Thread: Map for a Novel

Originally Posted by RobA

Thanks for the suggestion, del - any idea how to stipple with a tablet and graphic software? (Way easier to use a real pen, at least for me...the tablet just isn't fast enough, and keep trying to draw lined through close stipples.)

Here is where I am am. There is supposed to be a large marshy/swampy mixed with hills area north of the range. Not sure if I like this, but it is only my first go..

I might try printing this out and hand stippling with a pen on tracing paper then scanning it back in as a layer...

-Rob A>

I prefer to stipple with pen myself... doesn't seem right doing it with PS. Aside from sitting there at the comp doing it one dot at a time, make a stipple brush. I'm not the least bit GIMP knowledged (and barely that with PS) but with PS I make stipple brushes. Keep the spacing way out.. if you just want to place one set of dots at a time, them keep them way spaced out (1000%) so you don't accidently draw a line of black stipple across the map. Keep your size jitter down, your minimum roundness up and your angle jitter on so it will randomly distribute the 'pattern' of dots you use as a brush... I've got several of these stipple type brushes with different settings, amount of dots, and thickness of dots...

I dunno if you can use a PS brush but here's the two I used on this quick swamp sketch. Probably not what your looking for in style.. I was just throwing down some ink real quick... its a bit busy for a swamp I think. but that was the idea behind the stippling effect... In fact, with enough carefully done stippling I don't think you would have to add any type of accent lines to the edge or anywhere else...

edited to add: Also, don't know if it means anything, but I created those two stipple brushes in Illustrator. I only mention it because I'm just now getting the hang of AI and I found it much easier to make the brush in AI and import/paste it into PS to create it... (Shrug) maybe that will be of use to you or not... I found it interesting tho, thought I'd share it.

Boy - my digital art newbieness slips out....

If I was using the mouse I would have just made a brush as suggested, but my brain is in tablet mode so I think... "Hey I have to draw each dot as a dot..."

-Rob A>

Boy - my digital art newbieness slips out....

Says the guy with one... two .... three compass awards ... oh and wait... ahhh... a tutorial award because his tutorial was so great and broke ground for tutorial building enough that they actually _Created_ the award to recognize it....



seriously tho, sometimes all it takes is a different point of view... me ... I think outside of the box so much... I rarely look inside the box... where the answer usually is...

Originally Posted by ravells

Seriously though, I've got to try this too. Have something nice on the radio on the background and just draw, draw, draw those mountains, cos at the end of the day, for this style of map, handdrawn mountains trump symbols any day of the week.

Of course, you could always take these drawn mountains and make symbols from them. Thus enabling us poor schmucks without talent to draw nice maps as well.

here are some photoshop brushes of mountains I made sometime back ...

while were on the subject

Originally Posted by RobA

Thanks for the suggestion, del - any idea how to stipple with a tablet and graphic software? (Way easier to use a real pen, at least for me...the tablet just isn't fast enough, and keep trying to draw lined through close stipples.)

Here is where I am am. There is supposed to be a large marshy/swampy mixed with hills area north of the range. Not sure if I like this, but it is only my first go..
Attachment 3612

I might try printing this out and hand stippling with a pen on tracing paper then scanning it back in as a layer...

-Rob A>

Any comments on the swampy marshlands in the NW? Comments and criticism are welcome, please, as this is the first map I have made in this hand-drawn style, so I'm stealing what I can and making the rest up as I go

-Rob A>

The swamplands were awesome! with the symbols that you drew it is easy to see that it is indeed swamplands. It is nice and busy, but still easy to see that it is a swamp.

Wow... I could have sworn I mentioned that swamp before... but I reread what I had and so I must have dreamed it or something... huh

The swamp looks great... I can easily tell its a swamp and it looks good in black and white ... I say go with that...

I've been doing some tutorial research for Illustrator and found some that use it for inking... I can't wait to try it for inking a map... course... you watch a tutorial and they make it look easy... then you sit down to do it and phhhht.. so we'll see

The swamp looks great.