# Main > General Discussion >  Let's share our hate of forests

## ThomasR

This is more a cry for help (psychologic help I mean) than a proper thread.

I'd like to shout my hate of forests at the community. While I'm a regular tree hugger and I generally refuse to do harm to those magnificent barky beings, there are times when I could do much harm to them, saddisticaly. Which times do you ask ? Usually when I've just spend 5 hours drawing a damned canopy and the only thing I can think of is "I'm halfway thru !".

So I started this thread so that frustrated and enraged people like me, ready to look at a forest fire, roaring a mad laughter (at the moment only, I'm usually all cotton candy ... organic of course) can share their pain.

I'm gonna jump back into this jungle of suffering, see ya folks.

It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.

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## snodsy

I hear you, maybe a thread like what was recently done showing mountain styles could be done for forest, I never know which direction to go with them and any direction I choose I'm never satisfied. I love hiking and being in their company, I've even worked at a nature center for 5 years, but haven't fully captured their essence or beauty, I'm now fond of drawing deserts 🤓

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## Gamerprinter

Eh, I have no issues with hand-drawn, nor digitally created forests which I almost always include in maps I create. I use different techniques to depict forests, with the purely digital ones being easiest to create, but again, no "hate" from me about forests.

GP

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## ThomasR

> Eh, I have no issues with hand-drawn, nor digitally created forests which I almost always include in maps I create. I use different techniques to depict forests, with the purely digital ones being easiest to create, but again, no "hate" from me about forests.
> 
> GP


Don't worry, I've got no hate towards forests, that was just a way to complain about my own (and the client's) choice. Making maps is a wonderful activity but sometimes it gets a bit repetitive but when it's done, it's often worth the time spent ... at least, I hope  :Smile: 

@ snodsy : such a thread would be a blast ! Let's hope The Hoarse Whisperer has the courage to take on the task  :Wink:

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## Straf

I don't hate forests yet because I haven't progressed from hating mountains  :Very Happy:  The next mountain I see I'm going to nut and stick two fingers up at!

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## Straf

Oh and I had a great walk today in a wood that has been coppiced since at least the 13th century where some of the root bases are estimated to be at least 1000 years old.

Gamerprinter those maps are great but that Crown Colonies one, for me, is a work of particular distinction.

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## Hai-Etlik

I simply switched tactics to writing software to place trees for me before getting to that point.

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## ThomasR

> Gamerprinter those maps are great but that Crown Colonies one, for me, is a work of particular distinction.


I totally second that !

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## Mouse

> I don't hate forests yet because I haven't progressed from hating mountains  The next mountain I see I'm going to nut and stick two fingers up at!


Oh Straf, please don't.  That could be very painful - especially if you've drawn any _really_ pointy ones!

I think the hatred is not so much of the forests but the sheer amount of time involved in drawing them - especially in isometric view.  I think its actually easier in top view, because you only have to worry about the form shading making the tops look... floofy, but isometric drawings mean that you also have to worry about tree trunks/no tree trunks, how to make the forest look like its standing up and not some strange encroachment of lumpy algae rolling out over the land, and there's also a much bigger problem depicting rivers that cut through the forest... whereas with top view you either have roundish tree blobs overhanging the river, or you don't.  Simple  :Smile: 

The whole thing is even easier if you use ready made tree symbols, as in CC3, but even then it can get quite laborious, so I do know how you feel.  I'm currently trying to repopulate a woody city map with about 1000+ tree symbols.  Placement is critical, since each tree symbol is 'above' the last, so if you do the woodland in the wrong order the slope can look the wrong way up... if you see what I mean  :Smile:

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## ThomasR

I hope to finish the map by tomorrow, then I'll upload it on the forum (once the client greenlights it). I'm eager to have other peoples view on this one.

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## Straf

> I simply switched tactics to writing software to place trees for me before getting to that point.
> 
> Attachment 89714Attachment 89715


I love this monochrome look.

