Baby Strokes - Project 1

[CmorEffect]

Hello all,

It was recommended to me, in my introductory thread, that I should start a WIP to receive feedback and assistance from my fellow cartographers. Here I go.

The map, unnamed as of yet, is a regional exploration of a fantasy world I have yet to create. I have been inspired by some of the fantastic maps I have seen on the site, and I thought I would begin with a map, and end with the world.

I am still new to the digital side of the house, so my first effort is a rather simple rendering of two landmasses separated by a body of water (or one landmass bordered by two bodies of water, eye of the beholder and all that). This took me a few days of tutorials and some extensive experimentation, but hopefully I can continue to learn and improve upon it.

Project1.png

I would like to extend my thanks to RobA, his tutorials on creating coastlines and his tutorials on GIMP were my primary source material.

[CmorEffect]

**WIP Update**

Initially, I had attempted to follow RobA’s tutorials but ran into difficulties surpassing a certain point. Unable to successfully navigate past the black and white images (developed with realistic coastlines) I decided to fall back on alternate, more guided tutorial called the Hand-Drawn Map Tutorial (for the artistically challenged) by Gidde. I think the work through was very beneficial in helping me understand GIMP and the various functions (Channels versus Layers) and I was successful in developing an interesting map. Using Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time setting as inspiration, I recreated a similar landscape to his using Gidde’s tutorial. Here is the latest rough draft.

Ehos_v6.jpg

I want to stress I am using his work as a model to emulate (in some respects) and the ultimate goal is for me to learn more about my digital software. Any feedback would be appreciated. I know the work is very rough.

Thanks in advance.

- Cmor

[Llannagh]

**WIP Update**

Here is the latest rough draft.

Doesn't look too rough to me!

Nice style, I have to say.

I like your laid-back idea of starting with a small map and developing a worldmap from that. I'm doing it the other way around, though I had this world in my mind for years now.

Looking forward to seeing this develop! Best of luck/inspiration!