Jasmine Coast

[Ascension]

Well, first, thank you. Second, everything you need is around the site somewhere. I have many tutorials that cover the various aspects of what I do. I'd suggest starting in the Tutorial section and use my Continent tutorial, Atlas tutorial, and forest tutorial. Once you have learned the techniques then you can start experimenting. I have no idea how well the Photoshop specific things transfer over to Corel. If you look through the Reference section you will also find the brushes that I have. Now, granted you will not end up with something exactly like what I have...I don't think that I have ever done any two maps that are exactly alike. Oh, wait, I did one time, on 2 maps for Jexl.

My best advice is to follow the tuts, do your best to emulate the look, post your progress to the guild here, and I (and others) can help you along. And again, thank you very much

[Yves]

Hello Ascension,

Thanks for your reply.

After a few hours my guesses were:
- I'm not good enough with Corel Photopaint and I don't think Coreldraw is good enough to achieve these results
- I cannot find enough stuff on the net to improve my Corel skills _a lot_ but it may be the case with Photoshop

So perhaps it is the time to learn Photoshop
And I've just started my first Photoshop tutorials with the Lynda.com DVD.

I'll have a look at your tutorials -and the others as well, thanks to you all.

I'll be back, Yves

[Coyotemax]

Just remember, it's not the tools that make the artist In order to make something that looks very much like someone elses style it may help to use the same tools they use, but it's okay to develop your own style as well.

Just to give an example, we have one member who used MS Word to create a series of maps - almost as unexpected a tool as you can get But they made it work, and a lot of people are (still) going "oh neat".

that having been said, oh yes, definitely try out as many tutorials as you can get your paws on, the more tricks you learn (and Ascension is an excellent guru to learn from, goodness knows he's had a heavy influence on me, heh), and the more your own style will develop.

As much as photoshop gets used, there are a number of alternatives out there, and don't be afraid to go back to your corel roots at some point to give something a try

[Ascension]

I'd certainly be interested in using other programs to do more artsy stuff, so anything you can contribute is always a welcome bonus. For some reason I just can't get used to painting with a tablet and stylus when I've got hundreds of brushes and mix my own paints at work. Photoshop is just for the easy stuff

[Finis]

I think, as others have said, it's amazing. My favorite part is the cities though, brilliant work.

[Yves]

Just remember, it's not the tools that make the artist

In order to make something that looks very much like someone elses style it may help to use the same tools they use, but it's okay to develop your own style as well.

Alas, my artist skills are: zero, nada... or close to at best. I don't think it'll exist a "my style" ever.

I can build a decent map from vector graphics because is just an assembly of pieces like lego (as Sillipus in my first post).

But bitmap is another story: I know I cannot create a map from scratch. I confess the best I can do is create something that's looks like someone else's work without the master's touch.

Thanks for your advice, Yves

[Molch]

Jaw-droppingly beautiful!
Are the little dots scattered throughout the land signal fires?

Again, amazing work!

[Ascension]

Ah, the little orange dots are meant to be places for encounters - like dungeons, caves, ambushes, etc.

[Molch]

That makes sense, too.
Have you come around to posting those brushes you used for marking the forts? I checked but didn`t find them. They look great and would be great to have for someone with little to no drawing ability like myself.

EDIT: Nevermind, you did post them already. Searching for author did the trick.

[Jaxilon]

I love the texture you have on the forests. I want to see if I can get that down myself.