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Thread: How do i do this kind of map?

  1. #1
    Guild Apprentice Counlin's Avatar
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    Default How do i do this kind of map?

    I'm trying to do some maps for my RPG game, but i wanna make a especially kind of map:

    City map1

    City map2

    World Map

    I know that the maps are form D&D, and that a big company make them, but i wanna make a map like this, so if u know any program i can use to make u will help me a lot. I tried GIMP but i didn't like it, i think the map its not a good map for RPG, i use the Roba's Tutorial and i didn't like the result.
    Photoshop i think its very difficuld to work with. I tried Dunjinni but i need pay for it, and don't wanna pay if its possible, but if its not so i'll pay for the program.

    Thank you, and sorry if i made any english mistake...

  2. #2
    Guild Adept Facebook Connected Daelin's Avatar
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    The maps are kinda low res, but as far as I can tell, the two city maps seem to be largely hand-drawn, maybe with the coloring done in Photoshop. Unless you've got a firm sketching hand, and a bit of knowledge on PS (or Gimp), you're probably not going to get something that looks like this. The world map looks far simpler, could probably be done in Gimp with the right brush pack and some simple coloring.

  3. #3
    Guild Adept loogie's Avatar
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    There is nothing in any of these maps that I would say is unrealistic to the amateur map maker... To me the world map looks like Campaign Cartographer... which would be simple enough with the right objects...

    The 2 city maps seem a bit more difficult, mainly that there is a lot of hand drawn portions that a lot of us don't have the skill to do quick and easy... Looks like the fields on the first city map are just a pattern placed below the rest of the objects, but other then that I think its pretty much hand drawn...

    You could make similar things with cc as well.. but as for photoshop it can be easier/harder depending on the resources and artistic skill.. Check out the forums map objects section for "stamps" of things like mountains, buildings, trees etc and you could piece together something similar fairly quickly... The roads and trails would be the one thing i think you couldn't get done without hand drawing it...

    in any case you are in the right place to get help to make such maps... check out the tutorial sections for methods, and like i said look into the map objects area for some prefab structures and objects!
    Photoshop, CC3, ArcGIS, Bryce, Illustrator, Maptool

  4. #4
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    Those are all hand-drawn maps. I don't know the name of the artist but he's pretty famous (for this niche). I'm sure one of the industry pros knows. But what you need is a raster program (Gimp or Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro or whatever), a tablet for drawing, and lots of practice. I've never been able to replicate the style but Torstan, a member here, comes pretty close to this style. We all develop our own style no matter how hard we try to copy something else so my advice is to just plug away at it until you get something nice.
    If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
    -J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)


    My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps

  5. #5
    Community Leader Facebook Connected torstan's Avatar
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    The first two maps are by Mike Schley. I think the buildings are laid out with City Designer - a plug in for Campaign Cartographer - but I'm not certain. All of the rest is done by hand in Photoshop. I know you don't like it, but Gimp is the best free program to use to get a close approximation of photoshop. You'd need a tablet to be able to use a similar hand drawn style. Another option is to draw the lines by hand with a good black ballpoint and then scan or digitally photograph them to make them digital. Then it's easier to colour them in Gimp.

    Soldier on with the tutorials. There are many tutorials here on Gimp and other programs. Once you've got something, post it here and sa what you don't like about it. Then we'll help you fix those bits until you have a result that you like.

  6. #6

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    @torstan: Is it possible that you explain in detail what to do in GIMP after the map is drawn (by hand) and scanned so that one can get a citymap with a style like those above? That would be awesome! Thanks.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by sunfest View Post
    @torstan: Is it possible that you explain in detail what to do in GIMP after the map is drawn (by hand) and scanned so that one can get a citymap with a style like those above? That would be awesome! Thanks.
    I beleive torstan was saying you need to draw it by hand in that style in B&W then can colour it using a program (like GIMP or PS). There are a number of tutorials on the web for this, search for "coloring lineart"

    It really depends on your artistic ability. If you have little, it is easiest to use software that provides icons or images. For cities like that you can't go wrong with ProFantasy's City Designer 3 but it isn't free.

    -Rob A>

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