Map with contour lines

[Midgardsormr]

For that map, I'd say Inkscape would be the tool of choice. Inkscape is to Illustrator as Gimp is to Photoshop. I wouldn't try something like that drawing with a mouse, though. I'm not sure what Inkscape's terminology is, but when I created this map, I used Illustrator's Pencil tool to draw the coastlines and contours. Draw the lowest, largest shapes first, and move upward. The beauty of working in Illustrator is that you don't actually have to style it until the end, since you can change fills and strokes at any time. I'm fairly sure that Inkscape works similarly.

[davoush]

Thanks, I was starting to think that inkscape might be more suitable. So basically the contours have to be manually drawn in? The map I posted has really tight contour lines, I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that? Are there any tutorials on here for inkscape, haven't been able to find many!

[Hai-Etlik]

Thanks, I was starting to think that inkscape might be more suitable. So basically the contours have to be manually drawn in? The map I posted has really tight contour lines, I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that? Are there any tutorials on here for inkscape, haven't been able to find many!

Inkscape has a built in set of tutorials under the help menu.

There are ways to generate a set of contours from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), but that goes beyond normal graphics software into the realm of specialized geographic software, both to build a DEM, and to produce contours from it.

[MitchPjm]

There are ways to generate a set of contours from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), but that goes beyond normal graphics software into the realm of specialized geographic software, both to build a DEM, and to produce contours from it.

Take a look at Wilbur. If you have a heightfeild of the map you wish to draw, Wildur provides the abiliity to generate contour lines for that heightfield map.