WIP: First Map, Need some help please

[xcorps]

Hey everyone, This is a freaking amazing place!

This is my first map. I have a **** poor internet connection at the moment, and I was stuck with Inkarnate and AutoRealm for a while until I finally got GIMP. yesterday. (I have no real working knowledge of GIMP, I used it about 2 years ago to fool around with textures for a Skyrim mod I abandoned after a couple of weeks)

I used Giddea's Hand-Drawn Map Tutorial and have downloaded quite a few resources from the Resource thread, included the trees. I'll post the cred's in my last post.

The map is 10 miles wide and about 8 miles N-S.

Questions I need some help with:

1) How can I improve the smudging in the corner?

2) I need some ideas on what to do with the center islands, which are completely urban. I thought about just placing a couple of Fort brushes where appropriate, and 2 or 3 of the handdrawn houses, but I don't really like it as it leaves too much empty space. Stacking a bunch of them looks pretty bad and they have to be too small to make out any detail. I ripped some house icons out of autorealm and tried that, but too digital. I thought about blacking out a box and drawing some white lines through it for streets but I haven't tried it yet and don't have much excitement for that on this particular map.

3) I tried (and wasn't unhappy with) torn edges. What's the consensus on torn raggedy edges or burn holes..or damaged maps in general?

4) How can I reduce the texture in the water? I was too aggressive with the bumpmap and I can't revert to an old layer. Should I just redo it?

That's all I can think of for the moment, I'd love some help and feedback with this please!

[Chick]

Hello xcorp. You have a good start, but the answers to all of your questions are based on both practice with the tools and on your personal tastes. I'm sure some GIMP users will give you good advice on the tools (I use photoshop myself), but for the rest, my best advice is this:

Go to the Gallery link at the top of the CG page, and start looking through the pictures there. When you see something you like, stop and look carefully at what pleases you about it. Maps similar to yours will give you lots of good ideas about filling your islands, making urban areas, brushes and techniques, borders and parchment edges, tons of things. Study the "past masters" to learn what appeals to you and how it was done

[xcorps]

Thanks for the reply.

I wonder what you think the odds are of someone taking a consignment for handdrawn elements for a city?