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Thread: Torq’s Practice Map - by Torq

  1. #1

    Map Torq’s Practice Map - by Torq

    Map (Click to enlarge)

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    Created in: TerraNoise/Inkscape/Gimp

    Review

    Known only as “Torq’s Practice Map,” this represents the culmination of a style we were fortunate enough to see evolve right here at the Guild! It is also an excellent example of the quality of map that can be created using free software. The heightfield was made using Terranoise, the labeling with Inkscape, with assembly and colouring in the Gimp.

    Artists Notes
    I have been a member of this site for almost a year now. When I joined I was keen on mapping for rpgs and knew a little Gimp (Thats not a sentence I could ever imagine myself saying). In my time here I have really attempted to absorb all the amazing advice and emulated some of the highly artistic techniques that I've seen. The trouble with that approach is that you never really finish a map because you are constantly changing your techniques every time you see a new style or a fresh look that takes your breath away. So I did a lot of half completed maps without really producing a finished product.

    With the advent of the collaborative world building project, which seems to have gotten off to a good start, I realized I would be mapping a portion of our collaborative world from start to finish. I felt a need to make sure I had a skill set and a style down that could take such a map from start to finish. Thats why I started this map and thats the explanation for the imaginative name.

    The map is done using a height field generated using Terranoise, but the lion's share of the work is done using the Gimp. Inkscape also got some use for the river paths and all the labels.

    As it went along it became a labour of love, because I wanted the busy high levels of detail, both in terrain features and also in labels, that I had seen on this site from some great mappers. The story behind the map actually developed as the map took shape. The process really fed itself and context began to emerge based on the map itself. I now have a fairly good idea why Vreykus persisted with a war against Oessina which it knew it could never win. Some would see this as the tail wagging the dog, but for me it represented a growing realization that it may be possible to map now and tell the story later. I realized that neither is more important than the other and they are inter-dependent. Much of that idea is what characterizes the great group of mappers with completely different styles and views on mapping, who, rather against the odds, have begun putting together a collaborative fantasy world. For me this map reflects the fun of the that process.

    Original Thread
    Click here to view the original thread by the author.
    Last edited by ChickPea; 08-17-2018 at 02:09 PM. Reason: Changed image to an attachment, so that it will show in the CC Awards thumbnails gallery

  2. #2
    Guild Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobA View Post
    Artists Notes

    Some would see this as the tail wagging the dog, but for me it represented a growing realization that it may be possible to map now and tell the story later. I realized that neither is more important than the other and they are inter-dependent.
    Author Holly Lisle often uses mapping as part of the brainstorming process to invent a story worth writing. Since she has over thirty novels to her credit and can actually pay the bills as a writer, I'm guessing the technique works pretty well.

    How I Drew A Map And Sold Three Books And A World has beautiful images of the original map, as well as some of the story behind its creation. This site is what got me interested in making maps again.

    Cheers!
    Last edited by RobA; 03-10-2009 at 11:34 AM. Reason: Fixed link

  3. #3
    Guild Artisan Facebook Connected
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeaceHeather View Post
    Author Holly Lisle often uses mapping as part of the brainstorming process to invent a story worth writing. Since she has over thirty novels to her credit and can actually pay the bills as a writer, I'm guessing the technique works pretty well.

    http://hollylisle.com/tm/matrinmap.html has beautiful images of the original map, as well as some of the story behind its creation. This site is what got me interested in making maps again.

    Cheers!
    I think you got your html tags backwards... The title of the page you are linking to, "How I Drew A Map And Sold Three Books And a World", should be between the two URL tags, and the actual web address, http://hollylisle.com/tm/matrinmap.html, should be inside the "URL=..." tag.
    I think, therefore I am a nerd.
    Cogito, ergo sum nerdem.

    Check out my blog: "The Undiscovered Author"
    It's the story of a writer... follow me in my simple quest to get published, and share your own writing stories, adventures and writerly tips.

    Pimping my worldmap here. Still WIP... long way to go, but I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far...

  4. #4

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Now if only I could write....
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  6. #6
    Guild Adept
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ascension View Post
    Now if only I could write....
    The lament of too many. Me included.

  7. #7

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    keep it that way! You are doing great!

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