[Award Winner] Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map

**Comrade** · 03-18-2010, 08:34 AM

Hello. During the portion of the tutorial when you color the sea wen I do it the landmasses turn bright yellow and the water turns just one shade of blue. I follow the tutorial exactly so I am not sure why this is happening. I even tried it multiple times with the same result. The file I use for my map is something I made in Inkscape and is a .png, I just used it to sketch the outlines of my landmasses. Anyone else get this problem?

Decided to add the exact file I am using for clarification.

**jfrazierjr** · 03-18-2010, 08:41 AM

Mostly likely, you had the wrong layer selected when you changed the blending mode. Double check the blending mode for all your layers to make sure they are as expected. It's been a while since I did this tut, but I don't think there should be any blending modes used other than Overlay(but I could be wrong!!!)

**Comrade** · 03-18-2010, 08:45 AM

Thank you. I will go over this a fourth time and if I still encounter this problem I will post a screenshot.

**Comrade** · 03-18-2010, 09:37 AM

Encountered the Yellow Land problem on my latest run through

Looking at it again, it seriously looks like a thermal image. As cool as that is it is unfortunately not what I wanted. I am using the latest version of GIMP if that matters.
After messing around with it for a bit I discovered that no matter the pallet colors the result is always the same. Am I miss-reading something?

**jfrazierjr** · 03-18-2010, 12:24 PM

Start turning off layers one at a time from the top down until it gets a bit more normal looking. If that does not help. you would have to let us see your xcf file. You can zip it up and attach(perhaps start a new Work in Progress thread would be best!) as long as the total zip file size is less than around 4.5 MB(I think thats the number).

**Comrade** · 03-18-2010, 05:15 PM

The problem seems to have fixed itself. After getting some rest and loading the same file back up and doing the same exact thing "choosing the two blue colors and making the gradient map" it came out exactly as it should have.I honestly do not know why this has happened but ill take what I can get. Thank you for the help anyways.

**Larthis** · 03-25-2010, 01:17 AM

Just like many members before me, I have to say that I just found this guild and this tutorial while I was looking for some guidance to make maps.

I'm really glad that I found a tutorial for the exact program I use (GIMP) and I will begin working on some ideas as soon as possible.

Thank you for providing such a wonderful help for begginers like me.

**funnymouth** · 04-05-2010, 01:04 AM

this tutorial is so great i had to give it a shot: the Izul atoll.
i figured id pub it now, and modify it with roads symbols whenever i need them. i did a few things differently but i really appreciate that you got me started with the basic techniques. the map could still use a lot of work, but im happy with it as my first attempt. its really great to see a concept i first drew out 6 years ago in a totally new way. ive been inspired by my success to try and develop a few of my other locales using these same techniques.
thanks again!