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## Mouse

Trees are very forgiving.  I drew this in 2.5 minutes (I timed myself).  The thing is that if you rough them out this way things might get a bit wild and crazy, but that's the way they grow.  A violent and crazy scribble is always going to look more like a tree than one that has been slowly, carefully, and painstakingly drawn with dead smooth lines by someone who is concentrating almost painfully on the fact that they have to draw a tree whilst worrying about what people might think of their drawing.



I know this isn't a 'map tree' - not even an ISO one, but that's because I'm a painter, and this is the angle I'm more used to drawing my trees just before I furiously scribble a whole load of paint over them.  This might sound like a crazy idea (I'm getting a name for crazy ideas, but who cares!) I am pretty sure that if you just let go and scribble you could then pick out the form more easily and actually a lot more quickly from the resulting tangle when you are inking - making shorter work of the job as a whole.

My bad if you've already tried doing it that way and it just doesn't work for you!

At least I've managed to get my scanner working again! LOL!

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## ThomasR

Thanks for the advice Mouse but it ain't that kind of tree, it's that kind of foliage :



That's 100% and the map is huge ! I did all the borders of the forests without hesitation and without erasing the thing is I'm partially dyspraxic, that's why it hurts a bit.

Nice tree by the way  :Wink:

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## Mouse

Ah... tiny trees  :Smile: 

I think you've done really well with that.  The only thing that catches the eye is the very upright trunks.  I would be tempted just to shade that area and suggest a few vertical-ish lines here and there.  Would that actually be easier than having to draw all those individual lines?  (I don't know very much about dyspraxia - I'm more dyslexic than dyspraxic, so I don't know if its harder to draw it like that or scribble the trunks a bit.)

My bad for not knowing, really - and thanks for the compliment.  I can go away knowing that I don't scribble half bad!  LOL!

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## Mouse

My bad!  Sorry thomrey.  I've just educated myself about the situation, and I realise that suggesting that you scribble something really _isn't_ the solution!

Oops!

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## Josiah VE

That portion is looking beautiful so far Thomrey!

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## ThomasR

@ Mouse : Do not worry, I learned to live with dyspraxia (and dyslexia) and to steady my hand. Besides the pauses needed, it doesn't bother me that much, I even bettered my writing in the past few years  :Smile:  Your idea of using less trunks might prove useful, I already intended to shade the base though. And know that your inbox is full  :Wink: 

@ Josiah : Thanks man, now I need to fill those huge jungles ...

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## Mouse

Thanks thomrey  :Smile:   Thank the Lord for spellcheck... although that can still have unintended consequences in my case - when using autocorrect.  

Inbox has been a bit busy lately!  I'll go and clear out some of the older stuff  :Wink: 

EDIT: I think that since you had to remind me of the dyspraxia (I remember now you mentioned it before a couple of months back), I must have forgotten about it because I can't really tell the difference between your drawing and other experienced PS users  :Smile:

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## Ilanthar

Hehe, you're not alone my friend  :Very Happy: !

Well, you could certainly think you have your revenge the next time you're drawing with a pencil on a paper sheet  :Wink: .

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## ThomasR

Class council time, B****s ! It's time to get bored again !

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## ThomasR

Unfortunately the map has been slightly delayed. One last ornament to produce and it'll be done. I hope to post it by the end of the week.

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## Diamond

I hear ya on the forest hate.  If you've noticed, most of my most recent maps are very forest-lite...

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## ThomasR

Yup, I noticed, and I followed your example on this baby in the first post  :Wink:  It's a pretty elegant style you developed.

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## Diamond

I don't know if I developed it, but I find I like it quite a bit!   :Very Happy:

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## Straf

I'm considering taking a crack at trees/forests soon. Should I inform someone, like my GP, just in case?

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## ThomasR

It can hurt a bit but unless you dive into it for days, pain passes with a good day of wrist ... I mean rest. Sorry...

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## Straf

Heheh tree related carpal tunnel syndrome.

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## Larb

I don't hate forests but they can be a pain when they take up a lot or the majority of the map. Sometimes it can be difficult to make them look interesting.

Mountains on the other hand don't usually occupy as much space.

