Shockley
Scribal Lord
Thank you. I appreciate the comments.
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Anybody care to share their map?
- Thread starter Johnny Cosmo
- Start date
Mindfire
Istari
That must have taken hours Shockley. I salute you.
Saigonnus
Dark Lord
My world of Aern for the main Work in Progress I have been working on. I had to recreate it since a tragic series of events caused it to be deleted from my computer. Took the better part of 36 hours to get it where I wanted it.
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zizban
Lore Master
These maps are insanely awesome. I need to post my pitiful one.
Would anyone be interested in Tutorial about using GIMP to create maps? I would only cover the things I have done in my map, like how I made the mountains and everything else. But the only problem is I don't know How much time I would have to devote to this, I still have classes and all that but if enough people are interested I may give it some thought and put some time aside.
Mindfire
Istari
Interest piqued.
OGone
Lore Master
Here's a map I made for a land I'm creating, the land itself and map are both in their early stages.
The map is not even closed to being finished yet. I still need to add trees, mountain lines, rivers and of course the place names but here it is in its most basic stage:
The scale at the bottom is undecided at present but I'm thinking that every segment represents 6-7 miles (so it is a very small world). None of the islands, regions, cities or races have been named yet, the letters are purely there for personal reference but I may explain them in the showcase section.
The black line through the centre represents the equatorial line, I need to move it down a little.
The colours are just there as reference and in no way represent the landscape at present.
EDIT: Here's a better version, more of an overhead view than a map. I am going to work on the actual map now as I still have to add rivers, mountains and stuff but this is the basis I am working from:
But yeah this is very, very, very simple at the moment. I am thinking of magnifying each tiny segment and mapping it out much more accurately then piecing them together, this is just a template for me to work from so I know the general shape of my world. I am pretty bad at Photoshop too so this was good practice.
The map is not even closed to being finished yet. I still need to add trees, mountain lines, rivers and of course the place names but here it is in its most basic stage:
The scale at the bottom is undecided at present but I'm thinking that every segment represents 6-7 miles (so it is a very small world). None of the islands, regions, cities or races have been named yet, the letters are purely there for personal reference but I may explain them in the showcase section.
The black line through the centre represents the equatorial line, I need to move it down a little.
The colours are just there as reference and in no way represent the landscape at present.
EDIT: Here's a better version, more of an overhead view than a map. I am going to work on the actual map now as I still have to add rivers, mountains and stuff but this is the basis I am working from:
But yeah this is very, very, very simple at the moment. I am thinking of magnifying each tiny segment and mapping it out much more accurately then piecing them together, this is just a template for me to work from so I know the general shape of my world. I am pretty bad at Photoshop too so this was good practice.
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Jabrosky
Banned
^ I like the blending effect in the second map!
Created in Campaign Cartographer.
The indigenous peoples of Lemurya once fought each other chronically, ritualistically consuming their enemies' flesh, but the chieftain Jarrah of Asmat brought this era of cannibalistic warfare to an end by unifying the tribes into one nation-state. Nonetheless, old tribal grudges do not die easily, so this peace is tentative at best and dependent on the centralized government's power. The Cushites from across the ocean have colonized the island's northern coastline to exploit its tropical resources, but they hesitate to penetrate deeper for fear of arousing the Lemuryans' wrath...
Although the Lemuryan city symbols may look Asian, my Lemuryan culture actually has a New Guinean inspiration. In fact the cities' names are taken from real New Guinean tribal societies. It's high time that someone used New Guineans for fantasy worldbuilding.
Created in Campaign Cartographer.
The indigenous peoples of Lemurya once fought each other chronically, ritualistically consuming their enemies' flesh, but the chieftain Jarrah of Asmat brought this era of cannibalistic warfare to an end by unifying the tribes into one nation-state. Nonetheless, old tribal grudges do not die easily, so this peace is tentative at best and dependent on the centralized government's power. The Cushites from across the ocean have colonized the island's northern coastline to exploit its tropical resources, but they hesitate to penetrate deeper for fear of arousing the Lemuryans' wrath...
Although the Lemuryan city symbols may look Asian, my Lemuryan culture actually has a New Guinean inspiration. In fact the cities' names are taken from real New Guinean tribal societies. It's high time that someone used New Guineans for fantasy worldbuilding.
Attachments
Jabrosky
Banned
Jabrosky
Banned
Another Campaign Cartographer map for my conworld...
The Heladoan city-states may be embroiled in a state of perpetual war with one another, but they all share a common language, a common culture, and a commonly notorious affinity for piracy. When not skirmishing rival city-states, Heladoan raiders may prowl far and wide across the oceans in search of hapless merchants and coastal settlements to plunder.
The Heladoans are supposed to have a Mediterranean cultural flavor, with the Greek, Latin, and Spanish civilizations being particularly influential.
