How do I draw detail on grassland? (Bonus points for Schley-style!)

[handsome_unlimited]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to mapmaking but I have read through every one of Torstan's (excellent) tutorials, and searched diligently through the forums but can't find any relevant advice.
To be more specific, I'm talking about inking detail lines (please forgive me if i don't have the right words - my cartography and general photoshop lexicon is lacking) on overhead grassland maps. To quote what i asked in Torstan's thread:

"I was wondering if you had any tips for drawing grass detail - for whatever reason, whenever I attempt to ink in detail lines for grass they just look... wrong. Light and shade and texture seem to be fine, but it still feels like something is missing from the map without those few lines. Detail on mountains, water, forests? Easy, thanks to your tutorials! But any time I try to add those little dashes and curves and lines to an overhead grassland map, it comes out looking completely random. Any advice?"

I've been attempting to emulate Mike Schley's style, but I am coming to the terrifying realization that he probably does it completely by hand. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
-HU

[ascanius]

Yeah, I think he does that by hand. Best suggestion, get one of his maps and copy it as closely as you can, it will give you and idea of how he is doing what he is doing. That's if you want that style, otherwise not really sure what to tell you. I do everything by hand so I don't know if there is atut, or method out there for what you want.

[Azélor]

Can you give an example of what your trying to do?

[johnvanvliet]

those three/four lines , that represent the grass ,look like they are all hand drawn

[handsome_unlimited]

Here is a link to an overland map of his that demonstrates what I'm talking about, from one of his posts:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...1&d=1400257978

So far, what seems to give the closest results is using a very small, very hard brush and shaking my hand as I draw.

[J.Edward]

Yeah, that's just short controlled strokes with a hard brush.
It takes a bit of time but once you get used to doing it you get faster at it.

[handsome_unlimited]

Ahaha, I was afraid of that. I was hoping there would be some magically worded piece of advice that would make everything click. Much like in Torstan's tutorials, he mentions drawing forest outlines in his style is reminiscent of a "cauliflower, or a child's drawing of a cloud". Forest detail as "short, curved dashes" and water ripples as "long, light curves".

Thanks though, I'll keep working at it.