Hello all... after lurking for a couple years, I have finally decided to join in on the fun. Where do I start... well, I'm currently a college student majoring in psychology and history (though I have also studied geography, anthropology, philosophy), and during the course of the last year or so I've cultivated an interest in "worldbuilding", as many call it. I suppose that given my academic interests and my long-standing gaming hobby, that I would eventually develop an interest in worldbuilding is somewhat natural. My experience with fantasy has mainly consisted of RPG's, specifically in franchises such as LOTR, Star Wars, The Elder Scrolls, and The Forgotten Realms, and probably like the majority of you, I consider my quest to create such an interesting world of my own. That said, I am aware that this is a cartography guild, but I simply don't have practiced fine (or digital) arts skills at this point, and as such I anticipate that much of my effort here will be expended in other stages of the worldbuilding process. Although I do hope to someday realize the same level of artistry that is displayed by many members of this community, I realize that this takes a significant time investment, and I'm afraid this means that it might be a while before I can churn out the sort of finished cartographic product seen on these forums. However, I do think that I will be able to contribute to the overall discussion about worldbuilding in general, and I hope to begin documenting my ongoing worldbuilding effort promptly.

If anybody could direct me to the correct sub-forum for me to post such a... journal of sorts (?)- or maybe blueprints would be a better term- and elicit feedback regarding them and opinions on other wider worldbuilding issues I face, I would be most grateful. In fact, I don't know if this would be a common or strange occurrence on these forums, but I've also toyed with the idea of enlisting other artists' help when it comes to mapping a world that I have conceptualized (not to presume that anyone else would necessarily see my creation as especially worthy of devoting time and effort to in such a way- we'll see about that). Otherwise, hello again, and I look forward to further discussion.