Hello There!

[Tiana]

Hi. I go online by Tiana, I'm a writer and an artist, 19 years of age and Canadian. That should serve for the introduction part, right? Well... I'm also not a map-maker. I know nothing about geology. I'd done all of a handful of map pencil sketches over the seven years of my writing and artistic life. They were all crappy. They also primarily focused on one world location, relevant to a story I'm involved in the creation of, for a webcomic and RP and just plain ol fantasy writing. So I set out on a quest! A quest... for... map-making tutorials. To make a not-crappy fantasy map! Which brought me here. So I registered to see the tutorials, and to oogle at other people's signifigantly-better-than-my-map work.

Anyway, I'm a writer and a painter and now the proud owner of a map that's taken me HOURS to create and it's STILL NOT DONE. D: And now that I've learned more about geography than I ever knew before, I now know that the rivers are crappy and illogical and the lakes are wonky and the mountains don't do that but... but... but... oh well. It's fantasy. MAGIC DID IT. That's right, magic somehow makes rivers branch weird! I'd change things if it wasn't already an established RP setting with rivers in these places doing this stuff...

T_T

(I still like it anyway!)

So yeah. This is my first (nonsketchy) map. It's still a work in progress, but right now I'm too busy trying to figure out how to fix my river violations to finish adding type and details and making better province borders. Guess I should've made it a WIP thread instead, but this critter really is why I joined this site, so it can stand as my introduction!

[icosahedron]

Sounds like you have self-criticism in hand. That's a good first map.

Your Avatar is interesting, a moody atmospheric sky. I clicked it to see if it gives a bigger pic, but it doesn't. I wouldn't mind seeing that in-thread. Is it one of your own creations?

[Ramah]

I really like this map actually. River transgressions aside this puppy is full of character for me. I really like the muted palette. Looking forward to seeing this evolve then and whatever else you come up with.

Oh, and welcome to the guild.

[Tiana]

I really like this map actually. River transgressions aside this puppy is full of character for me. I really like the muted palette. Looking forward to seeing this evolve then and whatever else you come up with.

Oh, and welcome to the guild.

Maybe I'll put it in the WIP thread. I love showing off my stuff evolving. >.> The other people who saw me working on it liked the palette too so I think I'll stick with it, then. I tend to think parchment when I think maps, so this was an experiment. Glad it was a good one, then! ^_^

Thanks for the welcome!

Sounds like you have self-criticism in hand. That's a good first map.

Your Avatar is interesting, a moody atmospheric sky. I clicked it to see if it gives a bigger pic, but it doesn't. I wouldn't mind seeing that in-thread. Is it one of your own creations?

Self-criticism? You think? I do actually like this map, you just haven't seen my sketchy ones. >_>

And yes, yes, it is one of my own creations! It's a speedpaint that happened to be the only one of my recent pictures I had small enough for the avatar restrictions here. It is a speedpaint, though (y'know, in the half hour range) so the bigger size quality reflects that. It does look like a WIP and not like a polished painting. I was doing some general landscape practice and the lighting got out of hand. Love when that happens. Here you go, enjoy!


And, ooo, I even had a spammer reply to me. >_> I've gotta give him props for being a talented spammer, replying to welcome posts with relatively on topic things.

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard!

I also like the map and look forward to seeing it develop.

Map On!

[Ascension]

Cool color scheme, I especially like what you have done with the hand painting under the forests and mountains. Nice job.

[Korash]

You know, I might be getting senile in my old age....


now where was I ?........


I seem to remember a time when maps like this in an intro post was worth some rep.

Rant on:
Come on guys, you say you like it but still no rep for encouragement
Rant off:

I for one think that this is VERY rep worthy

Welcome to the Guild and very nice map. Did you use any tutorials (and if so which ones) or is it just plain talent ?

[Jeff_Wilson63]

You may not know much about geology and so forth, but you're a far better mapmaker (and artist) than me. Your map appealed to me straight off. I particularly like the inland lakes. Too many created maps don't have those.

[swampwater]

Hi there, I am new too and would like to add my welcome to this. Also great map you have there, wish mine looked as good.

[Tiana]

@Steel General Thank you for the welcome!

@Ascension Thank you! And it's more than just under the mountains and forests that's hand-painted... the ocean and all the texture is hand painted too.

@Korsha Oh, well, thank you for the rep, then. I guess I'll just have to be even more awesome to get more. =P

And of course it's plain talent! It takes talent to do amazing things with a tutorial, after all! =P Yeah, I used a tutorial, at least for the base. I started out using these tutorials, and did the first tutorial and the second tutorial, making my map a nice parchment color and churning out a bunch of map feature brushes. I decided the parchment color didn't suit my personal artistic style for the project I'm making the map for (it's to be attached to a webcomic) so I backed up a few paces, changed the color scheme and then started to incorperate my own style into the map. I made the base from a tutorial though.

@Jeff_Wilson63 Really? I thought big ol' lakes were a given. o_o Thank you! I wouldn't say I'm a better map-maker though. In that regards I'm just a hack. I am a decent artist, though, and that's probably hiding all the flaws of the actual map itself. >_>

@swampwater Why, thank you. Welcome to you too!