My First World Map

[Chris Lewis]

Love the attention to detail!

Thanks so much, zhar. It was really fun and challenging!

[Mouse]

You have a very distinctive 'poster map' style which is refreshingly bold. Having said that, however, I'm experiencing a little difficulty in working out if this is a continent, or in fact just a medium sized island.

I think a scale would be a good idea, perhaps?

There is plenty of evidence that you have been paying close attention to many different aspects of other styles to build your own, such as the wave marks around the coastline and the forests. I can hardly wait to see you have a go at digitising one of these maps, since it is then you will have the freedom to really develop this style

EDIT: There are almost an infinite number of ways to colour a black and white hand drawn map, from what I can gather from all that I've seen here at the Guild, and I have only just begun to experiment with maps that started out life as tonal pencil drawings, but so far the results have been both pleasing and surprising - well worth the effort of learning new software and techniques. I don't have a tablet just yet, though I'm definitely saving up for one, but you would be surprised at the results you can get using just a mouse.

[Chris Lewis]

Mouse, thank you for your complements and questions/suggestions. Yes, this is a continent and so I'll research other maps and look for how they incorporate the scale feature. I've been meaning to experiment with GIMP but haven't had the "courage" to jump into it, or the knowledge of where to start - perhaps YouTube would be my best bet I'd be interested in hearing about what tablets you are looking at, or what you think are good investments.

[Mouse]

Mouse, thank you for your complements and questions/suggestions. Yes, this is a continent and so I'll research other maps and look for how they incorporate the scale feature. I've been meaning to experiment with GIMP but haven't had the "courage" to jump into it, or the knowledge of where to start - perhaps YouTube would be my best bet I'd be interested in hearing about what tablets you are looking at, or what you think are good investments.

The scale is usually shown as a scale bar, but there are many inventive ways of depicting such a thing, which you will discover as you browse through the many beautiful maps on display in the Finished Maps forum. Another good place to look at great maps is on the Cartographer's Choice Forum.

GIMP and Krita are both free, and there are other software packages as well. I only have a few hours experience of both, so I'm not really the person to ask for advice, but there are many very beautiful and instructive tutorials available in the Tutorials Forum, and of course there is also a wealth of information available on YouTube.

As for which tablet to buy I can't really say what would be best for you, since the one I am saving up for is one that was recommended for me personally by ChickPea as being the best value for money given a £50 budget, and may not necessarily be the best buy for you. There are two basic types, as far as I can see - the ones that take the basic form and shape of a giant pressure sensitive laptop touchpad (like the one I intend to buy), and the more expensive ones (which can be over £1000) where you draw directly onto a screen displaying your artwork. I guess its like all things - "you pays your money, and you takes your choice"

[Chris Lewis]

The scale is usually shown as a scale bar, but there are many inventive ways of depicting such a thing, which you will discover as you browse through the many beautiful maps on display in the Finished Maps forum. Another good place to look at great maps is on the Cartographer's Choice Forum.

GIMP and Krita are both free, and there are other software packages as well. I only have a few hours experience of both, so I'm not really the person to ask for advice, but there are many very beautiful and instructive tutorials available in the Tutorials Forum, and of course there is also a wealth of information available on YouTube.

As for which tablet to buy I can't really say what would be best for you, since the one I am saving up for is one that was recommended for me personally by ChickPea as being the best value for money given a £50 budget, and may not necessarily be the best buy for you. There are two basic types, as far as I can see - the ones that take the basic form and shape of a giant pressure sensitive laptop touchpad (like the one I intend to buy), and the more expensive ones (which can be over £1000) where you draw directly onto a screen displaying your artwork. I guess its like all things - "you pays your money, and you takes your choice"

Thanks again for all the guidance, Mouse! I am perusing these as we speak.

[Tiluchi]

I use a Wacom Intuos Art tablet for my work (though I'm faaaaaaaar from a good cartographer or example to follow at this point ), which I like since it's very functional, portable and affordable. I got it on sale so it was only £54 ($70) or so, otherwise I would have gotten the Draw, which is what Mouse recommended. I think both are perfectly good tools, and should be more than enough. Having a tablet has probably halved my work time, I highly recommend it!

[Chris Lewis]

I use a Wacom Intuos Art tablet for my work (though I'm faaaaaaaar from a good cartographer or example to follow at this point ), which I like since it's very functional, portable and affordable. I got it on sale so it was only £54 ($70) or so, otherwise I would have gotten the Draw, which is what Mouse recommended. I think both are perfectly good tools, and should be more than enough. Having a tablet has probably halved my work time, I highly recommend it!

Thanks so much, Tiluchi. A friend was also telling me about the Wacom tablets as well. He swears by them.

[Chris Lewis]

Trying to work up the design for my coniferous forests. Ignore the shaded-in ones on the right. Also, if I were to scan this in and finish the rest on a tablet/GIMP/etc., is that where I do the shading? Should I leave the pencil shading out in the hand sketch or keep it? Thoughts, critiques, suggestions, slams? Thanks for your help everyone!

[Mouse]

Wow! That's certainly a bit different and strangely attractive, even though its not what I meant. My bad! Sorry Chris!

I think I need to work on the way I explain things

What I completely failed to describe was the process of outlining the trees around the edge with linework rather than shading them solid - draw them as complete tree shapes without any solid block shading.

I notice you are using a 4H pencil? That's incredibly hard! You may have noticed that your pencil shading is denting the paper. This will make it difficult to erase at any point in the future if you change your mind about the shading, and will affect the localised texture of the paper when you scan it and take it to the digital stage. I would recommend using a much softer pencil for the shading, and only resting it on the surface of the paper as you shade - a light touch will probably save you a lot of grief in the future

EDIT: Also, if you are scanning this image in to work on it digitally, you may find it a lot easier to leave the shading out altogether at this point, but just do the linework. Once it is digital you can do the shading again and again till you get it just exactly the way you want it without having to damage the paper original by continually erasing the pencil.

[Chris Lewis]

Wow! That's certainly a bit different and strangely attractive, even though its not what I meant. My bad! Sorry Chris!

I think I need to work on the way I explain things

What I completely failed to describe was the process of outlining the trees around the edge with linework rather than shading them solid - draw them as complete tree shapes without any solid block shading.

I notice you are using a 4H pencil? That's incredibly hard! You may have noticed that your pencil shading is denting the paper. This will make it difficult to erase at any point in the future if you change your mind about the shading, and will affect the localised texture of the paper when you scan it and take it to the digital stage. I would recommend using a much softer pencil for the shading, and only resting it on the surface of the paper as you shade - a light touch will probably save you a lot of grief in the future

Thank you, Mouse. I gotcha on the design now, lol. Yes, I did notice the pencil's hardness and how it affected the paper's texture. I will continue to experiment in this area to find a good balance with shade and hardness of lead