Town Map

[Torq]

Here is a revised version. I adjusted the shadows on the taller buildings which are the towers of the unfinished wall and changed the river colour. It really didn't come out as planned so I will probably have to do a rethink of that.

I also brought up the contours some more but increasing the strength of the bump mapping in Gimp, to give a better impression of what I'm trying to achieve with the background, which is a surface texture together with a bitmap heightfield generated using mojoworld.

Thanks for all the advice and assistance.

Torq

[pyrandon]

Yeah, the river seems a continual problem, but man--those trees are worth the entire map! So all you did was have a leaves (ivy) brush set to green, then stamped it down a few times?

[Torq]

Just used the ivy brush as it comes, out of the box. Dragged it around a little. Then selected all the green ivy leaves using colour select and stroked the selection in black (1 pixel wide) to give each shape more definition. Then applied a drop shadow. It could't really be easier.

May have used some blurring before applying the black outline. Cant remember. I was a little blurry at the time.

Torq

[RobA]

So all you did was have a leaves (ivy) brush set to green, then stamped it down a few times?

Pyrandon - the ivy brush is a pre-coloured brush (called a pixmap brush)...it does not depend on the foreground colour, and is also known as an "image-pipe", "image hose" "tube" (psp speak) or "animated brush". (here is a quick tutorial on what they are and how to make them in GIMP)

Here is a revised version. I adjusted the shadows on the taller buildings which are the towers of the unfinished wall

Torq - I've attached a micro-tutorial for creating more realistic "long" shadows in GIMP using motion blurs that might help you here...(I have left the "shadows" at full opacity, just for ease of viewing.

-Rob A>

[RPMiller]

For your river, make it a continual path and layer it under the layer with the bridges. Part of the problem is the 'outline' of the river is going along the bridges and breaking it up.

Set the outline of the river to a sandy or light brown and the river to a bluish-green with a bit more green set its translucence to about 80% and put another layer under it with a dirt texture/fill and set the river layer to multiply. That might give you the effect you want.

[jaerdaph]

The more I look at this map, the more I'd like to see this style used in a Ravenloft campaign. It has a very Gothic feel, like a Hammer Studios horror flick.

[Torq]

Relying heavily on the great advice received from everyone on this thread, here is the next version. I have changed the river (I think its an improvement), used RobA's improved shadow method on the towers. I've also added bridges. A few labels and I think its almost ready to be filed under "Great learning experiences on the CartographersGuild Boards".

"The more I look at this map, the more I'd like to see this style used in a Ravenloft campaign. It has a very Gothic feel, like a Hammer Studios horror flick."

One of the most fun campaigns I ever ran was Ravenloft, using AD&D 2nd Ed. My games, no matter what the locale always have a grungy, scary feel to them. Thats why I am running an Iron Heroes game now. Thanks for the compliment though. Hammer Studios Horror flick, I wish!. I'm sure "Bright Aurum" could be slotted into my IH game though.

Thanks again.

Torq

[RPMiller]

The river is great!! Well done! I definitely think this was a great process you went through and the final product made it well worth it. Bravo! I'm giving you some rep for the job well done.

[pyrandon]

Way to go, Torq! This turned out really well--great, great job.

That river is a HUGE improvement! Nicely done. The shadows are also nice--although the towers appear to have about a 6:00 pm sun while the trees/other buildings are closer to noon. Othewrwise, man! I can't think of what else to really tweak!!

[ravells]

The river looks so much better! Great job! My only reservation is the top half of the background which looks a little 'out of sync' in the way the slopes and the buildings interact and the tower shadows as Don has already mentioned but apart from that I think it's stunning.