Well, I actually stumbled across mapping.

I started writing when I was just a kid, and then I hand drew maps all the time. Aweful stuff! Hand me a ruler and a pencil and you still might not get a straight line.

Then I went into writing seriously. Right now, I'm working on a multiple galaxy universe, and I'm trying to create a workable image of my space/time continuum (that's a harder ball of wax and I'll probably figure it out later), and then for regular mapping, I'm looking mostly to do artistic, somewhat realistic overland maps.

I could do maps of ships and buildings and there are a handful of them that I ought to do, but I'm worried it will take too much time. There is one city map I desperately need to do, but I'm not very attracted to the add-on prices of Campaign Cartographer, especially since I know CorelDraw is vector (not sure what PhotoPaint is), but I know nothing at all about CAD.

I looked at Dundjinni for the style I like, but it doesn't do overlands too well, and that's my main requirement. I looked at Fractal Mapper, CC3, Inkscape, Bryce, etc. but all of them have that learning curve. And maybe I'll need to pick one, but I'm kind of hoping...