Some Advice

[Silky Johnson]

I was in a real rush to get this city map out for a game this weekend. I think I did OK on a few things. I like the borders. Mostly this was Gimp w/ An automated city map and some Wonderdraft.

So what are things you do on short notice that are low effort I could have done differently? Is there a way I could have improved the rooftops without hand drawing? Really they are just filled in textures/patterns.
helgosmall.jpg

[waldronate]

Use a bevel (a lighted shapeburst gradient) on the rooftops to give them the appearance of illuminated angles. https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ead.php?t=1932 can be useful, but you might not have large enough rooftops to benefit much from the technique.
The icons to identify the places could benefit from a different color scheme or something to make it easier to pick them out of the sea of semi-uniform rooftops. If the rooftops are darker, the icons might pop more as they are. I would suggest that the icons ought to be immediately discernable (probably not readable) when the map is zoomed out on the screen.

[Silky Johnson]

Thanks a ton... I thought about the icons. I threw a deep drop shadow to try and make them stand out... I probably should have gone with a different color set of rooftops but I wasnt thinking that far ahead at the time.

I didnt think about a bevil. I am going to try that!

[Silky Johnson]

Holy... I mean HOLY CRAP that is a cool tutorial. I thought for sure with the bazillion GIMP updates since then the script RobA made from 10 years ago wouldnt function but it sure does.

Thanks for that link!

I will be fiddlefarting around with that for a while.

[Josiah VE]

Really nice map, love how it looks.
What I often do for city maps is a layer mask and square brush to give the idea of roof shadows. Here's what it looks like:

Waterdeep.jpg

Use a selection of all the buildings to add a layer mask to a layer above the buildings layer. That way if you draw it only draws on top of the buildings. Then you can you a square brush/line tool to get straight hard lines and draw in shadows on one side of the buildings to give the impression of rooftops. You can draw in black with a low layer opacity.

I find this way quite effective, and pretty quick once you get used to it. Personally I usually prefer it over a bevel effect.

[Silky Johnson]

Thats really interesting. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between that and a drop shadow?

[Silky Johnson]

I should add... Spectacular map. Very well done.

[Silky Johnson]

Thank you gentlemen. I spent some time on it and my update to the map:

helgosmall.jpg

[Josiah VE]

Thats really interesting. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between that and a drop shadow?

A drop shadow is an automated effect while I was talking about manually drawing in the shadows for the rooves. I also added a drop shadow for the effect of the shadow cast by the building.
Really great work on the map, looks wonderful with the effects!

[Silky Johnson]

Oh I reread the post and I get it. Shadows in top of the roof. I like it. Very cool.

Any ideas on making the trees more 3 dimensional so they match the buildings?

I have already spent way more time on this thing than I intended but it is fun.