Greetings!

[Raz Lucio]

Greetings

I'm just new in this fascinating world of fantasy cartography. I've been reading "fantasy" book since I was a child, and I drawn maps (not really good maps) since then. I just want to learn how to use conventional tools for improving my map-making skills. Muromyitz_oriental_11_2.1.jpgI'm aware that there is a long way in front of me, but I'm eager to learn.

César Raziel

[jbgibson]

Welcome to the Guild! And for the boldness to contribute a map right in your first post, you deserve s bit of reputation.

Tell us how you want to learn - I bet there's specific material here for you. By 'conventional tools' do you mean what was conventional for millennia, ink and paper? Or the software that has become an new normal?

[Raz Lucio]

Greetings and thank you for the welcome. Although I have a dozen maps in ink and paper, I'd like to become familiar with the "new normal". So, I want to learn photoshop/gimp basics, since all I've done digitally has been made in Illustrator, but Is not as flezible as I would have liked.

Another capacities that I want to develop are those that could help me to digitallize my old maps.

Thanks again

[ChickPea]

Hi Raz, welcome to the Guild and thanks for sharing you map with us. (I really like the font you used. What font is it?)

Best place to start, if you haven't looked already, is the Tutorials/How To area of the forum. Pick one and give it a try, just to see what you can do. I agree that vector applications can be rather limiting. I don't use Illustrator, but I use Inkscape (freebie equivalent) and it's great for some things (like labelling, for example) but using PS/Gimp will allow you to do far more.

If you've got scans or decent photos of your hand-drawn maps, feel free to share them with us. I'll look forward to seeing your work.