Island in gimp - attempt to turn hand drawn into atlas-ish style map

[Ferra Dubrinsky]

Hi,
I've been lurking for about 4 months on and off at the guild, when I had time. I was really impressed by many of the maps created here. well, a few weeks back i started having a series of dreams involving a place i've never heard of, and different peoples who don't exist. As a writer, this tends to happen a lot, a muse grabs you and this time, i had started not just dreaming of the characters, but of the places and the influences in their environments etc. and since i started looking at some of the maps on here, i thought to myself, i can actually make my own map, i have 10+ years graphics design and a great imagination......... yeah...... y'all make it look sooooo easy. lmao.

so one night at my work when it was slow and i was really bored, i drew a quick sketch of a map. the one i had seen or at least a close rendition of the one i had seen in my dream. don't laugh when you see it even i know an 8 year old could do better.


sorry i didn't correct the portrait into landscape.

so i found several wonderful tutorials on atlas style, by Ascension, which rock. as a matter of fact using those tutorials gave me an even sweeter land mass than i could have drawn.



and it worked great right up to the part where you have to do a gradient map for the land color. the down side to running off my map is, i have specific regions where geographic formations have to occur. deserts, mountain ranges, valleys etc. and i need a different method of doing the land color/s than a gradient map. i have tried several ideas, like painting in my land colors, but sadly i am not sure how to get them from the initial coloring to a finished product like Ascension's and others' i have seen.

are there any keywords for tutorials i need to search that i am just not thinking about? i have tried land color, mountains, mountain building, forests....

thanks for any help and crit you can give.

have a great day!
ferra