map creation?

[jezelf]

Hi Again.

Upon request (from Lenny) I've had some time to do a more detailed tutorial if anyone is interested. Only on creating a B&W image for the moment, others on their way. It's aimed at a beginner - hopfully you can get through it ok. Please forgive any typos there, I just saw 'em so I'll sort those out when I get a sec.

I've also included some links to other sites which may be helpful if you are looking for old medieval maps to tolkien ones.

cheers
jez

I forgot to add on the tutorial (I'll do it later) that if you don't have Photoshop CS you can download a trial demo from Adobe - or usually found in most related magazines at your nearest newsagent.

 

[Lenny]

Ooooooh! Thanks for these. I've got the time ti play around, now, so I shall.

 

[JDP]

Thanks for taking the time to post this stuff, Jezelf, it's great!

 

[jezelf]

You're welcome. I've changed the font so it's more readable and corrected the awful typos I had. I wish I had more time to do all of the tutorials I want to do. I've got the next one almost done - just need to get the webpage done.

Here's a preview of the end result - as before it'll be a step by step guide to achieving what you see here. the B&W one is used as a starting point for this.

​

If you are looking forward to this one, I would suggest playing around with Photoshop's text tool and warp text options, the brush presets editor and familiarising yourself with defining a brush, brush dynamics and scattering. Also load up the calligraphic brush set ( I used them to draw these mountains, forests and locations)

Hope to get it to ya next week sometime.

Cheers
Jez

 

[hippokrene]

I just generate a half-dozen maps in Civ IV and use whatever one looks best.

 

[jezelf]

New tutorial is now online - for the map in my post above. These first two have depended on the computer to create the land - perhaps not ideal if you have your own ideas down on paper.

So the next tutorial (dunno when yet) will be to take a scanned sketch and turn it into something you see in a novel - just in case you would like to have your own artwork ready for print for your next masterpiece!

cheers
Jez

 

[timelord4]

Great work jezelf, and a lot of help.

Personally I'm old fashioned and do hand drawns but mainly the coastline etc. Then I use photoshop to put the text etc in. Then use sepia filters over the map to give it that burnished old look. Create a scroll. Photomerge the two so the map overlays the scroll and that's it. You're right though about saving images before moving on to the next step. I't's a must.

 

[JDP]

Hi Jezelf, a big thank you once again, these tutorials are awesome. I'd played around with making landmasses with photoshop before, but as you can see, my 'olde mappe' styling was a bit crap.

Here's the before and after, once I'd looked through your tips. Quite a difference, eh?

I found the mountain paintbrush worked quite well if you threw in a couple half the size of the others.

 

[Theo]

Question: How do you make your map original?

So many of the maps I look at in books follow the general outlines of existing continents.

 

[JDP]

If you take a look at Jezelf's first tutorial (the link's in this thread somewhere), he explains exactly how to do it.

Basically, you can use photoshop to randomly generate lots of landmass-like shapes, then you can just pick and choose which you want and stick 'em together.

I think if you're doing it from scratch, by hand, it can be quite hard to avoid earth-like continent formations. They just look right.

 

[jezelf]

JDP: No problem. Hey thats looking good! glad to be of help.

The cool thing about people doing different things is that there are always some cool stuff we can learn from each other - On your 'before' image I particulary like the darker graduation from the coastline into the land. I also liked all the details of the areas that you have there.

If you added the minor feature names you have on the Beore map to your After map ( eg: The Southlands, The Eibens, Iesvold & Northen Range s etc )I think it will look even better - especially if you keep the minor features in lowercase and the same or maybe smaller font size. Nice Font too.

great stuf!

Theo: Yeah it's a challenge not to slip into cliches. Thats why I play with photoshop - it creates randomness that can also inspire your stories.

Here's the link that might help

I also found a world map generator recently which will also help - I'll dig it out and post it here next time.

But Also I try and think about my story and what would it need geographically to support it?

For example if you want your kingdom on the top of a mountain, then that society would need to be sustained at that altitude. a lone watch tower could be build anywhere, but a civlisation would need to be feed if they are among a rocky 'alps' place - so you would need areas for farming

Do they farm on the low lands? or does your place allow for pockets of sheltered grasslands cradled among the mountain ridges? (actually I quite like that idea ) Or is the kingdom big enough to allow multiple gardens within the walls - which also come in hand for when theyare under siege (I like that too!)

How would this civilsation start? How did their ansestors migrate to this area? was it from across a small sea or big ocean over low lands? was there a flood centruries ago, forcing them to higher ground?

So just by starting with your key story and trying to make sense of the 'why?' you can work your way outwards, thinking about how they got there. This will help shape your world too.

hope that helps.
Jez

 

[jezelf]

Here's another tool. A fractal world generator for those who want some ideas fast.

 

[igloo15]

I love your tutorials they have helped my create a map for my latest book idea. It took me a while but the result is phenomenal. I was wondering though if you would be finishing your tutorials I have a hand drawn map I would love to use this with and was hoping your tutorial could help me make it better.

Here is my map so far:

 

[igloo15]

Hey love your tutorials used it to make the map for my new story I am writing and it came out wonderful. I am hoping that you finish writing the tutorials because I would love to know how you did the other things like making it a 3D globe etc. Can't wait to see them!

 

[Carpe Diem]

The tutorials are really cool-thanks!
Whenever I draw maps for my work, I do my best never to base it on real continents, even though some of the cultures in what I'm currently writing are based on real historical or current cultures.
My tip for drawing maps is start with one country, and leave lots of land around it, then think of what could lurk in that land; it usually works well for me (certainly has lately-I'm on page... 40 (A4) of my latest novel idea- the first one that is actually going somewhere.)
Good luck with future maps!
Carpe Diem.

 

[Carpe Diem]

By the way, does anyone think that the image of a giant waterfall springing out of the top of a mountain is too far fetched if in the thing it's explained by the fact that a deity enchanted it to come out in all its might rather than to go through all the stuff about tributaries and streams etc, as it is the deity's sacred river and HAS to be more spectacular than the rest. Id est that means that if the deity does it it uses magic and absolutely ignores the rules of physics.
I think the best way to imagine the above looks like is a vertical waterfeature with a pump inside that releases the water down the side of the actual body of said feature making it look like the water just appears out of nowhere as the system is hidden inside.
Sorry if its a bit confusing :s

 

[igloo15]

How tall of a mountain are we looking at a real mountain or just a small one more akin to the size of a hill. Also does it bubble out of the top of the mountain like a volcano or come out the side a little bit down from the tip top. Either way the idea is good as most waterfalls come from a mountain of sorts.

 

[Carpe Diem]

Big mountain about 1000feet tall, comes out of the side a bit down from the tip top.

 

[chrispenycate]

Big mountain about 1000feet tall, comes out of the side a bit down from the tip top.

Little mountain, if it's only 300 or so metres.

At the end of a chain, or all alone in the middle of a plain?

The funny thing is, I know an example of that which is working perfectly well without any supernatural intervention; in fact, most of the year, it sprays out less than fifty metres from the summit like a garden hose, arcing over the slope below. Of course, it's backed up by a fair extent of high mountain (and here we're talking 2000-3000 metres) but from ground level you can't see this, and the effect is fairly spectacular.
If you want to put it in the middle of a plain, you can still manage without your deity needing to cheat, but it gets more complicated. All you really require is that somewhere be mountains considerably taller than your sacred one, and rainfall.

Google pisse vache photo (Martigny) (yes, it does mean what you think)

 

[igloo15]

At that height you could say that melting glacier caps and snow on the mountain is causing the waterfall instead of the god idea.