General Question

[Ralgo]

I want some help here.I just joined the guild and i have some questions.I have never ever drawn anything in my life.But i am very interested in digital cartography.Is there a way for me to get started?I am 26 so it may be to late to get involved ?

[Falconius]

Lol 26 isn't too late to start anything. There is no real difference between digital and traditional media except for the tools. Traditional medai may be simpler to start out with just because it comes more naturally to people, but in this day and age that may not be true I suppose. I'd recommend Krita for a drawing/paint program that is free, or GIMP, but in either case you really want to get some sort of pen input device because a mouse just doesn't compare, though you can, I suppose, get by with a mouse if you've no other choice. As for the rest I'd suggest asking more questions as you go along or look up some of the tutorials in the guilds tutorial section.

[Ralgo]

Lol 26 isn't too late to start anything. There is no real difference between digital and traditional media except for the tools. Traditional medai may be simpler to start out with just because it comes more naturally to people, but in this day and age that may not be true I suppose. I'd recommend Krita for a drawing/paint program that is free, or GIMP, but in either case you really want to get some sort of pen input device because a mouse just doesn't compare, though you can, I suppose, get by with a mouse if you've no other choice. As for the rest I'd suggest asking more questions as you go along or look up some of the tutorials in the guilds tutorial section.

Hello , after some search some people told me to start with wonderdraft to get the grip of mapping and then start drawing on my own.They also recomended me photoshop.I sthat wonderdraft good or all of its features are premade ?

[Wired]

Don't worry, I was past 30 when I started. All you need is patience and some stubbornness.

[Diamond]

Hello , after some search some people told me to start with wonderdraft to get the grip of mapping and then start drawing on my own.They also recomended me photoshop.I sthat wonderdraft good or all of its features are premade ?

That's not a bad idea to start out with Wonderdraft. It kind of 'eases you into' making maps. It's an easy program to get the hang of, and if you're patient you can make some truly amazing maps with it:

https://www.deviantart.com/kiltedfie...hree-821699996
https://www.deviantart.com/robin-map...reas-872249307
https://www.deviantart.com/kiltedfie...-WIP-838517711

This is a low-cost, low-stress way to get a sense of what makes a map a map, to play around with ideas quickly, whereas with photoshop, the learning curve is steep. I'm not saying photoshop is no good (I use it almost exclusively), but be prepared to do some learning.

[Tiana]

As long as you're still alive you can start trying to learn anything you want.

Wonderdraft is a good starter program, if you want to try stamp mapping for free you can also try Inkarnate. Or a pen and paper will work too, lots of people start with pencil and paper maps. Photoshop is pretty hard to learn so I'd start with stamp maps or traditional art. You can put new assets in Wonderdraft if the defaults get boring to you.

[johnvanvliet]

i am 55 so it is never to late