I used to make all my mazes by hand but now I prefer making digital mazes. Today’s post on converting a maze from a paper drawn maze to a digital maze has 3 parts: Part 1 is the 3 step process to do a maze conversion on your own (with a note on using AI). Part 2 is the story of how I decided to do a particular project with a completed example. And Part 3 shows you some maze conversion examples I mention in Part 2.
Part 1, Option 1: HOW TO CONVERT A DRAWING TO A DIGITAL MAZE
This is not a magic solution. You will end up drawing the maze again using this process.
Use a scanner to get the mazes in digital form. (alternatively you can take a picture if you have a steady hand). Now I am assuming this is not a one step process that you want (although it could be for some of you). I am assuming you want a digital vector drawing of your maze that also allows you clean up any stray marks made during the initial drawing. If like most people you do not have a scanner, I used the scanner for free at my local library ! Hopefully you can do the same !
Open the File in Inkscape (or a similar design program)
I do all of my maze making in Inkscape. Inkscape is a free open source vector graphics editor, but you can use a similar product if you already have the needed skills in that program. I found, that like most programs, Inkscape basics can be learned quickly playing around in the program. You can learn a bit more from YouTube videos, and to finally master it so you aren’t frustrated all the time (While muttering why can’t I just do XXXXX) that will just take time and practice. I just found something a few days ago than I needed for a year. Time and practice are your friend.
Draw the Maze over the Scan
Here is where the skills come in. Use Inkscape to draw the vector maze on top of the original scan (it will become the background). You can decide if you want to make changes/fixes as you go (as I did for my Alien Mazes above). When you are finally finished, delete the original scan, leaving only the new vector based maze. Now it is easy to write make the maze, and if you do not think you have the confidence, practice and read some of these How to’s. Yes, in reality, Step 3 can actually be broken down into approximately 6 parts for the actual maze construction.
PART 1, Option 2: USE SKETCH TO IMAGE AI TO CONVERT
I am currently working through this option. If you do a search for sketch to image conversion there are dozens of websites available - none of them currently have any name recognition. I have been using all of the free ones and have yet to find one that does the conversion I want better than the above method. But, I think it will exist soon maybe ? Or possibly it already does and is just in the paid version I haven’t accessed yet. Every once in awhile I try this again…but so far nothing. Drop me a note if you find one that works and I will feature it here.
Part 2: THE STORY
When I first started making mazes in high school I drew with pen or markers on paper in Mead art sketch pad books. I mixed the mazes in with other random artwork that I did, switching things up to stay interested. Eventually I decided I liked making mazes and would do many in a row.
For fun I also created my own cartoon character who I would put in funny comic strips, well I thought they were funny. His name was Oscar and he was an alien who lived on Earth. Maybe this was influenced by the tv show ALF. I must have also been inspired by Where’s Waldo when I made the picture below I call An Alien Circus. Check out the great ruled paper ! Good enough to be in an art gallery - NO ! Bad enough to be in an bad art gallery - definitely closer ! But, it was fun to make and made me have to think about different shapes for different characters like the alien elephant and many alien circus clowns.
Well, after drawing a variety of mazes of various things I decided to combine the two with a maze of my alien character Oscar. Below is his face in maze form, although he does have a full body. I liked how it came out and filled a book with hand drawn Alien mazes, with 44 in total.
Looking back they were ok. Most of them look like amoebas more than aliens, but who are we to say what aliens really look like ? (if you are an alien - how did I do?) One thing I do appreciate is that I picked a theme and a particular look and I expanded on it. Since I can’t publish the 3-ring binder of that initial work I decided to do my best to publish it now in a better form. First, I scanned all the files (thank you public library !). Next, I had to split the files into individual files (oops!). Then I opened, named and centered each maze.
I’m going to be honest I was doing a bit of a Marie Kondo when I started this project, trying to rid myself of old papers by digitizing my art, and discarding the papers. Now, in most cases I did discard the paper and digitize the art. But for this, I still have the original hand drawn book of mazes.
This is when I decided I needed to create 2 books. One of the original artwork, with added covers (front and back), and numbered pages, and a second book converting and updating the maze artwork.
To create the conversion book I decided on a few rules:
Make the size of the new maze the same as the original.
Put the entrance and the exit to the maze in the same place as in the original.
Use a simple grid pattern for the maze, not the original pathways. While this changes the look of the mazes, it does make them much more solvable for younger solvers and standardizes their look even more.
Change the color of the walls from Blue ink to black.
How did it turn out ? Well I’ll leave that up to you to decide in Part 3. I think they came out ok. I certainly enjoyed making the digital conversions and hope to do more.
Here is a download for the converted version of the book called The Wild and Wacky Aliens Maze and Coloring Book. Obviously, as I mentioned I changed the mazes to be for Kids though I don’t have a specific age. Enjoy !
When I tried to create a book of the hand drawn mazes, but the file sizes where too big to create a book with the resources I have.
Enjoy the free downloadable kids maze book !!
So that was the story, now let’s look at some examples.
Part 3: 5 MAZE CONVERSION EXAMPLES
Each from the above downloadable book, The Wild and Wacky Aliens MAZE Book. Again, during my conversion I changed the maze pathways from hand drawn medium difficulty to a standard maze construction made for kids. I did this to make the maze difficulty more congruent to the subject matter (aliens).
Example #1:
And after our first example…do you prefer the perfect circle from digital or the uneven hand drawn ? Notice how I used different pathway widths in the conversion. The mouth is more narrow to give it a darker look.
Examples #2&3:
Much easier version in digital. I like these guys, or uh aliens. Examples #4&5:
Once you have a good handle on how to use a vector design program, converting a maze from hand drawn to digital will become second nature. Good luck !
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