Hiya!

[StarRaven]

Hello there.

Well, I'm a newb. I just started making maps (or, rather a map, heh) for my campaign setting a while ago. I've just got the one map, and I've been refining my mad skills (translate: various tutorial techniques) on it.

So... in conclusion: I'm a newb. A big one. But at least I'm friendly. Hi there!

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the art-making interwebular entity known commonly as StarRaven. I like art, books, OVARPG, and improving my skills.

Thanks for reading!

Note: StarRaven also frequently edits her posts for spelling/grammar, and occasionally refers to herself in the third person.

[StarRaven]

Hope it's okay if I post my map here....

This is Erion. I've been working on it, setting campaigns in it, and writing stories in it for a few years now, and I think I probably drew my first hand-drawn map of it when I started. I'm the kind of person who gets ideas by drawing/sketching things, so drawing maps has helped me a lot to create this world.

Here, I've managed to mostly finish the known world (a.k.a. the parts I've thought about so far, hahaha.)

My biggest problem is with labeling everything. It always ends up looking rather... blocky and unprofessional?

Edit: Fixed that paper texture. Thanks for pointing that out!!

[Steel General]

First off... Welcome Aboard!

Your map is quite nice, great colors, nice features, etc, have a bit of what we call rep *bonk*

Looking forward to seeing more from you.

[Ascension]

Welcome. That's a great mountain technique and fairly simple as well, me diggin it cuz me never thought of it...love that giant spire peak. The paper might be a bit overdone but that's no biggie. Nice job.

[StarRaven]

First off... Welcome Aboard!

Your map is quite nice, great colors, nice features, etc, have a bit of what we call rep *bonk*

Looking forward to seeing more from you.

Thank you!!!

Welcome. That's a great mountain technique and fairly simple as well, me diggin it cuz me never thought of it...love that giant spire peak. The paper might be a bit overdone but that's no biggie. Nice job.

Thanks! It is pretty simple... in the northern parts, I got kind of lazy and just made a brush in the shape of one side of a mountain and just used that instead of drawing them in by hand, which can get kind of difficult with a mouse (except for the bigger/strangely shaped ones, those I did all by hand.)

Ohhhhh the paper~ I had a problem early on where I was drawing over the paper texture, but the "paint" on top was looking less and less textured with each layer, and ended up looking really flat and bleh, so I copied the paper texture, set it to overlay, and put it on top. I did notice that it made the paper texture kind of... er... overwhelming, but I was working on something else at that point, so I told myself I'd fix it later and never got around to it. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Attached is a fixed version. I hope it looks better!

[Ascension]

If you want your paint to bend over and around folds take the paper texture and desaturate it to a grayscale. Save this grayscale and then use it as a displacement map (filter > distort > displace -- will ask for an image to use as the displacement so use the gray paper). This will nudge things around to give it a better depth of field.

[NeonKnight]

Welcome to the Guild!

[StarRaven]

If you want your paint to bend over and around folds take the paper texture and desaturate it to a grayscale. Save this grayscale and then use it as a displacement map (filter > distort > displace -- will ask for an image to use as the displacement so use the gray paper). This will nudge things around to give it a better depth of field.

I can't do that on a new layer, though, can I? I'd have to merge everything first or do it on each layer...? *total noob* It's already grayscale, so I just set it above everything else as an overlay....

Welcome to the Guild!

Thanks!!