First Map Post

[torstan]

I've had a play and performed some minor tweaks. Here is the result:



By turning the coloured strokes to a burn layer and giving them a texture they've been broken up a little and don't stand out quite as much. The outline of the sea was harder. In the end I used a layer mask to shrink down the line width and this also broke the lines up a little. The variation in the line width helps I think and I was able to give it a light texture and also changed it to burn.

I'm not quite satisfied with it, but I think I would have to redraw them with my tablet and pressure sensitivity to get them to blend into the hand drawn elements properly (tablet is at home right now and this map has had quite enough done to it!).

On a separate question. I know that photoshop people can shrink their selections by a given number of pixels. Does anyone know how to do this in Gimp? Thanks in advance.

[RPMiller]

They have the look of colored pencil.

[torstan]

Damn, you are right. Had an idea for making them look a bit more like ink. Here:

[RPMiller]

Those are more 'inkish', but the edges should be lighter than the centers which is the reverse of how they look now.

[torstan]

Always another criticism

I'm not sure this is the case. Watercolours definitely go the other way - with the darkest area being around the edges. Have a look at this.

[RPMiller]

How could we reach perfection without it? Don't worry I'll eventually start posting some stuff so everyone can pick on me.

If they are watercolor dashes than what you have will work, if they are colored ink, than it is the other way around. I thought they were ink. Having taken many a drafting class, me and ink have a history. Especially regarding the side of my hand.

[torstan]

Okay, well it is watercolour now then!

I've done a bit of inking myself and I thought I remembered it being that way round. You've almost got me to go and get my brush out... Maybe over the weekend. What's the opinion on the new lines between the features. I'm not entirely convinced but I can't quite see what to do about it.

[RobA]

On a separate question. I know that photoshop people can shrink their selections by a given number of pixels. Does anyone know how to do this in Gimp? Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the delay (and in case you didn't find the answer yourself) it is under selection->shrink.

-Rob A>

[torstan]

Thanks! I had a work around which involved stroking the selection with anti-aliasing off.... but I won't darken these boards with it, as there is a proper way to do it now.

Thanks for all the C&C. I'll run a small blur over the brushstrokes and then I think the map is done - though it could do with a compass rose...

[The Cartographist]

...of this Map?!

Torstan - Your last post said that you were going to make some more changes, and then you never posted the finished map. Did you make the changes? Is it finished?

BTW - I really like your map. The hand-drawn elements are really nice as is the parchment itself.