Quote Originally Posted by RobA
Thanks very much for the tutorials. I had the time to follow them through using the GIMP. I kept a few notes along the way to highlight differences in the applications, but feel the results turned out satisfactory.
No, thank YOU for using the tutorial & posting the results. It's nice to know someone else 1) can follow my chickenscratch; and 2) found my six-fingered, humpbacked brainchild interesting & worthwhile enough to take the time to use it. Nice work, too!

I would be very interested in seeing your GIMP notes--perhaps to add to the original tutorial or perhaps to post as a second, separate tutorial for GIMP users. I also have a couple questions about your end results in comparison to mine (ex: does GIMP not have the same filter(s) as Photoshop?) Would you be willing to email your notes & ideas to me?

Quote Originally Posted by RobA
The real trick is in the streets. I found it took an incredibly long time to hand draw in streets. most of mine ended up either too rough, or too straight. I think it would be easier with something other than a mouse...maybe I need to buy that graphic tablet...
Yes, tell me about it, my friend! I tried many, many different filters, fills, processes, & combos of all the above to create the effect without the need to draw in all those streets by hand, but none of them turned out worth a darn. All fell at either end of the spectrum: either too mechanical or too random.

Drawing those streets with a mouse (and I did it with my first map, so I know too) is a major pain; the tablet helps a lot. So do lots of breaks. And listening to songs like "Carefree Highway," "On the Road Again," and "Route 66" over & over again.

On the up-side, a positive aspect of my "artsy fartsy-ish" map style is that I don't need to become Captain Anal Retentive and sweat over each & every street, but I can instead "scribble & slash" them to suggest reality. I don't think yours looks at all bad, Rob, but I'd put in about another 50% worth of side streets, alleys, courtyards & such.

Thanks again to everyone for your compliments; I'm so happy I was able to give you a little something. Again, please let me know if you find improvements or can suggest ideas.

Take care,