I have written 2 blog posts featuring a total of 20 mazes that I abandoned for one reason or another. You can read them here:

Why I abandoned these 10 mazes - Mistakes in Maze making

10 More Abandoned Mazes - Mistakes in Maze Making

I took the time to evaluate the mazes and see why they did not work and try to determine - could they be salvaged ? Today I present my 2nd case study for improving one of those mazes, El Danzante Conchero Chichimeca. If you want to read the previous case study:

Case Study#1 - How to Improve a Bad Maze - Tiki Totem Maze

Back to this maze. Here is what I wrote about the maze in the previous post on why it was abandoned:

“Abandoned Maze #6 - Dancing Man Statue Maze

I had high hopes (sing it!) for this when I started it. As you can see I made the figure and I was starting to add muscle definition (in red) when I came to the conclusion - there is no place for a maze - or if there is it will make the maze very large in order to be able to see/solve it. I want this to work because the figure took so long to make and I included so many details. Mistake made: Poor subject matter for a maze. ”

And let’s look at that maze, also known as the ‘before’, which I will note, because of the shape of the statue never got mazed !

And here are the changes I made to (hopefully) improve the maze:

1. Color - I added color to the monument. (It is of a statue in the center of a fountain). The feathers surrounding the head are colored for celebrations although it fades over time but I added blue/white gradient to get that right. I changed the muscular definition from red to grey.

2. Fountain added - The statue had a strong foundation (literally) but I wanted to add the fountain it was in to give it more context and add the wonderful coloring of the tiles.

3. Maze addition - This is where I was stuck before. If I make a maze through the body I hit many roadblocks along the way from all the wonderful dress of the dancer. So, I decided to use the fountain grid for the maze and see if I liked it. I did. Not ideal, but it solved the problem. I did need to add ‘layers’ to the concrete base of the statue that are not really there I felt a long gap in the maze didn’t feel tight.

4. Letter and brand - Add the name of the maze and add my branding to the top right corner.

I also did some minor clean up of details in the maze.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I wanted to add the maze to the body but never figured out a good way to do it. I think the work around using the fountain is ok. I considered but did not do the background buildings/sky. I felt the pose of the statue looking upward should be the focus.

And now the “After”. The new maze:

I think this is an improvement. What do you think ? Should I have added the background buildings ? Should I lighten the statue color ? Maze download is available on the homepage !