My first local cartography job!

[Badger]

beautiful maps GP, I especially like the last one, the overview of the area with the 10' increment... all well done and beautiful colors...

I'd voice a minor concern with the first one... if I knew what it was that was bugging me about that map... I can't really put a finger on it.. I'm not sure if its the altitude numbers that may be throwing me off but there is something... but its probably something that's really nothing... I can be a bit... nitpicky sometimes... a trait I find a bit annoying myself...

keep up the great work and maybe these will bring in more business... the gaming community is rather tight knit so word of mouth can sometimes be the best advertising. I do know a group of gamers there close to peoria... trying to think of the name of that town...it may be joliet... they game at least once a week and as far as I know use mini's .... If you want i'll throw your name out there and see if they may want something in the way of battlemaps...

Del

[Gamerprinter]

I mentioned above that I was working on a WW1 trench war battlefield for a dogfighting minatures game, well not quite finished, but the terrain is complete. I have add some tiny soldiers of German and Allied colors, some horses, carriages and cassons, no artillery (would be off map on either side), maybe a Model T ambulance, machine gun nests, a couple dead bodies, and a dead horse.

Oh the little round spots are supposed to be craters from artillery.

I've yet to add the grid and some cloud cover - after the ground is finished...

Note: at full scale the map is 36" x 48", 1 hex = 3" at 50'. This means a normal sized human is 1/10th of an inch in size. Barely of detail beyond helmet and body positions in appropriate color.

WIP so far.

[The Cartographist]

Really nice GP, but one comment: If there are craters in the ground and artillery is implied (although not visible on the map), wouldn't there be some artillery damage to the walls at either side of the battlefield? Some gaps, knocked-over sections, etc? Maye some char as well?

[RobA]

I'd also suggest adding an overlayed bumpmap crater later like this one I doodled up using your source image as a guide (hand drawn white fuzzy blob with black fuzzy blob in middle, apply pixel spread filter, then displace map with a noise layer)


Here is that turned into a bumpmap applied to a 50%grey base layer then set to overlay:


-Rob A>

[Redrobes]

Yes yes, and some blast marks like kicked up dirt.

[Gamerprinter]

I'd also suggest adding an overlayed bumpmap crater later like this one I doodled up using your source image as a guide (hand drawn white fuzzy blob with black fuzzy blob in middle, apply pixel spread filter, then displace map with a noise layer)

-Rob A>

OK, I just downloaded GIMP 2.4.5, as well as your GIMP tutorial and printed this page.

Hopefully, I can get these bump maps the way I want them. I will probably include some dirt clods around the crater rim to add some more texture to the craters, so they are less just circles, but rough circles with outlying piles.

Let's see what a day of experimenting can achieve.

Thanks for the tip, RobA (repped!)

Oh, and I took Cartographist's suggestion and placed some craters and damaged sand bags in both trenches, added a dead and bloody horse and one shelled carriage. Still more bodies live and dead to add...

[Gamerprinter]

OK, I gave RobA's tip a try using GIMP. It worked, but somehow I made the crater edges to large or the depth isn't great enough. I like RobA's version better, but I just need a bit more practice. Unfortunately, I'm running out of time in completing this project.

Thanks again, RobA!

I found some photos of WW1 soldiers - both Allied and Central Powers, actually the best pictures were from WW1 reenactors sites. Tomorrow, I'll hand draw some British "Tommies" and "Germans" in several body positions - firing rifle, at machine gun nest, standing idly, sitting position, wounded on stretcher and dead on battlefield. Then place in both trench areas.

I added the grid and some cloud cover just to see if they worked.

WIP so far - almost done!

[The Cartographist]

Really looking good, GP.

I'm a little surprised at the dimensions (in terms of number of horizontal and vertical hexes). It doesn't seem big enough to stage dogfights on.

[RobA]

OK, I gave RobA's tip a try using GIMP.
...
Thanks again, RobA!

No problem! But aren't you a photoshop guy? It should be just as trivial in photoshop, no?

-Rob A>