Hello, Cartographers!
Hello all!
I'm a fantasy cartography enthusiast who has referenced several tutorials on this site for a couple of years, so I decided to formally register and contribute on the forums. I'm returning to active map creating now that I'm running a Virtual Tabletop homebrew campaign for my old college gamers (now scattered to the four corners of the world). I use Fantasy Grounds as my VTT environment and I'm loving it.
I started out as a kid playing D&D and spending hours just drawing up freehand fantasy maps that emulated the pen and ink drawings I would find in the front cover of different fantasy novels like Tolkien or David Eddings' books. I didn't think of it as artwork -- I just needed to be able to demonstrate the worlds of my imagination.
I ended up going into graphic design as a first career and I've done professional national and international campaigns for various businesses. I did a lot of work as a packaging designer for PepsiCo before switching careers to become a Digital Project Manager for a PR firm in Manhattan. Aside from minor projects for friends now and then I don't really use my graphic design skills any more, but I do retain some decent chops in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, despite not having them on my home machine any more.
As I'm getting more and more into Fantasy Grounds and VTT gaming again after a good decade away, I'm finding myself reaching more and more for my old maps. While I used to sketch out maps by hand in pencil, then go back in and make them pen and ink sketches with light ink washes for color, unfortunately as I've aged my hands are slightly shaky now and I can't do such detailed freehand work anymore like I enjoyed. This has led me back to the computer, where I'll be the first to admit my cartography skills have not developed apace.
That's why I'm here. I'm investing soon in the Campaign Cartographer/Dungeon Designer/City Designer package from ProFantasy to give me some specialized tools for certain kinds of maps, but I like breaking away from the 'templated' feel so I'll be making forays into Photoshop and Illustrator mapping as time permits. I used CC in the past and know it has a learning curve, but I'm pretty comfortable with computer graphics programs so it's more of a challenge to see how the new platform can be pushed to its limits.
Anyway, respect to all of the talented Cartographers out there. I look forward to learning from everyone here, new and old hat alike, as everyone brings their own style to the table.
Once I get up to speed I'll happily share maps with the community under a Non-commercial Creative Commons license. Until then, happy mapping everyone!
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