Simplistic Map Tutorial

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zee
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Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

This is a tutorial for making maps of a similar style to this one here:

Image

This tutorial assumes you already have a basic knowledge of the graphics program you are using (Layers, etc)
In the tutorial, I am using Inkscape (which I would recommend) but there are lots of other good graphic programs which would work just as well. (Paint.NET and GIMP are two other free ones that I have used in the past).
Also remember, this should be taken as a rough guide and you don't have to stick with everything I say. After all, it's your own map!

1. Set Up Your Canvas
I started by adding a background layer of blue and locking the layer. (It's always good to get into the habit of locking layers that you're not using in order to prevent accidental damage to other parts of the map)
Spoiler:
Image
2. Draw the basic outline
Create a new layer, named "Land" or something similar. There are two ways you can go with this. You can either draw the proper outline of the country and leave it at that or you can draw a more basic outline and fractalize (or apply some other sort of filter) it if you wish. Because I am making a very random country that has no specific shape right now, I'm just going to draw a random circular shape. You can then change the border colour to whatever you like and fill it in which whatever colour you like.
Spoiler:
Image
3. Define the coast
If you used the method of drawing the outline of the country as it is then you can most likely skip this step, but if you chose the option of a basic outline then this is what you are probably going to want to do. Making sure that your land is selected, go into "Extensions > Modify Path > Fractalize". (The fractalize or similar functions may be located somewhere else depending on which program you are using) A dialogue should appear. In here you can fiddle with the different options. Press OK to apply it and, if you don't like it then you can Undo it (Ctrl+Z on Windows or just Edit > Undo) and try again with different settings.
Spoiler:
Image
Image
4. Land Height (Part 1)
Now you can lock the land layer and make a new layer called "Higher Land". On here you can draw some areas where the land will be higher such as hills, general higher land, or areas around mountains. You can then apply a border and background to these - it is probably best if it is the same general colour as the background but darker.
Spoiler:
Image
5. Land Height (Part 2)
You can now lock the "Higher Land" layer and make "Highest Land" layer. On here you can draw the highest areas, which will generally be inside the higher areas. You can apply a border and background like before but darker than the areas in the "Higher" layer.
Spoiler:
Image
6. Rivers
You can now, if you want to, add rivers. If you're going for something realistic then try to remember the rules of river placement. This step is not necessary as you may not want rivers. If you do add them then you can do it in a new layer called "Rivers" and in a light blue colour.
Spoiler:
Image
7. Town and City placement
On a new layer named "Cities" or something similar, you can now place small circles onto the map where some of the main cities are. Remember that cities will mainly be around the coast and, a lot of the time, on rivers. If there is a really big city then you can get clusters of cities close to each other. There are usually also lots of areas where there are much fewer cities than other places. Also avoid mountainous areas as there are not likely any cities around the base, and especially on, mountains.
Spoiler:
Image
8. Roads (Entirely optional!)
This step is entirely optional as your concountry may not have roads at all! But if it does then you can now mark roads of a new layer named "Roads". Remember that the roads shouldn't just be straight lines (unless they were specifically build that way which would be a bit ... miraculous) Also there are more likely to be roads around major cities than smaller towns etc. I'm going to do two types of roads: bigger roads and smaller roads and I'll do them on two different layers. Also, try to make sure that the layer(s) with the roads on are below the layer with the city plots on them.
Spoiler:
Image
9. Labels
You can now add a new layer called "Labels" and go over labelling everything that needs labelling. The cities, oceans/seas, mountains, anything that you feel needs labelling. You can vary sizes and colours of labels to show what is bigger, smaller or more important than other things if you want.
Spoiler:
Image
10. Scale
If you'd like you can add a scale on a new layer called "Scale".
Spoiler:
Image
You can add whatever else you want but I would consider myself done at this point.
You can always go back and easily change things due to the layers being clearly laid out.
Please remember this is just a rough guide and you can change it up as much as you wish.

