Hey Chris, first of all i think your inked linework is absolutely wonderful and really something you can/should build on. As Max once said (iirc): "in a b/w map you have no colours to hide behind" and i think your linework really don't need to hide! Your linework will always be the "skeleton" so to speak (and it's a well shaped one in my view), and all the fancy things you can do with gimp/ps should be directed onto fleshing this skeleton out or "clothing" it to accentuate its form.
I know getting used to gimp (as with any complex programs) can be a long frustrating path, but in my view you have one huge advantage that should make your journey into gimp far more relaxed: The beauty of your mapwork does not depend on gimp/digital colouring!
At this stage your original b/w drawing is (yet!) aesthetically more pleasing than the colored version in my view.
If you're aiming to achieve the look of the gorgeous works by Caenwyr and and Torstan (not really sure if you only meant the coastal waters of the referred works?), i can only agree with Josiah and Kacey that there's no way around a tablet since both their works are made entirely digital (as far as i can see) and couldn't have been made this way without one (or only with hundreds of hours of work). But regardless if you're aiming for these styles or maybe want to develop your own, it's absolutely worth the investment and someone with your drawing skills will surely make good use of it.. Ofc my whole textwall above was intended to encourage you to think seriously about the latter option!
The question is, whether you want to use gimp (or PS, etc.) as a substitute for your pens and paper, which is only achievable with a tablet i think, or only as an addition to your set of tools for coloring, labelling, etc. which is absolutely doable (if not preferable) with just a mouse?
Since you're working with a mouse atm, i try to give you some ideas how to achieve the things you're aiming for. It's the way i would do it and i bet there are many other and better ways still.
===DISCLAIMER===
MAKE SURE TO SAVE YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING I SUGGEST BELOW OR WORK WITH A COPY OF YOUR ORIGINAL PROJECT!
What I want to achieve but haven't been able to:
- Add waves to the coast. Currently they're black and I can't seem to draw over them to make them lighter.
I work with gimp for two years now, but i really haven't found a "clean" way to do this yet! Maybe a saviour will come to this thread and spread her or his wisdom after i showed you the "messy" way.
The problem is, that i found it impossible to just "colourize" a drawn black "element" in gimp via the functions of your "Colors" menu. I personally like to have coastal waves/wavelines in white (on a seperate layer) set to "overlay" on the blue sea. Since you already have your nice wavelines already, you could just isolate them (with the free select tool and then cut the selection and then paste it into a new layer) and then "Color" --> "Invert" the color of your new waveline Layer (black) to white. After that set the layermode to overlay or experiment with other layermodes.
In these Screenshots of the example, i used a somewhat different ordering of my layers (the way i used to do it in my maps often) but i hope you get the point i wanted to make. I Usually start with a parchment like Background Layer. On top of it comes the rest. The Linework Layer is best on top of it all.
Step1.jpg
select the wavelines with your free select tool
Step2.jpg
paste the cutted selection into a new layer ("Waves") and "Invert" it as mentioned above.
Step3a.jpg
This is an "in-between" step, since i forgot to add a water layer... XD
How i do it: Grap your "Fuzzy select tool and select the space around your landmass. Set the threshold of your tool rather high or "Selct"--> "Grow" your selection by some px until it overlaps with your coastline. Maybe "Select"-->"Save to Channel" your selection, to work with it later...
Step3.jpg
Create a new Layer ("Water"), choose a nice blueish color and "Bucket Fill" your selection with it.
Now you can set the Layermode of your "Waves" layer to "Overlay", and experiment with the opacity. Make sure the Layer is above the "Water" Layer.
- "Fade" the ocean around the coastal regions to signify shallower waters and make the land pop. I also haven't been successful with adding different "ocean" layers and adjusting the opacity to achieve different tones as several artists have suggested in other threads.
- Learn how to draw tapered rivers and fix the horrid job I did on the lake in the middle.
These other Questions have to wait a bit (or look at the tutorial (step 8 ) i gave you (here your saved selection of your watermass/landmass will come in handy), it's rather late , but i hope it was helpful so far.
Cheers,
AL
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