jtougas

It's not a new idea. It's brought up quite frequently in discussions here at the forum. A map in it's most basic form is a way to distribute information. Here is point A here is point B and here is what in between those two points and how far it is from A to B. See? I just made a map and didn't draw a thing. Obviously it isn't always that simple. Sometimes we need to know about point C or even point X to make an informed choice on where to go. We create worlds that require climate data and geological ...

Ah yes the story... If you follow my work you know that for me a map is just another way to tell a story. I fill them with bits and bobs and all kinds of "fluff" that helps the viewer see my vision. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. One of the things I'm not so good at is making it all fit together and make sense. My worst most immediate problem is scale. I hate it I struggle with it and it makes my most "clever" maps at best useless and at worst garbage. I do a lot of ...

If your anything like me, you probably spend a good deal of time looking at your maps. Just looking. A zoom in here an zoom out there a good long stare at this and maybe a long unfoucused look at the whole thing while strory or adventure ideas run unfiltered through your mind. I really enjoy that part of map making I also think it is the most important and most irritating phase of the process. Oh it's not so bad when you are just starting out. "I'll need a mountain there and a city there etc ...

We all know how much wonderful stuff there is here in the Guild. There are incredibly talented artists that inspire us and leave us in awe. I think that sometimes that can be a bad thing. Let me explain, I am currently working on a castle for my Darkness Falls:The Fall of the Kingdom of Shendenflar Project. Another member of the Guild is also working on a castle. This member is FAR more talented with this sort of thing then I am and to me that's not an issue. I am confident in my own skills and ...

The human mind is pretty amazing. I'm fascinated by mine. How can it possibly keep coming up with idea after idea and then chasing after said ideas like a puppy chasing a ball. I was happily working on my "Adventures of Calan Stonebridge" encounter map series and a long shelved project was suddenly unearthed by my brain like a child finding a dusty box in Grandmothers attic. I don't think I have ADD, I just think my brain is trying to get it's "to do" list done. Calan Stonebridge, ...