Hello, i'm new to cartography and would appreciate help developing my skills.
Hello, my name is Andrew, I have been hand drawing personal fantasy maps since I was about ten. In this time i developed my world and have begun flushing it out, but until now i didn't have access to a computer to use advanced tools to really detail my map. This is the political map of my world, and yes, sadly i used paint to transition from paper to digital. I would appriciate advise on what tools to use, and what to fix/add to my map. Sorry for the unclean, empty map, any help would be great!! Aferian political map.jpg
Hello Andrew! Welcome to the Guild!
For a first map post here, that's really quite good. To start with, I suggest you read a great tutorial in the sticky section of Tutorials, called Quickstart Guide to Fantasy Mapping: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4276
From there, go to Hand Drawn Mapping for the Artistically Challenged: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=10655
Once you have completed those two tutorials, you'll be well on your way!!
Thank you, and thank you for the direction! Ill be sure to watch the tutorials!
Welcome to the Guild! You have nothing to apologize for - you've got a more interesting map going here that some people do with Photoshop. Like one or more others I'll give you a smidgen of rep for the boldness to give us a map in your first post, and for it being a creditable start as well.
As far as tools to advance your skills - even for free there are way more flexible graphics packages than Paint - take a look at the thread on Mapping Software. I always put in a plug for Serif's Photo Plus, which has a quite capable free edition, but if you don't mind a learning curve The Gimp offers much of the capability of Photoshop (exceeds it in areas, some would say) at a cost again of Zero. Both those are for raster drawing - if you'd like the clean lines and scaleability of vector drawing, look at Inkscape - again free, and world-class for results.
Did you trace the scan of your paper original to get dark coasts and borders, or is all the linework straight from a scan? With any of the above choices you don't have to throw that work away - you can use layers like tracing paper to start with the scan as a template, and either trace it or auto-follow its lines approximately.
Welcome to the Guild Andrew! Chick and JB have both offered some really good advice. I'll throw in my vote for the GIMP, it's a great free program and there are quite a few tutorials here written for it. Another thing I'd add is have a browse through the finished maps section to get a sense of the various styles people work with. Once you figure out what styles you like best, check and see if there are any tutorials written for now to create maps in that style. Another thing, don't feel shy about creating a work-in-progress thread when you begin to revise your map. We have a very friendly and helpful community here and you can glean a lot of tips and tricks through the constructive criticism of the community.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Thank you all again! I downloaded the gimp and im reading through the tutorial, it seems like once i learn it it will be very helpful. I really appreciate everyone's advise, and i hope to start a work in progress thread once im familiar with the gimp. Also, yes JB, i scanned my first penciled drawing into the computer and i darkened the boarders, put in digital names and the equator. I was just doing it to get a better copy for my GURPS campaign, but then i stumbled across some really impressive homemade maps that led me here, and i decided i wanted to really develop the world through the site. Again thank you all for the direction, im just starting but now i feel like i have a real idea of how to take this to the next level.
I'm with you Andrew, and would love to learn more map making skills. I too will peruse the tutorials listed in this post.
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