Map of Lonely lsle

[David South]

This map was done as a challenge to myself, as I set a goal for myself to finish it in a single night after I got off of work. This took me about four hours, which is the quickest I have ever finished a map. My process was to outline in Inkscape a map that I had sketched during a work meeting and then take it into GIMP for colors. I am still learning both GIMP and Inkscape, so if anyone has tips or tricks for either program I would love to hear them!

Regarding the icons, I wanted to try a map that wasn't covered in labels but was still understandable and usable. All the icons are from the people at http://game-icons.net/ who have so many free awesome icons that are released under a Creative Commons - Attribution license. The font is Lora from Google's OpenFont project.

Lonely Isle.png

Please feel free to give comments and criticisms, I am always looking to improve. So let me know what works and what doesn't!

This map is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You can share it, change it, use it commercially, as long as you credit me. Please let me know if you use it, I would be excited to see what you do with it!

[David South]

If anyone is curious, here is the original sketch.
Lonely Isle scan.jpg

[XCali]

For four hours of work, that's a job well done. It is fun, I enjoy the icons you used. It does make things clear without needing to word it out.
The ocean is good.
One thing for such a quick map that could have been done differently I feel is the type of brush used on the land. Maybe a grainy brush, that gives a more ground feeling.

Gimp is fun. I like making free brushes for it. Though, I'm without a computer for the month, so it would be hard to give tips from my phone. One thing I can type now is:
Try different brushes at different opacities, and swipe the same on over the same places several times, then a different effect takes hold. I have no clue if that makes sense, but that one helped me with creating better mountains.
Also, Brightness and Contras button is your friend if drew something with pencil and scanned it. (Try putting the pencil sketch layer as multiply, 2nd > Brightness -Low -90ish and contrast -high +65ish. 3d add a ground layer beneath that layer. The multiply causes all the white to disappear from the sketch and the B/C for the lines to pop.)

Hehe, anyway, if you figure that out, it's quite nice

[Redrobes]

Gimp, Inkscape, Creative Commons, and Open Fonts - your definitely a champion for open culture ! Nice one !