Here are some other ideas for things you could add to the map:
  • Different counties/regions within the country
  • Different water routes for boats, ferries, etc
  • Locations of specific services (e.g airports if your concountry/conworld has them)
  • You could name & label some of the main roads
Thanks for reading.
And happy mapping.
Last edited by zee on 24 Dec 2013 02:36, edited 2 times in total.
reírítí lixa kisti o lixati reí kisti · the river god controls the fish and the fish control the river – otísil (pdf)
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kanejam
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by kanejam »

Cho Kawaii!! Seriously though this is very cool and has motivated me to learn how to use Inkscape [:P]
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zee
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

kanejam wrote:Cho Kawaii!! Seriously though this is very cool and has motivated me to learn how to use Inkscape [:P]
Hoorah!
Inkscape is very good indeed.
And you only really need the basics to be able to follow along with this tutorial.
reírítí lixa kisti o lixati reí kisti · the river god controls the fish and the fish control the river – otísil (pdf)
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by benjamino59 »

What font did you use?
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Egerius »

benjamino59 wrote:What font did you use?
Looks like Calibri and Calibri Italic.
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Ossicone »

Nice. Map making can be intimidating and this is a good guide to making a basic map. [:D]
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zee
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

Egerius wrote:
benjamino59 wrote:What font did you use?
Looks like Calibri and Calibri Italic.
It's Segoe UI Semilight
Though I can see the similarity to Calibri.
Ossicone wrote:Nice. Map making can be intimidating and this is a good guide to making a basic map. [:D]
Thanks! [:D]
I remember when I made my first map and it was... *shiver* I don't like talking about it...
reírítí lixa kisti o lixati reí kisti · the river god controls the fish and the fish control the river – otísil (pdf)
benjamino59
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by benjamino59 »

This tutorial is awesome! [:D]
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zee
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

benjamino59 wrote:This tutorial is awesome! [:D]
Thanks!
You're awesome too.

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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by SLiV »

Wow, that looks amazing. [:D]

I definitely should read this tut again some time in the future, when I want to make a map. Thanks.
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kanejam
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by kanejam »

Technical questions: what size is your canvas? And how did you get the background? I try to fill but it says area not bounded.
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Jojo87 »

Nice tut! : )
Do you know of something similar to the fractalize function in Illustrator?
Also, can you post the code for the color you use?
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zee
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

kanejam wrote:Technical questions: what size is your canvas? And how did you get the background? I try to fill but it says area not bounded.
You can use any size you want but I used 800px x 600px. Also, because I did it using a vector program (Inkscape), I was able to export it in different sizes without losing any quality.

And for the background, I just made a filled square with width and height the same as the canvas width and height (also x and y both 0 so it sits in the right place)
Jojo87 wrote:Nice tut! : )
Do you know of something similar to the fractalize function in Illustrator?
I dont know myself but I found this from a Google search: "Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen"
Jojo87 wrote:Also, can you post the code for the color you use?
Okay. I'll give you the hexadecimal and the RGB.

Background - #B2DFFF (178, 223, 255)
Land - #FEEFDD (254, 239, 221)
Higher Land - #F4E3D7 (244, 227, 215)
Highest Land - #E9C6AF (233, 198, 175)
Blue Labels on the sea - #5FBCD3 (95, 188, 211)
The other labels were just regular black (#000000)
Last edited by zee on 20 Oct 2013 22:01, edited 1 time in total.
reírítí lixa kisti o lixati reí kisti · the river god controls the fish and the fish control the river – otísil (pdf)
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by kanejam »

Pixels (px) right? I am using Inkscape which I downloaded especially [:)] and I also found a good guide on font making that Inkscape is useful for
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zee
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by zee »

kanejam wrote:Pixels (px) right? I am using Inkscape which I downloaded especially [:)] and I also found a good guide on font making that Inkscape is useful for
Pixels, yes.
Inkscape is useful for many thing.
reírítí lixa kisti o lixati reí kisti · the river god controls the fish and the fish control the river – otísil (pdf)
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by threecat »

Use pencil and paper, for Zompist's sake!
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Ahzoh »

the Fill-Bucket tool annoys the hell out of me; it never completely fills the area, always little blue spots around the egdes, and some of the fill-colour goes over my borders.
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by xinda »

Are you using a raster image editor? If you draw anti-aliased lines the editor can usually only fill pixels that are exactly the same color as the one that you've clicked on.
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Ahzoh »

xinda wrote:Are you using a raster image editor? If you draw anti-aliased lines the editor can usually only fill pixels that are exactly the same color as the one that you've clicked on.
I'm using Inkscape...
I copy+pasted an outline of my map... then I drew lines over it on another layer, and then I cut out the lines deleted the country layout and pasted the new lines into the layer, but now it doesn't fill completely...
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Re: Simplistic Map Tutorial

Post by Chagen »

That fractalize function seems surprisingly useful. Are the coasts it generates particulary realistic or is that mostly irrelevant?

I feel like I should FINALLY start drawing out Azehar. I'm gonna use this tutorial~
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