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## ThomasR

Totally agree with you Larb. Jungle maps are rough for the unclever (I mean me). It heavily depends of the style of forest one choose and I chose a very demanding style. Shading mountains can be rough but it feels more simple to me, maybe because it's the first time I did this type of forest and I've already shaded my share of forests. In the next map, I'll learn to hate mountains too  :Wink:

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## Meshon

I must agree. I am trying to draw some forests. Every map… I draw the mountains first and then I realize that I have to draw the forests to match. Top down isn't as bad, but when you've already gone and done your mountains in a sort of isometric view then you're stuck making forests to match. Draw each tree? How many trunks? Deciduous? Coniferous? Carnivorous?

I think in the future I may only create worlds where trees are either invisible or completely flat on the ground. Yes, that's the solution.

cheers,
Meshon

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## ThomasR

I've started another map in the same style of forest and the feeling is different. I'm more used to the style so the forest comes pretty naturally but there's a boredom to it sometimes. Also, after training, I do not have to redo so much things twice to get it done.

While I agree with you on the hesitation between styles, this question helps set one in the right mood for the map and it also helps to project yourself into the land itself. All in all, a necessary step, sometimes boring but very useful.

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## ThomasR

When the client says that he'd want another style for the forest, you can start to fear for your sanity (especially if you had just finished all the forests of the map). I've come to hate another type of forest : the one where you could make a brush for the individual tree, change the pace of the brush and start drawing your forest border but you cannot because of overlapping lines. So you draw your individual tree, add a white background on the layer just below, blend the layers, select your tree, copy it and paste it to move it at the right place about 10 000 times. No wrist pain in this, just long soul crushing days.

PS : if someone has another way, share it, it'll help everybody

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## Josiah VE

> When the client says that he'd want another style for the forest, you can start to fear for your sanity (especially if you had just finished all the forests of the map). I've come to hate another type of forest : the one where you could make a brush for the individual tree, change the pace of the brush and start drawing your forest border but you cannot because of overlapping lines. So you draw your individual tree, add a white background on the layer just below, blend the layers, select your tree, copy it and paste it to move it at the right place about 10 000 times. No wrist pain in this, just long soul crushing days.
> 
> PS : if someone has another way, share it, it'll help everybody


Why don't you make a brush with the center of the tree being white? Then once you're done that turn it to a multiply layer or something for the shading and colour. Wouldn't that work?
Why don't you post a picture so we can give better feedback?

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## Tonnichiwa

Is it possible to make a Macro button in photoshop that will do all of that stuff for you automatically?

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## ThomasR

Thanks for the idea Josiah (BTW nice work on your new commish  :Wink: ), the problem is that without the whit background or with a multiply layer, the lines will show and I haven't figured out how to make bi-color brushes in PS. Here's a sample. What shows at low opacity is the ancient style.



@ Tonnichiwa : Dunno, I fear I do not master PS enough for my own good  :Wink:

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## Tonnichiwa

Just a quick google search would probably show you tutorials on how to make your own macro that could probably at least copy and paste that tree to wherever you click your mouse....

If not, there is always CC3+  :Shocked:  (I kid)

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## ThomasR

Thanks for the tip Tonnichiwa, I'll do it another time, I'm nearing the end. I'll be smart the next time  :Smile: 

For comparison, here's the first style :

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## Tonnichiwa

Interesting. I like the way you are drawing the trees so they follow the river.

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## Straf

I'm not liking trees and forests at all just yet. I need to practice a lot more before I can decide on a representation.

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## ThomasR

I've got a question about the trees. In post 35 I mentioned the difficulty I encountered with individual trees. I followed Tonnichiwa's advice and went on the internet to search for a method to do so and came back empty handed.

Here's my problem :


Using a brush I have an overlapping problem, I'm forced to copy and paste the same tree (30 000 + times on the last map and one more is coming ...).

Can someone help me ? I've seen many maps with many trees without overlap, there has to be a solution, a tutorial somewhere.

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## Mouse

Hey thomrey  :Smile: 

Would it work to do a small patch of trees (or several varying small patches to use in combination), where the trees each individually had their own white background, but the rest was transparent so as not to hide other features? that might disappear between the trees?

