You people are making me cry

[rabek]

Hi! I was trying to make a world map for a setting I've been developing and I found... this place.

My gods, this place.

I saw a map on the front page made with Microsoft Paint, of all things, that was better than I could ever hope to make. I won't even get into the ones made with stuff like Photoshop.

So rather than give up in despair, I figured I'd see if I can convince any of you to teach me your sorcerers' ways.

I'm essentially just a hobbyist from Colorado, but I'm hoping to make a map I can use for a series of books I've been (kind of) working on. I've always been more interested in world building than actually writing, so who knows? Maybe this map-making thing will keep me occupied for a long time to come.

Hope to get to know you all!

[Gidde]

Welcome to the Guild! It sounds like you'll be hooked in no time Check out the tutorial/how to section of the forums; you'll be surprised how quickly you learn the magic


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[arsheesh]

Welcome Rabek, and don't despair, as Gidde mentioned, with the aid of the tutorials here and the other resources of this community I am confident that you will be capable of achieving much more than you imagine. The questions you will probably want to ask yourself are: 1) What style map would you like to achieve? 2) How much time do have to spend in learning the software needed to achieve such a map, and then to spend in map creation? 3) What sorts of software are available for map creation and what sorts of styles are you capable of achieving with each? 4) How much money are you willing to spend on said software? 5) What is the learning curb involved with each?

A good place to begin answering these questions is found in Ravells "Quickstart Guide to Fantasy Mapping" (a link to which can be found in the sticky at the top of the Members Introduction section), which, as the title suggests, goes over these basic issues and has links to helpful discussions on these. You might also want to browse through the tutorials and finished maps sections to get a sense of what styles are out there, and what you would need to achieve them

Probably the two most popular program for creating maps here are Photoshop and GIMP (a freeware graphics program similar to Photoshop). Personally, my own bias is in favor of GIMP, since it's absolutely free and can do most of what Photoshop can, and in addition some things it can't. So there's my two sense on the matter. Anyway, best of luck to you. Feel free to ask any question you have, and, once you've settled on a tutorial to begin, I'd recommend starting a WIP map page showing your progress. It's a good way to get feedback and constructive criticism.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Clercon]

Welcome to the guild! I can just second what has been said here.

[Pellarhodon]

Maps by hand are best. just paper, pencil and U! =)