Beginner's Question: I've got a world, but how do I make it look good? (GIMP)

[Jeff Stormer]

This is both my first foray into cartography and my first post on this forum, so please let me know if I've done anything silly.

I'm making a world for an RPG campaign, and I'm determined to do it as realistically as possible. I started with tectonics to create landmasses and mountains, then created a basic elevation map, used Geoff's Climate Cookbook to determine climate/biome groups, and combined elevation and projected relative rainfall to create rudimentary water features. I even used G Projector to convert my world map to a Robinson projection, since I'll need to have at least a bit of realistic proportions to determine travel times for my players.

You can see everything I've made here.

However, none of it looks good enough for me to feel good showing it to my players: not the caliber I see here on Cartographer's Guild. I would love to make a map with a classic fantasy feel, with the illusion of parchment and ink. I have almost no idea where to start. I've followed a few online tutorials, but I abandoned a lot of them halfway through because either they required more skill than I possess or didn't seem to be creating the feel that I'm looking for. Part of it is that I'm using GIMP, and I've never used a program like it before (not even Photoshop).

(On a slightly-related note, I tried following this tutorial for making parchment in GIMP, but GIMP keeps crashing when I try to add the bump map. Not sure what's up with that.)

I suppose what I'm asking for is any general advice for creating classical fantasy maps, or any specific resources for GIMP. If the best advice there is is just "get good," that's okay. I can keep trying.

Thank you very much for your time!

Also my first post (joined a bit over 4 years ago), I lurk, I totally forget about this insanely wonderful resource, I binge.

I am quite a bit behind you in terms of mapping skills. However, I have discovered a couple of resources you might find helpful in your fantasy map making, especially with the GIMP.

Both are Youtube channels.

The first deals directly with the GIMP. It's "The Coffee Bean GM" and his series "Gimp Mapping Made Easy." He goes with a more artistic approach rather than the more scientific approach, but the use of the tools is the important thing.

The second channel is Artefexian. He's got 2 major...play lists...for a lack of a better term. One is Conlanging. The other is Fantasy Cartography from a very solid science base, from creating the star, then the world, moons, tectonics, wind/water movements, weather, ...the whole shebang. Insanely detailed--and frequently with a bucketload of free spreadsheets and similar tools to help crunch your specific numbers for your specific world.

I have found them hugely helpful---but be warned! The rabbit hole is *deep*!

[Iestwyn]

Oh, I love Artifexian! I used a bunch of his stuff in my maps.

I haven't heard of The Coffee Bean GM. I'll have to check him out; thanks!