It would be half way between drawing them and creating an actual texture... but I can do that for you if you like?   A repeating texture that you could presumably trim to size and tidy up around the edges?

I would need you to draw a patch of trees, then I could work with Genetica or Krita to create a seamless texture of a reasonable size, so that redundancy wouldn't be a problem.

EDIT:  If you wanted to make a seamless texture of your own that you could just trim to size all by yourself, Krita has an outstanding ability to tile an image.  It will even draw the texture 'live' for you on screen in real time - drawing all the copies right across the infinite grid as you draw your single tree, and allowing you to draw trees that overlap the edges - repeating the relevant part on the opposite side of the canvas.

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## Wired

> I've got a question about the trees. In post 35 I mentioned the difficulty I encountered with individual trees. I followed Tonnichiwa's advice and went on the internet to search for a method to do so and came back empty handed.
> 
> Here's my problem :
> Attachment 90772
> 
> Using a brush I have an overlapping problem, I'm forced to copy and paste the same tree (30 000 + times on the last map and one more is coming ...).
> 
> Can someone help me ? I've seen many maps with many trees without overlap, there has to be a solution, a tutorial somewhere.


Seeing as I had/have the same issue I'd be very much interested in a solution there, too!

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## ThomasR

Thanks a lot for the offer Mouse. I know what you mean and I did it already but I choose not to continue with it as I wanted to get a more organic feeling close to the first style I used (see post 37). So, no texture. You mentioning Krita might be a good idea. I dunno how it works but I'll check if one can do bicolor brushes with that software.

@ Wired : we're gonna find a solution I'm sure of it  :Wink:

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## Mouse

I don't know very much about Krita either, except that the secret key to hit if you're working in Krita is the W key.  It toggles from image to infinite tiling field.  The things you draw on just the image alone before hitting W don't tile, but the things you draw after you hit the W key do tile - and most impressively too  :Smile: 

I drew this with the W 'on' watching as the lines I drew across the joins replicated themselves on the other side of the canvas.  Hitting W again toggles it back to the normal image 



Hit W and you see the complete texture...



This is a fairly low res tile (1024 pi).  There are templates for tiles in excess of 4000 pi, and you can create your own even larger than that - up to the limitations of the system.  You can turn any image into a tiling image by just hitting W


EDIT:  Its also a very good demonstration of the hand tremor I have!  LOL!

If you want to have a go its free here

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## ThomasR

I've cast a summon spell, let's wait and see if the gods are with us ...

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## Mouse

Makes drawing rivers a synch  :Wink: 

I've put a link in for anyone wanting to go that way with Krita  :Smile:

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## ChickPea

There is the program TreeThing developed by Ramah a while back. I remember using it once or twice when I first started out. You can create your own brushes to make it a little more unique to you, but after that, it's super easy to generate forests.

Probably not the solution for every map, but it's a useful little app and fun to play about with.

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## Wired

> There is the program TreeThing developed by Ramah a while back. I remember using it once or twice when I first started out. You can create your own brushes to make it a little more unique to you, but after that, it's super easy to generate forests.
> 
> Probably not the solution for every map, but it's a useful little app and fun to play about with.


I remember that one, though I never really found my way into it.  :Frown:

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## ChickPea

I haven't used it for a long time, but I did use it on this map nearly two years ago. It's probably not the greatest advert for it (I'd only been mapping 3 or 4 months when I did that) and I think I used the default brushes, but with a bit of playing around you might get some nicer results with your own brushes.

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## Gamerprinter

It depends on the program you are using to paint custom brushes. Although I don't use custom brushes much in my maps, Xara Designer Pro x11, the program I use to create all my maps, I can create custom brushes if I want to, and I can set the distance apart between placement of brush icons - even forcibly causing them to overlap. This is not the case for all software. Additionally, some brushes may be transparent lineart drawings, and overlapping them will cause both brush elements to be represented such that overlapping doesn't hide the tree beneath a tree placed above it. The brush would have to be solid white (or other solid color) allowing for overlapping to hide brush elements placed beneath other brush elements. There is no single method of brush functionality, nor brush stylistic feature common to all programs. You'd have to determine which software you are using, what your specific needs are to discover whether it's even possible. What may work perfectly fine in Photoshop for example may be completely inappropriate using a different software package.

