLIER alert….which I am not giving. This is a solid sci-fi book and I recommend it. How does that make you feel ?

Read it. 8.7/10 !

Excellence #12 (2022) AMZN

from Image - Skybound, 31 Pages

by Brandon Thomas (Author), Khary Randolph (Cover Art, Artist), Emilio Lopez (Cover Art, Artist)

Excellence is a comic series that ran from May 2019 - Jan 2022 and had a total of 12 issues. I enjoyed the story, which is about a group of magical families and a secret society that controls them. It has a strong father / son relationship dynamic and deals with a new generation rebelling against an older one.

The final issue, features the cover you see above of a maze so I wanted to give you a review of the series. There is no real maze, per say in the issue, just the culmination of a mystery as the characters figure out what is going on. This is an isolated story that will not make sense solo, so read Volume 1 & Volume 2, a total of 304 pages which concludes with this arc.

Overall a good story. 6.8/10.

Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Battle Of The Labyrinth (2018) AMZN

from Disney Book Group, 131 Pages

by Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti ; illustrated by Orpheus Collar, Antoine Dodé

This is the comic book version of the original book you may have read before. You could also be familiar with the 2 movies that were made in 2010 and 2013 but generally were poorly reviewed, ending the making of future movies.

This comic is all about a quest. If you like quest stories then you should enjoy this comic. From an overall story standpoint this is the 4th of 5 books that make up the Percy Jackson stories. For this reason, if you jump into this book you will not be familiar with the characters. I will say you can still enjoy the story, but you will not have the investment in the characters to really completely enjoy and understand what is happening. The bad guys won’t seem as bad, the good guys trials and tribulations will mean a little bit less.

Now about the quest. As you may have guessed, it takes place in a labyrinth hidden within the world. It you are not familiar with Percy Jackson, there are hidden worlds within our world that are used by the children of gods and half gods (like Camp Half Blood in Long Island , NY). One thing you will notice if you read this comic is that they interchangeably use the words maze and labyrinth (something I believe is incorrect). Anyway, our group led by Percy makes a journey, overcomes difficulties, meets interesting people along the way, engages in overcoming obstacles, and it all culminates in a final battle. I could have written the same sentence about any quest movie.

If you know the characters, you will enjoy this comic much more than just picking it up as a maze lover. I give it a 5.5/10.

While this was only book 4 of 5, if you are interested you can check out all 5 books:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

Watchmojo's Best Maze Movie Scenes

How to make over 40 types of maze