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Thread: Where to start?

  1. #1
    Guild Journeyer MarkusTay's Avatar
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    Post Where to start?

    I'm not sure if this is even in the right place.

    I've decided to take the plunge, and instead of doing derivitive maps of worlds - like my Forgotten Realms ones - I want to finally do my own in PS.

    At the same time, I want to start developing my own style. I like the way my FR maps come out, but that is really someone else's art (even when I draw parts myself). I'll probably stick to the same color-pallette, because I really like bright, colorful maps, but I want to do something more akin to what Clercon did with his Etrakien Map (with the mountains and forest).

    Anyhow, I've watched the great How-to video for the mountains, and the Zombie Nirvana videos (again) for forest and what-not, and then went and created a 4'x3' Map.

    I got as far as coloring the Sea blue.

    I've never started COMPLETELY from scratch before, and now I'm at a loss. Should I have drawn the continents in and then added the water color? I think that might be whats throwing me off here...

    Anyhow, I drew the map first by hand - just a rough sketch that took me about ten minutes - so it's not the 'creative' end that is stopping me.

    I'm just not sure of the best approach to beginning. I think giving myself the water background first may have been a mistake, but I also don't know if I should start in the middle, or toward the outside, or whatever...

    This is really strange for me, because I've always drawn maps for games by hand, and never had a problem like this. I'm also an experienced PS user... but I never strated a map without something to build off of before. I'm not even sure if the size was correct for what I'm doing (but I can always change that as I go along).

    Any advice? What do most of you guys do first?

  2. #2
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    I tend to do the continent/land mass first. Though you might consider where you want your rivers (if any are visible) you can always add the sea/ocean later as layers below the land.

    There are several tutorials for creating world maps with PS here, Ascension's is quite good and there is a conversion of RobA's GIMP tutorial as well (can't remember who did it off the top of my head).
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  3. #3
    Guild Journeyer MarkusTay's Avatar
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    Normally I paint the sea right unto the background, but I think doing it as a layer may work better this time out.

    What I may wind-up doing is scanning my hand-drawn reference and settting it as a layer to trace.

    I think my problem may be visualizing the continent in relation to the backdrop... it's hard to explain.

    Even I don't understand it.

    I have the main continent drawn, with major rivers, lakes, and mountians/hills, along with two large forests, so I have the layout all worked out. I was able to draw it so quickly because I've been running it through my mind for about a year now, and knew pretty much exactly what I wanted where.

    I also have a very rough sketch - just outlines, really - of the other major continents. Do you think I should just concentrate on the main one on my current canvas, and then add the others in, or outline them all now, and then concentrate on the one?

    I figured a 4'x3' canvas was good for the world map, but now I don't know if I should just use the whole thing for the main continent (which would make the eventual World Map HUGE).

  4. #4

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    I also like to start with a continental outline, then play with colors until I get something that looks nice to me, then I add mountains/hills, rivers, forests, and cities in that order. Generally speaking. Since you already have a palette you wish to use, half of what I usually spend my time on is already done.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    I'd make use of your sketch, even if just as a reference. Put it on its own layer then you can turn it on/off as needed or delete it once you're finished.
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.



  6. #6
    Guild Member Asharad's Avatar
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    Post

    If you need a very, very, very simple starting point, follow these three steps:

    1. Create a new photoshop document. Set the background color to blue.
    2. Create a new layer. Paint it green.
    3. Get your eraser tool out, and start erasing the green layer.

  7. #7
    Guild Artisan Hoel's Avatar
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    I always start with a black layer for sea and then use one of three methods for making a white land layer.
    I either draw the coastline by hand, use some fractal generation (clouds->threashold in PS) or carve it out with an eraser.
    The two layers are then copied, and combined to be used as base reference and also added to a new channel for quick selection and other stuff.

  8. #8
    Guild Journeyer MarkusTay's Avatar
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    I have my main continent on the sea background now, but I'm just not 'feeling it'.

    <sigh>

    I think my problem comes from the way I'm used to working - nearly everything I have ever worked on was built off of something else. I'm just not used to 'looking at the big picture', or rather, working on a continental scale all at once.

    What I may do is start even smalller, with just the main empire that most of the campaign revolves around, and work outward from that.

    I think it's because I've always been a gamer first, and cartographer second, that I have this thing where I have to work from a small central point outward (the way an RPG campaign grows).

    Anyhow, I'd show a WIP, but right now it just looks like a lot of blue with some colorful blobs added.

  9. #9
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Throw it up, we'll give ya some guidance. After all, that's what many commissions look like
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

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