Just so you know, I mention at the start of this post that my software allows for brush placement of trees, however, I chose to never use a custom brush when I create my forests. I generally create about a dozen to up to 20 individual trees, then manually build groups of different trees in some naturally appearing layout of forest. I then select ungrouped groups of trees and copy/paste them throughout the area I want them to exist. If too many groups appear identical and in close proximity, I subtract, move or add more trees to make each group appear more naturally placed. I often place trees in a group of over 100 individual trees in my copy/paste action of placing them. 

To me placing 30,000 trees one-at-a-time through the movement of my mouse/stylus through the use of a custom brush is less efficient than placing multiple groups of 100 to 1000 trees. For me, my way of placing trees is much faster than dragging random placement from a single mouse stroke such as how custom brush painting works.

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## ThomasR

ChickPea, thanks a lot ! I'll look into it and try it. I'll see if it floats my boat.

@ GamerPrinter : I work with PS. I can see what you mean and it might be the method to go, thanks. I know that placing individual tree on such a huge scale is way more efficient than using groups of trees but it was my first try and I guess that what I lost in efficiency and time I gained in precision and I think my forests are more organic that way. But I keep the group method in mind, it will help me a great deal on the next map !

To finish, I'll roughly quote the god I was trying to summon (it was Max that has produced wonderful maps with individual trees ... numerous ones). Betraying his words but not his thoughts, here's the quote : "Get down to it you lazy bastard and draw each and every one of these trees by hand !"

I dunno what you think of it but my respect for him gained one level and it's no small feat ...

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## ThomasR

In the process of making another map, I said to myself (yes, one often talks to oneself when one loses one's mind) that it would be nice to add a little note to this thread. You always have to save some of that hate for the mountains (the actual piece is 4 times that size). My hand hurts but my heart sings (heavy metal of course).


Edit : do not miss the next episode "Let's share our hate for rivers" ... as there will be a lot of them to match those mountains.

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## ChickPea

Ouch! I hope your drawing hand is feeling better! If it's any consolation, the mountains look great.

When do we get to "Let's share our love for beautifully coloured oceans"... cos you've got that nailed!  :Very Happy:

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## ThomasR

Thanks CP, it wasn't that much hurt but a little bit of steam out is always nice  :Wink:  About the oceans, they're easy peasy and you gotta love your time spent by the sea !

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## Ramah

Hey, I know this is well and truly necroing this thread and sorry if this is common knowledge but I've only just seen Thomas' question regarding the overlapping of brushes and I've dragged a method out of the vaults of my memory that no-one seems to have mentioned here...

I cannot remember who originally came up wirth the tip but you can use the Clone Stamp tool (talking PS here) to act as a multi-layer brush.

Make yourself a palette of brushes out of the way, with space between each one so you can select them one at a time. They need to be drawn as you want them to be pasted. So a transparent background, and the brush opaque. Make sure you have the Clone Stamp set to "Current and Below" for the layers and have "Aligned Sample" unchecked. Also make sure opacity and hardness etc. are ramped up to 100%.
Then simply alt+click on the brush you want and then pop some where it needs to go. To change brush simply alt+click on a different one on your palette. Because the brush is opaque there will be no previous brushes showing through.

I'm pretty sure I used this technique myself on one of my earlier maps.

Anyway, hope this helps anyone who still has this problem.

