Hi! I hope everyone is doing well.

Seems this forum helps newbies like myself get their specific needs out there and knock their first of 5 thread discussion out of the way. So, without further ado, around a year ago, I discovered the joys of computer assisted cartography when using GIMP to make a hand drawn regional map digital. I really only needed 4 or 5 tools to do this, so I'm hoping to see some good beginner tutorials for GIMP as well as find ways to make photorealistic and textured maps.

Furthermore, I am curious what kind of exercises an aspiring cartographer can do to help get them used to creating digital maps. For example, I tend to want to hand draw sketches when I'm brainstorming, but I imagine most of the software users here will start a map from scratch right on their computer. So, I was wondering how you all get your creative juices flowing. Any advice is welcome!

-Taqito