Need help making realistic hilly terrain for encounter/battle map

[argus76]

Hi, I'd like to create a an encounter/battle map (1" = 5') featuring a ruined keep on hilly terrain. See below for the kind of map I'd like to model this after. I'm new to mapmaking in Photoshop - could anyone offer suggestions or point to a tutorial on how to create a hilly and rocky terrain effect?

Thank you!

watchfire_keep_by_torstan-d46mfo7.jpg

[Rautatilhi]

If non of the professionals reply, you can find a few ideas in the VTT/Battlemap maping topic:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=57.

[J.Edward]

I'm not sure if anyone has tackled that topic in any meaningful way Argus.
Most of Mike Schley's work is hand drawn so I'm not sure if there's an easy process for this or not.
I'm about off to work but if I can, tonight or this weekend, I will try to show a quick step to something like that.
If I forget, go to my profile page here and put in a visitor message to remind me.

[- Max -]

Think this one is from Torstan. Check out his tutorials there

[argus76]

Thank you, J.Edward!

Thank you as well, Rautatilhi and Max!

[Azélor]

It was made by Torstan.

There is a lot of coloring and shading involved. That's not exclusively related to cartography. I think you should aim for a simpler style to start with.
Like this example or almost anything done by Larb: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=25755

(btw, I don't mean that Larb is without talent, it's just that the style is easier)

Another and even simpler would be altitude lines like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xstBGhuD2g...n_contours.png
or this: http://tenetti.org/kts/DandD/DiamondLakeMap.jpg

[J.Edward]

I stand corrected... well, maybe I sit corrected then.
Torstan still works hand drawn too I believe.
Azelor is correct. There are definitely easier ways to get started doing something like this.

[argus76]

Thanks, everyone. I opted to drop the hills in favor of a cliff face. Here's the finished product, for use in my game this Sunday! By the way, I just joined the site - what a great community.

keepruin.jpg

[Azélor]

That's pretty good for a first map
It does the job well.

[Carnifex]

I am actually doing cliffs for my maps right now. It takes some effort to make it look good by a script or graphicstyle. In Photoshop I'd take some images with cliffs and place them on the map. Search for cliffs on this forum.