arsheesh
Hey all.
While a WIP thread already exists here at the forums, I decided to create a WIP page specifically for anyone wishing to submit their current map projects to the forums for critique. Also, for those of you wishing to create your own maps, if you are not already familiar with the site, I would highly recommend checking out the "Cartographers Guild":http://forum.cartographersguild.com/index.php?referrerid=15127. It's a site devoted to map making and there are tons of really helpful resources there for people just getting started and for experts alike. In addition, I would also recommend taking a look at "A Magical Society Guide to Mapping":http://paizo.com/store/games/roleplayingGames/m/aMagicalSociety/v5748btpy82tc, a free pdf resource to aid in fantasy map-making. There is also a helpful thread here at the forums on the topic of "Designing Fantasy Countries and Cultures":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1171. That said, I look forward to seeing your contribution to this thread.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Comments
h2. "Veskar":http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?14419-Veskar-WIP&p=151239#post151239
I'm using GIMP and Wilbur to create this map, and, as I'm new to Wilbur, it's taken allot of experimentation and trial and error to figure out how to get the right amount of erosion. Anyway, still have a bit more to do on it but tips and critiques are welcome. Thanks.
Second, I'm not currently working on a map, but I thought I'd share a couple that I made with help from those same forums that Arsheesh mentioned. The cartographer's guild is an amazing resource if you want to make your own fantasy maps.
"My World Map":http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/map_images/185519/World_Map_-_Web.jpg
"The Town of Highmoor":http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/map_images/197930/highmoor.jpg
EDIT: Also, thanks for those links, I downloaded a couple of those PDFs.
Oh, and to answer your question, no, I did not draw all those rivers by hand. Except for three of the main rivers (which I did draw), these rivers were generated in Wilbur using the "Incise Flow" erosion generator. Glad to here you got something out of the links though. As for your maps, very nice indeed!
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
"Link":http://i.imgur.com/VVwLt.jpg
"Linky":http://i.imgur.com/yMZsb.jpg
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Check out "this sticky":http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?1320-Cartographic-Terminology&highlight=geographical+names over at the Guild too. You will find some good resources there.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
None of my maps really qualify as 'in progress' at the moment, but I have done a couple of things in the past few months.
For my campaign "The Company of Captain Black":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/tcocb, I created this map of the "Phalanx Coast":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/phalanx_coast.jpg, a more detailed close up of an area of "Koar":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/koar.jpg, which I originally mapped for my "Sanction of the Athar":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/sanction campaign.
For the Exalted campaign I'm participating in, "Sins of the First Age":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/sotfa, I created a map of a neighborhood in the city of "Nexus":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/sotfa/wikis/nexus we call "Cor Ignus":http://omnichron.net/external/op/src/Nexus.jpg, a chunk of the city my character got to literally "remake to his own design":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/sotfa/adventure-log/essence-darkness using magic, from the population to the plumbing.
Further back than that, I also created a pair of high resolution battle maps for use in a one shot adventure I ran for volunteers at last year's Game Developer's Conference. One map is set along a "road through the wilderness":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/encounter_maps_road.jpg ("No Grid":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/encounter_maps_road_clean.jpg), and the other is set in "a nearby keep":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/encounter_maps_keep.jpg ("No Grid":http://omnichron.net/external/maps/encounter_maps_keep_clean.jpg).
The Cor Ignus map was also more or less hand done in Photoshop, but using a very different technique. To create the geometric lines of a city, I started with solid blocks of space created using the polygonal lasso and fill, then used the line tool in layer masks to mask out nice tidy streets and alleys, and more polygonal lasso work to cut out open spaces. The edges of all the shapes are outlined using the Stroke layer style, and both light and dark inner glow layer styles are used to break up the flatness of the shapes. Masked texture overlays are also used heavily to texturize things - an assortment of tiling textures, and a large satellite photo of a slum, all filtered with the Pallet Knife filter for a more graphic look.
The battle maps were created in three dimensions using 3D Studio Max, with texture work and post processing in Photoshop. Nothing hand drawn about those unless you count making models of ferns and rocks and things, and arranging them in the scene.
All in all, I'm very happy with the final result, not something that I usually say about my own work :P.
Edit: fixed a spelling error on the map.
@Gaaran, really nice job. The fonts and elements you chose really work nicely for the hand-drawn style you used.
Thanks Arsheesh. I love drawing them that way. Takes a while though, lol.
I redid the border and background, added some folds... I think I'm going to finally leave it alone, but we'll see. Perhaps I should start working on the next one instead :P.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Maybe I'll figure out some mapping tools and come ask you for tips some day...or maybe I'll just hand draw some continents and scan them in and send them to you to do up like that in your spare time just to help me out? Haha.
Seriously impressive work, gentlemen.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
Arsheesh I'm intending to sign up so I can check out your map, just been rather busy lately.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
"Cormand and Barithani":http://i.imgur.com/ZUm5R.jpg