Thread: Overland map symbols?

Well, you don't need a lot of artistic ability to do a few simple symbolic drawings. The trick on a lot of drawing is to make it much larger than you're actually going to use it, as shrinking makes a lot of little flaws simply vanish. It also depends on what you are looking for: do you want each item to be unique, so Castle Vaardarasha has a different symbol from Castle Dundonerksh? You'll likely need to draw your own. You want to use a font for the symbols? There are a few that exist that'd do that. Brushes? What?

It might be helpful to at least let people know what software you are using to make your maps.

Sorry, to clarify I am using photoshop CS2 and was looking for brushes perhaps though I am open to other options. I will look more into fonts like you suggested.

I will also try my hand at drawing my own but I shudder to think what I might come up with.

I rather like the ones used in RobA's Landrathor map though I do not need each icon to be so unique.

There's several brushes available on this forum, but you will have to search for them.

There is also the CSUAC, a collection of thousands of symbols, from trees to buildings. These symbols are PNG's for example, so you can use them in Photoshop.
The CSUAC can be downloaded from here:
http://www.gmsapprentice.com/
(you need to register, but it's free)

Here is another nice set of symbols (it's multiple pages):
http://www.clker.com/search/map+rpg/1

Thanks Gandwarf. That clip-art link seems great. I will have to spend some time and look at it in greater detail.

http://clipart.nicubunu.ro/?gallery=rpg_map is a good place to start. They are in svg format, so you'll need something like Inkscape to read them (free). Hope it helps.

Thanks Alain, its the same sort of stuff Gandwarf linked me to but it seems a bigger selection in that same style. I like it quite a lot. I need to see if I can get them to work and if I can alter them somewhat to my particular style.

You are very welcome! There is a link at the bottom of the page, where you can get the entire set in a zip file. Inkscape is a free, open source vector image editor, similar to Adobe Illustrator. The guy that posted the collection also has a tutorial on his site for creating iso style icons in Inkscape. Very nicely done too. Happy mapping!