UPDATE: Portions of a Greyhawk mapping project

Hey everyone. I'm in the midst of mapping the Flanaess region of the Greyhawk setting. They are slowly being completed as I go. So far only a few are as near complete that I can be satisfied with. I have submitted them to the Greyhawk fansite, Canonfire! The files are being drawn so that they would look good when printed, which accounts for the massive file sizes.

Here are the two which are available right now: HERE and HERE

More are on the way. The rest of the Thillonrian Peninsula, a Pale/Ratik/Bone March regional map, and a few that will cover the entire Greater Sheldomar Valley from Ket to the Pomarj, to Jeklea Bay to Hornwood.


Eric Anondson

Those are some stunning maps. You get a big 5 stars from me.

The inevitable question - how do you do them?

A how to?

Here is a short "how to" that I posted in the Canonfire! comments section to one of my maps.

Well first, I can easily say this, I made judicious use of layers in Photoshop. One with the background, a second with forests/swamps above that, a third with coastlines/rivers above that, and the fourth for roads/cities/landmarks.

For the texture of the ground, I would use the Brush Tool set at a very large size, draw one level at a time, darker and darker as I wanted to give a sense of "elevation" or "ruggedness". As I drew darker and darker, I would shrink the brush size when I meant to give a sense of a ridge line.

With the open water, I would just select the open space from the Coasts layer, then switch to the Background layer. Gradually use the "Contract Selection", and then "Feather" the selection. "Fill" it with a slightly darker blue, and repeat. Wait until you see this effect with the Thillonrian Peninsula maps. Can you say "Underwater Topography?"

With the forests, I have two different shades of green for coniferous and deciduous forests. Started by Color selecting the particular green. I also have two different pattern which I "Filled" via an alternate mode (I honestly can't remember how) into the forest color so that only a faded aspect of the pattern would imprint into the green. Then I "Contracted" the selection, "Feathered" it, then used History Fill at 30% opacity, "Contract" again, "Feather" again, then History Fill at 100% opacity.

Hmm, oh, the topography in the forests. I just went to the background layer, used the "Magic Wand" to select the elevation colors, "Feathered" the selection. Switched to the Forest layer, and would alter the Contrast to lighten it. Switch back to Background layer and "Deselect" then "Feather" lighter and lighter elevation layers, each time furthering the Contrast more to give the appearance of topographic change that is there.

Adding the pattern and topography texture to the forests are highly tedious. But the most tedious is doing the Mountains. You'll see what I mean when the Thillonrian maps get up.

I hope this is even slightly helpful. What helps most though is expertise in advanced Photoshop... with a good academic foundation in Geography (my major in college).


Eric Anondson

Absolutely stunning Eric!

Update: Eastern Rhizia now available

The second half of one of my maps has now been made available, HERE

This time, you can either download a letter-sized version, or the larger poster-sized version separately. Especially helpful for those with dial-up connections...


Eric Anondson

Thanks for the "How to" I'll try to use those techniques and try to add to it... WIll surely be able to post something in half a year

Hum... Was wondering if you could send me the *.aco swatched files you use ... (If you made any custom one to make your map.)

If you want me to use the color you use, that's it...


Thanks
droft@hotmail.com

UPDATE: New map available

Another map of mine has been posted to the Canonfire! Greyhawk fansite. It is one of the maps I mentioned above that were coming eventually.

HERE it is! The maps are far too large to post here, as they are designed to be printed at 300ppi.


Eric Anondson

I'm getting 404 errors when I try to access them

Just another update

Hey folks, just to bring to your attention that another of my maps has finally been posted. It's more or less "art", as one can see just by looking at the style. If anyone has ever played in Greyhawk, this might be THE most adventured region in the setting. The Heart of the Flanaess

Oh, and if anyone gets some sort of error when downloading them, note that the files are HUGE. 1 MB and 6+ MB in size, so a download manager may be needed for those who have problems.

Enjoy!


Eric Anondson