Unlike the previous plasma fractal maze, this one has a very limited palette of colors and textures. I started with only 256 colors arranged in a gradient of golden yellow through reds and browns to black. I then re-arranged the palette into 16 lesser gradients each going from a brighter shade to a darker shade. I applied the gradient of gradients to the fractal and then used software blending tools to smooth any jagged color steps in the image.
Then I took my Apple Pencil in hand and planned out how I was going to draw textures on the regions made visible by the gradient of gradients coloring. All the lines and textures are hand drawn over the period of two months.
Once I completed drawing the maze, I used software tools to prove that there is exactly one path between any two points: no loops, no islands. I then with digital painting and airbrush tools, I tweaked any color anomalies where colors bled across texture regions - some of those I like because they look like reflections, others look like errors - I corrected those.