I need an external opinion

[Tulio Botinha]

Hello guys.

I got to this forum after seeing a lot of the digital mapping tutorial here on google. I wanted to learn to draw stuff on the computer because drawing by hand all my maps takes too much time, but after several attempts i'm really inclined to simple drop the computer stuff and go back to hand draw.

So that brings the question, am i doing it completely wrong? Am i being over critical or am i just bad at it and should drop? I need an external opinion

I'm going crazy over this especially because i need a map done by tomorrow and used all my week trying it on computer hahahahaha

[Chick]

Hello Tulio Botinha, welcome to the Guild!

Perhaps you are thinking that by joining this community, you will be able to make gorgeous maps quickly. That's probably not true. No one here was born knowing how to do this, they all became good after years of practice and learning. If you want to become good, it will take time and work and practice, too.

Actually, you have a good start on your maps. They do look like real terrain. But expecting a fine finished map in one week on your first try is unrealistic. I advise you to keep working at it as a long-term goal, and you will make lots of progress quickly.

As for tomorrow, hopefully what you have so far will just have to suffice.

I'll look forward to seeing more from you as your learning and skill progresses

[Tulio Botinha]

Ty chick for the reply!

For tomorrow i just started one by hand. It pains me that at digital art, i'm simple not able to achieve the same level that i can archive by hand, i was under the impression that i simply didn't had what was needed to do any real drawing on a computer or that i was doing it on the wrong way, i will keep trying but has for now i'm probably not going to use any digital maps hahaha.

Really helps to get a external view, now i know that i didn't do a completely trash and that i'm not going for the wrong route.

[Gamerprinter]

Actually your map looks pretty good. Though I agree that I can hand-draw a map faster than doing it digitally - at least at the level of detail I try to achieve in a map, what software brings to the table let's me include in the map that which I cannot achieve by hand - 3D depth in elevations, shadows, beveled shapes, readable text. Even my hand-drawn maps are not hand-drawings alone. I always add fractal color mixes, shape beveling, edge feathering, varying uses of transparency. Even if a maps of mine is primarily hand-drawn, I don't draw all elements on the same piece of paper. I often draw elements of my map as stand-alone drawings that are scanned and made into a map object. Once all the elements (trees, furniture, etc.) are created, only then do I draw in the walls of a structure and the terrain. Once that part is fully rendered with included effects, I populate the map with the various pre-created map objects. So I never draw everything on one sheet of paper - it might look like I did once its completed, but the same steps I do for a purely digital map are the same with my hand-created work.

As far as getting professional results (you're on the right track) from working with the Cartographers' Guild, its going to take a few months of following tutorials, experimenting with different maps to get to a level that you can bring you satisfaction. It will be relatively short time, but still require effort and time on your part to achieve that. There is no instant, fast and beautiful results from joining the guild, it will still require work on your part.

[Tulio Botinha]

Ye i was looking for a easy way out, that is why i tried going for a more computer like approach, since i'm not doing anything wrong i guess just going to take my time with the Gimp map stuff and use my hand draw ones for now. Well it is still better than the time for doing it on a game engine like CryEngine.

[Azélor]

I personally think that you chose a difficult style. I think it's really difficult to make something that looks good with that technique.

[Chick]

I personally think that you chose a difficult style. I think it's really difficult to make something that looks good with that technique.

I agree. For some reason, lots of newcomers start with the Atlas style, I know I did, and I didn't enjoy it. It's difficult to do and difficult to get satisfactory results, although after a lot of practice, it does make nice terrain.

I think we should have a much simpler tutorial guide for newcomers. There are some on "getting started", but they are too general about what software to use, etc, and not specific enough about styles to try first.

If you had to advise a newcomer who wanted to try his/her hand at making their own map, which style (or tutorial) would you recommend they try first?

[Freodin]

If you had to advise a newcomer who wanted to try his/her hand at making their own map, which style (or tutorial) would you recommend they try first?

There can be only one.

Gidde's "Hand-Drawn Mapping (for the Artistically Challenged)"

An "artistic" style can be a lot easier to manage than a realistic one, with the use of brushes and such... and Gidde's is almost fool-proof. And it usually results in wonderfully stylish maps.

[Azélor]

There can be only one.

Gidde's "Hand-Drawn Mapping (for the Artistically Challenged)"

An "artistic" style can be a lot easier to manage than a realistic one, with the use of brushes and such... and Gidde's is almost fool-proof. And it usually results in wonderfully stylish maps.

I agree. It is fast and simple.
And this for city maps : http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=24611

[Chick]

OK, great, so what's the best way to get newcomers pointed to this, rather than to something more complicated like the Atlas method, to get them started?