My first world map

[spannclann]

I am an old school Dungeon Master that has always stayed away from mapping my world because I suck at drawing. Recently, I moved from paper to Gimp to create my battle maps and I have been doing pretty well with it. Now, I think it is time to Gimp up my world map. I have always used the idea of Pangaea Ultima. I have an rough outline drawing of the continent but it seems a bit too smooth for a coast line and a little light on islands. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!!

[Kellerica]

Hey there, and welcome to the Guild! Posting the map you're working on as an attachement would be a good first step to getting that feedback

[spannclann]

WorldmapScan (2).pngDreamrift.jpgpangaea_ultima.png

So, I found two maps that are complete. The color one I believe is from the guild here. Both are awesome, but I'd like to make one specific to my world. I have the outline here as well and as you can see, the coast line is a bit too smooth, and not as many islands as the others. How do I start?

[spannclann]

pangaea_ultima.pngDreamrift.jpgWorldmapScan (2).png

Here are two examples of what I am going for. The color one is actually from the guild here i believe. I have included my world outline but the coast lines are too smooth and I am a but light on the number of islands.

[spannclann]

Can anyone tell me how to get started?

[Tiana]

You can work with that pretty easily. Select outside of your outline and fill that in with any color, and then invert the selection, make a new layer, and fill that in with any color. Use these to mask the textures you want to the area, I usually use a clipping mask if I work in a raster program. If you don't like your outline, set it to a transparent layer and draw over top of it, but slower and more complicated, and repeat this until you do like your results.

When you have the land selected, make a new layer and do a stroke around it, and then expand the selection and do another stroke to get the "ripple" effect around the land.

To fill in the land, most people will start by downloading brushes for trees and mountains. It's up to you if you want to do stamps or draw them separately. I do both, they each have their values.

So you can start by finding some textures you like for paper and water and land, and some assets to populate the land.

[kozzie]

Good morning, Spannclann.

This is a great thread that has pretty much all of the tutorials in PDF format.
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=4987

Realistic Coastlines works really well for what I believe you're looking for. It does wonders to get rid of smooth coastlines. I do all of mine in pencil and ink and it's a lot of darting in and out and constantly keeping the pencil out of a straight line.

Here's a link to OldGuy's coastline tutorial. I used it with a part of your sketch to give you an idea of how it works. There's always room to personalize in it, though, especially at the threshold step.
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=9056

assistance.jpg

I like to place my rivers first and then place my mountains and hilly areas around them to always keep the water flowing downhill. You can add another layer in gimp just for mountains, a layer for rivers, a layer for towns. It's best to keep different things in different layers so you can use a brush tool to place your items, such as trees, mountains, etc.

-Kozz