We're starting a series of interviews with cartographers and our first guest,
already a well known fixture here at the Guild as well as known around the web as Sapiento,
is Robert Altbauer. We asked him 7 questions, as we will in each interview.
already a well known fixture here at the Guild as well as known around the web as Sapiento,
is Robert Altbauer. We asked him 7 questions, as we will in each interview.
Crysalian Empire - Remake
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background...
Originally I come from a different field of creativity – I studied law at the University of Salzburg. My last job before I went to mapping was as scientific assistance in an institute for law and policy.
2) How did you get into mapping?
I’m a big fan of alternate history and one of the most important tools for this genre is the accompanying AH map. One day I had an idea for an AH setting and wanted to make a map for this, so I ordered my first tablet (a Bamboo from Wacom at that time) and started mapping. This was the first drawing attempt in after 20 years. The irony is that I loved drawing when I was a child. Regrettably the very expensive Austrian school system is known for its policy of levelling all children (at a constantly declining level, that is) instead of strengthening the talents of children. So maybe my educational path would have been different if someone had supported this talent early on.
The Hyborian Age
3) Do you create maps professionally, or for fun? If you've sold your work, how did you get started? Any fun/horror stories to share about commissioned work?
I create most maps professionally, but of course I also do maps for fun. Or for training. It is important to push ones skills further and further and doing new maps is the best way to do so. My first professional map was a small regional map for a private RPG campaign; I applied for the job and got it and that was the start of my professional career. That was in 2010.
Most of my jobs are fun but of course I also had some displeasing moments.
I had only two clients out of hundreds who refused to pay initially, but after creating some fuss I got them to fulfil their obligation – a hint to the email traffic and social media can work wonders in such cases.
4) What kind of computer setup/equipment/software do you have? Any advice or tips for learners?
I changed to a new PC earlier this year, with a high-end graphics processor and a fast SSD as main drive. That makes drawing very fast. I use mainly Photoshop and Illustrator for my maps. My drawing hardware is an older Intuos 3 Wide from Wacom.
When I started I had a cheaper, but good Bamboo (as stated above) and used Gimp, then a very old Photoshop version and Inkscape. This is a good starting point for beginners. You can test your creativity with a relatively moderate budget.
Jan Blaeu - English Counties - Huntingdonshire
5) What are your favourite kind of maps or favourite map makers from history?
Oh, difficult question. I really like the old maps of Jan Blaeu or Nicolas Sanson, but there are so many maps made in the last ten years that are beautiful, I hardly can name one.
6) What do you consider your best piece of work? How about your favourite, if different?
IMO I made some very good maps in the last twelve months. I had an artistic leap of some kind and my maps are now much better than two years ago. My current favourites are a new version of the Hyborian Age, then my colour and black/white map of Bryxentana and my remake of the Chrysalian Empire.
Bryxentana
7) Where can we find you on the web?
I have my own website at Fantasy-map.net which I update once in one or two months. More frequent updates I post on my deviantArt site, where I also post my non-cartography work (recently some medieval-style illustrations with a Lovecraftian flavour), and I’m also active on Facebook and Google+.