User:Aeakett/Mapping tutorial

So, this is where I'm going to explain how I make my maps. To start out, it will be woefully incomplete. I'll add steps as I get time (and remember how I did them).

So to start:

Go and get a copy of the Gimp and install it.
Also get a copy of the Fontin typeface and install it.
Save a copy of Image:Map_background.jpg to your computer.
You can skip this one for now, but if you find that this is something that you'll be doing a lot of, you should really consider getting yourself a graphics tablet. I have a lest-gen [www.wacom.com Wacom] Bamboo, which was pretty much the bottom of the line when I bought it. For me, even a cheap/tiny pen and tablet is way easier to draw lines with than a mouse.
Now comes one of the hardest parts. Since we're going to trace the broad shapes, we need something to trace from. Open up the map from the Campaign Setting pdf and find the area that you want to make a map of. Set the zoom of your pdf reader to somewhere between 200% and 400%. The tricky part is setting the zoom so that the resulting map has enough context, but will still look OK when shrunk down do display in an article. When you've got things framed the way you want, take a screen shot and save the resulting image.
Open the image in the Gimp and create a new transparent layer on the top of the stack (name it Shoreline).
Before you go any further, go to File -> Open as layers, and import that huge Image:Map_background.jpg that you saved earlier. Make it your bottom layer.
Select the paintbrush tool and pick a brush size that's close to the width of the stroke that defines the shoreline of the base map image (you'll have to exercise some judgment here).
Trace the shoreline out on the Shoreline layer. This will test the steadiness of your hand, but close counts (we'll call it artistic license).
Create a new layer called Water, placing it under Shoreline.
Set your foreground colour to #23a0e8 and your background colour to #79c4ef
Select the paintbrush tool, and select the "Use colour from gradient" box. Select the FG to BG (RGB) gradient. Select the "Apply jitter" box. Set the jitter to .69. Set the brush's opacity to 69%. Set the brush size so that it's just small enough to colour in any rivers without going outside of the shoreline too much.
Colour in the water, using as many and as long continuous strokes as you can.
Select the smudge tool, and smooth out all of that water you just drew.

I like to keep the strokes in a consistent direction, but you should definitely experiment
If you missed any spots, this process will likely magnify them... just go back, touch up the area with blue, and blend it back in.
Don't forget your rivers

The water is done, and it's time to move on to the forests. Make a new layer called Forest, and place it above the Shoreline layer.
Select the Lasso tool, and check "Feather Edge". The value on the slider will depend on the scale of your screen capture, but you can start at 10-15px and experiment from there. You don't want it too soft, but not too sharp of an edge either.
Trace around the outside of your first forested region. If you have more than one, make sure you hold down Shift when you do them, so that they're all selected at the same time.
Set your foreground colour to #2d713a and your background colour to #7b9a4f
Select the paintbrush tool, and select the "Use colour from gradient" box. Select the FG to BG (RGB) gradient. You can turn off "Apply jitter" and set the opacity back to 100%. For the brush, select the Vine brush (which should be at the bottom of your brush pallette).
Paint in the forested areas. At this point you should be able to tell if the feather radius on your selection needs tweaking. If it does, clear the layer out and start again.
Repeat the steps above on a new "Mountains" layer using the following colours: #9a714f and #71582d
New layers again for Plains, Hills and Desert. Use the preceding steps, only with a 15% when painting the layer. After the layers is painted, apply a 50px Gaussian blur (select Filters -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur from the menu) – again, this depends on the size of your screen capture.

Use the forest greens for the plains
Use the mountain browns for the hills
Use #cf630f and #f48e00 for the desert

Glacier areas use the dark blue from the water and white, no opacity, and a small (10px or so) Gaussian blur.
At this point, you should have something that looks suspiciously like a map.

Since lunch time is quickly nearing an end I'll speed-scrawl some really cryptic notes:

This has the colours you'll need, as well as some numbers that may serve as guidelines
tracing is fun
the vine brush combined with "Use color from gradient" is really awesome for a non-uniform/camo/pounced look.

This might get you started. Please feel free to pester me to flesh this out, and ask specific questions on the talk page.