The Heladoan city-states may be embroiled in a state of perpetual war with one another, but they all share a common language, a common culture, and a commonly notorious affinity for piracy. When not skirmishing rival city-states, Heladoan raiders may prowl far and wide across the oceans in search of hapless merchants and coastal settlements to plunder.
The Heladoans are supposed to have a Mediterranean cultural flavor, with the Greek, Latin, and Spanish civilizations being particularly influential.
Attachments
Jabrosky
Banned
Another Campaign Cartographer fantasy map. This program can be really fun to use.
The Coppermane Alliance, so named for its population of red-haired white people, is a confederation of democratically run city-states linked by a central council in Greathall. The Coppermanes are generally peaceful, but they are fiercely patriotic and will fight to the death to defend their Alliance.
The Coppermanes' culture is roughly based on Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples of northern Europe. This gave me the fun opportunity to use descriptive English names for the towns and geographic regions. If you want to know the Coppermane area's geographic context, it's north of the Heladoan Archipelago, which in turn is north of Cush.
Attachments
Mindfire
Istari
Another Campaign Cartographer fantasy map. This program can be really fun to use.
The Coppermane Alliance, so named for its population of red-haired white people, is a confederation of democratically run city-states linked by a central council in Greathall. The Coppermanes are generally peaceful, but they are fiercely patriotic and will fight to the death to defend their Alliance.
The Coppermanes' culture is roughly based on Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples of northern Europe. This gave me the fun opportunity to use descriptive English names for the towns and geographic regions. If you want to know the Coppermane area's geographic context, it's north of the Heladoan Archipelago, which in turn is north of Cush.
That's pretty cool Jabrosky. I like your CC maps. Is the program user-friendly at all? I was thinking about getting CC, but I was put off by the Fractal Terrains 3 demo from the same company because it seemed so difficult to use. Is Campaign Cartographer easier to use than FT3? And does it allow you to easily reproduce hand drawn maps or trace over existing pictures?
Also, are you ever going to put all these places on one map so we can see where they are in relation to each other?
Attachments
Jabrosky
Banned
Yes, the program is very user-friendly, although I've never tried FT3. I think you can trace over existing pictures (the instructions are in the manual) but I don't know about reproducing hand-drawn maps.
I'm actually reluctant to put all these places on one world map. I want to keep part of the world a mystery.
Mindfire
Istari
Here's the updated, more complete version of my map.
http://goo.gl/QADgs
I've filled in the western reaches of my realm now.
http://goo.gl/QADgs
I've filled in the western reaches of my realm now.
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Ophiucha
Dark Lord
My current, tentative map of #soundworld. I will probably change it again within a week, but I think I'm getting closer to what I want the world to look like with each try, so I'll consider it a small victory. Also, I hate oceans. They never look good and I can't find a good shade of blue to use.
Attachments
Jabrosky
Banned
^ I like that, although the mountains could use some more definition.
Mindfire
Istari
How'd you make that?
Ophiucha
Dark Lord
@Jab, Mountains are tough. >.< On the one hand, I don't want them to be white-capped and really strange looking against the gradient, but on the other hand, they do kind of just look like hills right now. I'll work on it.
@Mindfire, I use Photoshop. The landmasses are generated randomly, at first, using 'clouds', but I tweak them to look more like the continents and islands I wanted. The mountains and sea depths are created with more clouds, just used as a texture and edited out when appropriate (I removed the mountains from the desert, for instance). The colour is just a gradient over the whole thing, from a dark green to a pale green to a sand colour. The rest is just tweaking with the layer styles - emboss, glow, that sort of thing. Aside from choosing colours and having a steady hand while touching things up, it required no real artistic talent.
@Mindfire, I use Photoshop. The landmasses are generated randomly, at first, using 'clouds', but I tweak them to look more like the continents and islands I wanted. The mountains and sea depths are created with more clouds, just used as a texture and edited out when appropriate (I removed the mountains from the desert, for instance). The colour is just a gradient over the whole thing, from a dark green to a pale green to a sand colour. The rest is just tweaking with the layer styles - emboss, glow, that sort of thing. Aside from choosing colours and having a steady hand while touching things up, it required no real artistic talent.
Mindfire
Istari
@Jab, Mountains are tough. >.< On the one hand, I don't want them to be white-capped and really strange looking against the gradient, but on the other hand, they do kind of just look like hills right now. I'll work on it.
@Mindfire, I use Photoshop. The landmasses are generated randomly, at first, using 'clouds', but I tweak them to look more like the continents and islands I wanted. The mountains and sea depths are created with more clouds, just used as a texture and edited out when appropriate (I removed the mountains from the desert, for instance). The colour is just a gradient over the whole thing, from a dark green to a pale green to a sand colour. The rest is just tweaking with the layer styles - emboss, glow, that sort of thing. Aside from choosing colours and having a steady hand while touching things up, it required no real artistic talent.
How long did it take?
Ophiucha
Dark Lord
About an hour, give or take.