Delayed Hello!

[GreekPhysique]

Hey fellow cartographers!

I've been lurking around for a while to learn how to use my Adobe products to their fullest for my friends who play D&D. I have DM'ed a few games but have ultimately decided it's too time consuming for my college schedule. So I now help out the current DM in my D&D group to design nice, simple maps for the players to use. However, I am also becoming very interested in recreating portions of my favorite cities in vector format so that I can blow them up to any size and hang them on my wall. The vector art also appeals to my taste as I thoroughly enjoy minimalistic art that conveys much without cluttering up the canvas.

Here is the first map I ever made for my D&D campaign, by following this tutorial:

[Meshon]

Hello and welcome to the guild! I am also a big fan of using vectors as much as possible, I really enjoy seeing what can be done in Illustrator. As far as I can tell the tradition around here is to give rep for a map in the first post, and yours is great: simple and clear, and a compass rose to boot! So consider it repped! I need to know if you used a Photoshop Clouds filter or if you did that mottling effect in Illustrator.The one thing I'm always struggling with in vector maps is a way to keep them from looking too flat.

Also, even though you're making clean maps, don't forget to clutter it up a bit. Scatter brushes and symbols are your friends! Now that I think about it, symbols may be just the solution I need for a map I'm working on. Thanks for getting me thinking in that direction!

cheers,
Meshon

[GreekPhysique]

Thanks Meshon!

For this map, I followed the tutorial and used the cloud filter to give the grass some initial texture and then when I was finished I used the clouds filter again to generate a cloud layer by itself. I used Photoshop CS6 for this map since it has vector capabilities for the simple shapes of the buildings/features. As for the clutter, I am trying to practice my tree/bush drawing skills and as such I left much of this map blank because all my trees came out terrible! And i'm glad I could inspire you for your mapping, I need to use symbols more when I draw in Illustrator.

Cheers,
GP