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Hey there, PiriReis, welcome to the guild.
good day
I found out about this site from a graphic artist who makes wonderful looking fantasy maps. I saw his work at GenCon this year and talked to him about it. I am just here to lurk and to see if I can learn about making some fantasy maps. I have CC3, but I feel inept with it. I also have ESRI ArcMap 9.2, but this is more of a profession software than one for fun.
IRL I am a cartographer. This gives me an appreciation for just about all maps, though it has made creating fantasy/artsy maps rather difficult, as I always think about the theory of plate tectonics and older continental drift, as well as water currents, and appropriate and logical places for hydrology (Rivers), and hypsography (the distribution of elevations hills, mountains, depressions, etc.). Also since I draw maps at work 9 to 5 everyday of the week, sometimes I find it hard to make a map at home "just for fun". I find it difficult to make a map without contour lines, or a grid.
I guess I should throw all the science out when making a fantasy map, but it is hard.
I hope my experience here will be one to learn some ways to make "just for fun" maps, as well as so pro-tips when making my own maps with the skills I have.
thanks for the time.
Hey there, PiriReis, welcome to the guild.
Royal: I'm very sorry for your loss, your mother was a terribly attractive woman.
My Cartographer's Guild maps: Finished Maps
More maps viewable at my DeviantArt page: Ramah-Palmer DeviantArt
Welcome PiriReis!
Don't throw the science out - I'd be very thankful to use some wisdom of a professional as my approaches have been mostly reverse. I drew a bunch of maps before I thought of a grid or any kind of hydrology.
It would be great to see some of your works (the ones made between 9 and 5 included, if that's possible).
Regards,
>Moe
If I stare at the country long enough
I can prise it off the paper,
lift it like a flap of skin.
- Moniza Alvi, 1993 -
Although we have a strong leaning towards the sci-fi / fantasy the site is not specifically about those to the exclusion of all other maps. We do historic and modern real world ones too. In fact I would say this fantasy lean has become more prevalent in recent years compared to that of several years ago when the mix was more even. In any case, we like architectural designs and all sorts of crazy stuff where the strict adherence to pro mapping rules and formats gets chucked right out the window. So you can do whatever kinds of map you like and just play with it for the fun of it.
Personally a bunch of guys and I are into correct hydrology tho to do this manually is quite hard work. I would be incredible grateful for any pro advice about how anyone might improve maps to depict earth like non magical normal physical hydrology and get it correct. I have a tut thread about it so by all means critique it and add anything more to the threads. What I would really like to know more about is how to predict correct erosion for various materials like mud, sand and stone from water courses. There seems to be a wealth of info and apps out there which try but none (including mine) that I have seen do a really great job of getting the results which appear correct compared to what you see in real life.
Exciting! I count myself among those eager to learn proper hydrology/hysography. Personally, my maps are for precise location/environment references in a fantasy roleplaying setting; the players receive maps that are inaccurate and stylized, while I reserve the accurate maps for myself. As such, I would be very excited to learn as much as possible!
So I guess what I'm saying is: if you happen to make a thread with some juicy hydrology details, I (among many others I suspect) would be ever so stoked.
While talking to the person who told me about this site he did mention people he called the "River Police", and I said that I would probably join them.Originally Posted by Redrobes
unfortunately that is one of the worst parts about my job; I cannot show anyone the maps I make at work. This map here is very similar though: http://n467us.com/Data%20Files/Ariel...le%20North.jpg
Thank you all for your welcoming attitudes, the only fantasy maps I have made so far have been in small regions at a large scale, so I can reconcile the fantasy with what I know. I am a gamer, and my players always demand maps.
I am not sure what this is but I will try and find it.
Thank you for giving me some idea of your day job - that's in deed professional work!
Regards,
>Moe
If I stare at the country long enough
I can prise it off the paper,
lift it like a flap of skin.
- Moniza Alvi, 1993 -
Welcome Aboard!
My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
is there a glossary section here, I am unfamiliar with words like tut, or WID?
I'm not sure about WID. But sometimes we use tut here for tutorial - a document describing a process that works well for some mapping processes. A teaching aid if you like. We also use WIP which is an acronym for "Work In Progress". Thats any map or piece of artwork that is not yet finished.
I think a glossary is a good idea and one I have put forward in the past. Its come up several times especially for the members here for whom English is not their first or native language. I think we could do with one where the explanations are very descriptive and verbose so that there is no ambiguity left. Most of the time its pretty obvious until we get to abbreviations, acronyms, or slang. There are a whole bunch of technical terms to do with cartography, geography and geology which I think would benefit from a central listing as well.
We could even translate that glossary page into some of the more common languages by some of the multilingual members on this site. We have some of the tutorials translated into non English languages already tho I think it would be best to keep the forum in English apart from the odd welcome message phrases.
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