Best apps to use for map making on my tablet

[HandsomeJack_]

Hey everyone! My name's Jack. I just found this wonderful site and I'm very excited to get involved here. I recently decided to start making a full scale world for future D&D games that I may DM. So therefore I bought a tablet to do map making on because paper just doesn't cut it.
Anyways to get to my question. What are the best apps to make large scale maps on? I want to be able to make a world map that I can print out to be the size of a poster. I want to be able to do layers and all the fun things. What do you all suggest. It's a Samsung Tab A

[KMAlexander]

Hi Jack! Welcome to the Guild. I'm more of a Mac guy and I work mainly with Adobe software—so take anything I say with a grain of salt, that said, I've heard positive things about Autodesk SketchBook. Not sure how large you can go dimension-wise however.

[Gamerprinter]

Practically any mapping program or graphics software can do that, though each with different possible results. I think there are other questions that need to be asked. A lot of people aren't really artists, so they're better off using a program that has a lot of built in map symbols to let them create a variety of maps without too much effort. If you do have some artistic talent or at least a willingness to try, then which do you prefer drawing art or painting art? I use a vector drawing program, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365, which is a lot like Illustrator or CorelDraw, though my vector created maps really look a lot like a Photoshop creation. CAD software which includes AutoCAD, ProFantasy Campaign Cartographer, also involves drawing but is slightly different than vector software. If you prefer to paint, an image editor program is probably closer to your desired process using GIMP, Photoshop or Paintshop Pro.

You need to consider your budget - some software is free, some is quite expensive. You need to consider the learning curve, and how much time you're willing to spend learning to use complex software - some software is easier to learn than others, but again your artistic preferences needs to be consider.

There is no best choice of software - everybody is different.

GP

[HandsomeJack_]

Wonderful thank you! First off. How do I tag your post to respond directly to it?
As far as artistic skill goes, I'd say I'm fairly eager and capable. I went to college for graphic design and advertising years back but never finished. So basic knowledge of Adobe products. That being said I was hoping for something free or pretty low budget since I'm just starting out.
Otherwise I prefer drawing over painting. I've already drawn a basic idea of my map as well.
How do you attach photos to a post? I'd love to show what I've got so far

[HandsomeJack_]

The key thing is that I'm using a Samsung tablet. Are there any tablet specific programs that work or am I kind of out of luck? I'm having a tremendously hard time to find anything

[Gamerprinter]

If you are comfortable using a program like Adobe Photoshop, you should consider GIMP (Graphic Image Manipuation Program), it's free to use, but as complex as Photoshop, so a high learning curve. Most software GIMP, Photoshop, illustrator, even Xara that I use, all are compatible with using a graphics tablet.

As far as a drawing program goes Inkscape is free, but it's missing too many features for what I'd use. As mentioned I use Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365, which costs $49 to purchase, and I consider one of the easiest programs to learn and use, but what's easy for one might not be easy for another, and as stated works well with drawing tablets.

I also offer a book teaching my techniques for using Photoshop, GIMP, Illustrator and Xara to create maps, called 25 Quick & Dirty Map Tutorials Guide.

[JoshStolarz]

Hey Jack, welcome to the community! I personally do 95% of my map illustrations on a tablet. I am currently using an iPad with the Procreate app, which is definitely the best app I have found for drawing. But, if you are using a Samsung I would recommend trying the MediaBang app. That is what I used for quite awhile before I made the switch to my iPad. The one benefit of that app in particular is it allows you to have larger canvases than most of the drawing apps I found for Samsung.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any follow up questions for me!
- Josh