another newbie arrives

[Rogwald]

Hi,

I joined a few days ago and I am very impressed with what I have seen so far.

I am trying to come up with some maps for fantasy stories I am trying to write. I have a few hand drawn maps but I am yet to transfer them to computer. any help with this or any new ideas would be extremely grateful

[arsheesh]

Welcome Rogwald. To clarify, do you mean: (a) that you have finished some hand drawn maps and now want to transfer them to your computer, or: (b) you have some hand drawn map outlines that you would like to further manipulate with map-making software?

Cheers,

-Arsheesh

[Rogwald]

Mostly outlines. The main focus of the maps is a city with some outlying lands. I do have one that I applied some colour to but that is as far as my ability goes. I think it might be easier to finish them with a computer program. I have used GIMP2 briefly but i am still a beginner with such programs any advice would be well recieved

[Korash]

If you want some guidance on how to use the Gimp for mapping, you have come to the right place. The best place to start is with RobA's "little" tut that you can find http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?1142-[Award-Winner]-Using-GIMP-to-Create-an-Artistic-Regional-RPG-Map. It is a great tut to learn the various aspects of Gimp, and a lot of people have used it to springboard into their own style by tweeking the methods learned from it and other tuts. If you have any questions on it, just post them in that thread.

Once you start the tut (or any others that you will find in the Tutorial section at the bottome of the main site page) start up a WIP (Work in progress) thread and ask any questions about looks or ways to improve the map. Don't be shy, 'cause we are a freindly bunch who's only real fault is our addiction to great maps (and helping create the same).

Welcome and have fun.

[arsheesh]

Great, you have come to the right place. First off let me just say that I am bran new to the guild myself. In fact I only just learned how to use GIMP (on the fly) over the Holidays as I worked on my own map. Hence, my own knowledge and expertise being negligible, allow me to direct you to the resources that I found helpful here. The first thing that I did, was to search through the "mapping"section to get a feel for the various different styles of maps that were out there. Next, I went to the "tutorials" section in search of GIMP map-making walk-throughs. In this regard I found the following tutorials extremely helpful (Thanks RobA, Ascension and Gidde!):

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?1142-[Award-Winner]-Using-GIMP-to-Create-an-Artistic-Regional-RPG-Map

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?4084-[Award-Winner]-My-atlas-style-in-PS/page15

Both of these tutorials will help walk you through the process of map-making in GIMP; however, if you are unfamiliar with GIMP, I highly recommend reading through the GIMP user's manual online. Also, RobA and others have developed a number of Scripts for "pimping" your GIMP that you really ought to check out. These scripts and plug-ins are posted throughout the tutorials section. Also check out the Gimp plug-ins registry:

http://registry.gimp.org/

to pick us some helpful plug-ins (you really should get the "Layer Effects" plug in if nothing else). Well this is enough to keep you busy for a while. Hope this helped somewhat.

Cheers,

-Arsheesh

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard!

[NeonKnight]

Welcome to the Guild!