Bastiaan Willems, introducing myself

[Bastiaan]

Hello everyone,

my name is Bastiaan Willems and I am a Dutch student, and from November 2012 onward, I can call myself an official historian, as I finished my Master 'Second World War in Europe' at the University of Edinburgh. I could use some help with making a few maps. Possessing only 'paint' obviously makes that my maps will never exceed a basic level, which is not really 'proffesional-looking'. If someone would like to help me along, suggesting (free) programs, or is willing to make some maps for me, I would be more than grateful.

[jbgibson]

Bastiaan - welcome to the Guild!

There are many free or very cheap graphics programs available. A first question might be what style are you planning to map with? Different types of programs would excel at different results. Inkscape is free, and does nice clean vector graphics. http://inkscape.org/

The GIMP is also free http://www.gimp.org/ and is an excellent raster graphics tool. Both have tutorials in the Guild, and experts willing to help learn. And both are pretty much as good as the equivalent commercial products. There are dozens, if not hundreds of other choices - a thread devoted to the many possibilities will give you ideas. http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...112#post195112

Another question might be what is your purpose? Maps for academic or professional use have some needs that fantasy or game maps do not, and vice versa.

[Blaidd Drwg]

Welkom, Bastiaan!

I can't really tell you more than what jbgibson just told you, but you can't go wrong with taking a look in the tutorial section. I guess most cartographers here have a more artistic approach than I assume you must be going for, but the basics of making maps are pretty much the same.

Good luck!

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild Bastion, and congrats on completing your Masters! I have nothing to add to JbGibson's advice.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh