I figure that I should actually say 'Hi' here. I posted up a couple maps already, but it occurred to me that I should still pop up here and actually introduce myself.

So I go by the handle Psylence. I just recently became interested in map making. I don't have a lot of background in art, few classes here and there, but I'm having fun learning as I go. I use the PS/GIMP approach to things. I tried using some of the other tools initially, but they never really did what I wanted or seemed like I needed to do a lot of work for something that still looked pretty generated. So I loaded up a few tutorials(Thanks to all you people who make those things, they help cut my learning curve down a lot), and started to play with it. Created a few towns(thanks to Ascension), then a region map, then a more... After three days I made my first region map that I was happy with and posted it up in the WIP/Region thread as it will (inevitably) never end being worked on, and just today started work on/tossed up a WIP submission to the Lite Mapping Challenge.

I'm here because I've been in a bit of a rut lately. Not to go too deep into it, but the job market sucks and I need to branch out. Art's always been something I've toyed around with, but I had some bad experiences with it earlier. Now I'm working my creative muscles, and who knows - maybe I'll be able to turn this into something. Long story short, I like critiques and advice(by all means give 'em so I can get better), and this place seems like a pretty interesting forum to be. Take it easy and see you all around.