Well, just start with drawing a general shape of the continent and the major land features, like mountains and rivers. There's some great tutorials for The Gimp on this forum.
Feedback and tips are easier to get when you have posted your first work in progress, so just throw something at us.
Check out my City Designer 3 tutorials. See my fantasy (city) maps in this thread.
Gandwarf has fallen into shadow...
I just wish I knew where I want to put the mountains and rivers...Originally Posted by Gandwarf
Every time I try to get something down, it doesn't look right somehow or someone tells me that land masses don't form that way. Argh!
aah! That is the funny thing about the real world... Name one "odd" geographic feature, and I bet there is at least one example of it on the earth. Not common maybe, but possible
-Rob A>
My tutorials: Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional Map ~ All My Tutorials
My GIMP Scripts: Rotating Brush ~ Gradient from Image ~ Mosaic Tile Helper ~ Random Density Map ~ Subterranean Map Prettier ~ Tapered Stroke Path ~ Random Rotate Floating Layer ~ Batch Image to Pattern ~ Better Seamless Tiles ~ Tile Shuffle ~ Scale Pattern ~ Grid of Guides ~ Fractalize path ~ Label Points
My Maps: Finished Maps ~ Challenge Entries ~ My Portfolio: www.cartocopia.com
You're right, I probably am worrying too much about this. I'll give it another go tonight and upload what I manage.aah! That is the funny thing about the real world... Name one "odd" geographic feature, and I bet there is at least one example of it on the earth. Not common maybe, but possible
-Rob A>
I was a bit bored tonight so I had a play with your discarded map. I think you discarded them too early. The dark mountains looked just fine and inverted made a great height map as a starting point. I also made a black and white sea only map so that I could drop the sea away a bit.
I loaded these into my GTS app though I reckon most of the terrain apps like Wilbur would do just the same. Then I added the height map and lowered the sea with the other one.
Then by erosion and some use of rivers and so on I progressed it up. I did not pick where these rivers were placed I got the app. I know that many people here have been using Wilbur to do that job real well. Anyway, after a while I got it to a stage I was happy then applied some textures to it.
Et voila...
(Color and height map attached if you want to play with it further).
I have a tendency to reject any map I actually draw. (Sort of like Woody Allen never joining a club that would accept him. ) I am of the opinion that making land is an unnatural act. Recognizing suitable land is however an exciting and liberating act. Primal discovery in our digital age.
I suggest you make a list of your requirements for your world. Then find a random generator you like and go through some iterations to find a world shape that inspires you. I can recommend Fantasy Terrains but there are several random generators out there.
Only when you start moving to different scales should you try making the land all over again and then you will have the random gen as a guide.
You can change anything and everything but most people are better editors than they are creators. Start from a random gen and edit. The computer wont mind if you reject its work and you won't raise a sweat.
Sigurd
Just my 0.02
Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.
--- Sigurd
What is Wilbur and where can I get it? o.o
Where can I also find a random generator? I spent all of last night and most of this morning trying to find one.
I must note, I run Ubuntu Linux..
Last edited by SilverDrake3; 07-23-2009 at 01:26 AM.
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