Newly Arrived.

[Bren McDonnall]

Hello, everyone.

I'm primarily an author (insofar as I'm primarily anything.) I write rather than draw as a rule, although I haven't been published in years (long story, and I'm only a little bitter these days )

After a long estrangement, and with the advent of various online ways to avoid dead tree publishers, I've started in writing again. Y'know, in between life, the universe, and everything. While I've got a couple of standalone projects going in one state or another, I've also begun working on my "Grand Project".

The Grand Project is my own universe. I've created several before, starting as far back as the '90's, when I was silly enough to be a DM. The Grand Project, however, is different. Where before, reams of hand drawn maps and ridiculously detailed cities with their mile upon mile of underground dungeon were all I aspired to, this new project-- as I'm finding out to my chagrin-- will require quite detailed worlds, societies, and topography.

Worlds. Fantasy, advanced science fiction, and even alien. All of them need to be created and at least roughly laid out-- all of them consistent with the rules set forth for the universe.

I've finally gotten it through my head that slap-dashing out quick blobs of detail on printer or graphing paper just won't cut it. MS Paint (my old standby) will no longer suffice.

I need professional help (hopefully not in the way my ex used to use the phrase). Since I'm also so poor the church mouse has been sending goons over to talk about that shoestring he lent me, my next best solution is to find a community of folks who already know what they're doing and learn from them how do do it properly myself.

Here I am.

I have a copy of gimp, and one of Autorealm (the download of which is so fresh, the bytes are still steaming). I will get this universe out of my head and into some useable form or know the reason why!

Thanks for having me. I hope to become a valued member as I learn what's going on and gain some experience.

Bren

[Chick]

Hello Bren! Welcome to the Guild!

There is 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!!

[Bren McDonnall]

Thanks,

I've been working my way through the tutorials and whatever Youtube videos I can find that are pertinent. I've been going through the various stories and cataloging locations so that when I actually start laying ground down, I can do it once.

I'm sure you'll all get tired of me posting progress before I'm done with just this one world, and then I get to start on the alien star systems.