Map of Valentine Navalia (WIP)

**The Elderly Cartographer** · 01-23-2020, 02:01 PM

Greetings, Guild members.

I am currently coloring a map that I finished in 2018. I am very new to the whole photoshopping process, and I was wondering if you had any helpful tips or tutorials? Many tutorials I see on Youtube are very generic and only show how to make pirate maps or large regions.

Here is my original map:

Click image for larger version.

Name: Map of Valentine Navalia - Cart Guild.jpg
Views: 119
Size: 1.66 MB
ID: 120018

And this is my current work in progress:

Click image for larger version.

Name: Map of Valentine Navalia (WIP 2 )- Cart Guild.jpg
Views: 83
Size: 2.24 MB
ID: 120019

**Wingshaw** · 01-24-2020, 05:20 AM

If you learn effectively from YouTube videos, I'd suggest looking beyond just map-making videos. I find speedpaint landscapes to be a good way to learn some Photoshop workflow and colour tips.

For your map, I think my biggest recommendation would be to add some texture. And by that, I don't just mean putting a parchment or stone texture overlay on the map, but doing the manual work of adding texture too. For example, you could make the water in your map get darker and 'colder' (i.e. less turquoise and more in the middle of the blue range) as it moves away from the shore. Downloading a free grunge brush set can be a really effective way of adding texture in Photoshop. I'd invite you to check out some of my work (if that isn't too shameless...) to see what I mean about the water. The same principal applies to other elements (especially natural ones, like mountain/rock, grass and trees).

And of course, shadows. Shadows make a huge difference to a map.

Hope some of that is useful advice

Wingshaw

**The Elderly Cartographer** · 01-28-2020, 11:59 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, Wingshaw! I will definitely have to do those things.

I really like your Unnamed Island ( 2018 ). I will add that to my group of references.

Also, may I ask how you did such a realistic forest in Mist Villages ( 2019 )?

Thanks again,
Josiah

**The Elderly Cartographer** · 01-30-2020, 01:11 PM

Work in Progress #2:
I have added depth to the water and some shadows to the mountainside. I also whited out the two windows, in the top and bottom right corners, and the titlebox.

Click image for larger version.

Name: Map of Valentine Navalia (WIP 3 )- Cart Guild.jpg
Views: 47
Size: 2.50 MB
ID: 120118

**Wingshaw** · 02-01-2020, 05:43 AM

Nice work. Looking better already

Originally Posted by The Elderly Cartographer

I really like your Unnamed Island ( 2018 ). I will add that to my group of references.

Also, may I ask how you did such a realistic forest in Mist Villages ( 2019 )?

Thanks

I don't really remember how I did the forest for Mist Villages, to be honest

I remember that it was a lot of trial and error, took an incredibly long time, and I was never very happy with the result (I'm still not super happy with it). The one thing I do remember is that I used an aerial forest photo to give it texture.

Wingshaw

**The Elderly Cartographer** · 02-04-2020, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Wingshaw

I remember that it was a lot of trial and error, took an incredibly long time, and I was never very happy with the result (I'm still not super happy with it).

Well, in my opinion, you did a great job.

Here is a minor update. I switched the shadows on the mountain to the other side to match those of the town. And added some shadows and stairs to the pavement.