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## ThomasR

> Hey, I know this is well and truly necroing this thread and sorry if this is common knowledge but I've only just seen Thomas' question regarding the overlapping of brushes and I've dragged a method out of the vaults of my memory that no-one seems to have mentioned here...
> 
> I cannot remember who originally came up wirth the tip but you can use the Clone Stamp tool (talking PS here) to act as a multi-layer brush.
> 
> Make yourself a palette of brushes out of the way, with space between each one so you can select them one at a time. They need to be drawn as you want them to be pasted. So a transparent background, and the brush opaque. Make sure you have the Clone Stamp set to "Current and Below" for the layers and have "Aligned Sample" unchecked. Also make sure opacity and hardness etc. are ramped up to 100%.
> Then simply alt+click on the brush you want and then pop some where it needs to go. To change brush simply alt+click on a different one on your palette. Because the brush is opaque there will be no previous brushes showing through.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I used this technique myself on one of my earlier maps.
> 
> Anyway, hope this helps anyone who still has this problem.


First, do not worry about the necroing, I do it all the time when I need to rant about some geographical repetitive feature  :Smile: 

Second, HOLY $hit ! Thanks a lot ! I used your trick with a modification, just current without the below and it worked wonders ! You'll save me a lot of time for some future maps ! Thanks a thousand time !

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## Ramah

No problem, Thomas, glad it helps.  :Smile: 

The "Current and Below" suggestion was assuming you would be placing your mountains/trees on a new layer above your brush palette. I guess you were placing them on the same layer as your palette though which is fine. Just having it on a different layer allows you to hide your work etc. and still have your palette available which can be useful.

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## ThomasR

In fact, I just had a white background and the stamp brush was copying it too.

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## Naima

My problem with forests is to find a way to not have them "hide" the under features of the hills, mountains, plains or else.

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## Gamerprinter

I have no real issues with forests, sure sometimes they are a bit more difficult than other kinds of terrain, but I use them a lot, so I guess I expect the problems and work around them.

GP

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## Darknessgear

I love me a good forest but when you have to differentiate climates on the same map, ugh i just don't want to take the time and go back to my coastal drawings again and again. 

I probably have enough doodles of half finished coastline maps to fill a notebook. In fact I'm pretty sure that was collage for me in a nutshell.

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## Stoj

I am hoping to eventually develop my skills beyond: Step 1 - draw wobbly bubble. Step 2 - draw two lines underneath. Step 3 - repeat as needed.

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## ThomasR

You gotta look around, find a style you like and practice. It'll progress quickly  :Smile:

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## Llannagh

Okay, I know this is an older thread, but might I humbly point to my quick explanation of my own forest brush?  :Wink: 

Maybe it helps, if there's still need.

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## Impractical Cartographer

What does the forest consist of?
Thousands of trees.
Let's draw it!



I hate to draw the forest!
But... I love the end result!

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## ThomasR

Welcome to the club ! And it is gorgeous  :Wink:

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## JoshStolarz

> I hate to draw the forest!
> But... I love the end result!


That pretty much sums up how I feel about forests. I dread having to draw them...but afterward it always is worth it  :Very Happy: 

- Josh

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## MistyBeee

It's an old video, but I'm with you, guys. I swear my hand is still not the same still that map  :Rolling Eyes:

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## Arimel

Impressive map! That is a lot of trees!

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## JoshStolarz

> It's an old video, but I'm with you, guys. I swear my hand is still not the same still that map


I remember when you shared that Misty, that is a crazy amount of trees! Looks amazing though  :Very Happy: . But I'm sure your hand has some PTSD  :Wink: 

- Josh

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## Tiana

Oh, you wanna complain about forests, huh?


Yeah, that's my latest hand rendered, 0 cheats forest... RIP... no, it's not as dense, but those little custom branches on each one... aaaahhhh... that was a hand cramper. I often use brushes though. Depends on the aim for the forest.

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## Impractical Cartographer

The forests... ...are tedious, but you can survive them. 
You know what I hate most? The sea. A vast sea that needs colouring.

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## JoshStolarz

> The forests... ...are tedious, but you can survive them. 
> You know what I hate most? The sea. A vast sea that needs colouring.


You have a point there. Suppose it depends on the tools you’re using though, because I tend to find shading the sea somewhat relaxing. But it doesn’t take me long painting digitally.

- Josh

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## UnstableGunEnthusiast

I despise forests, yes, but only because I struggle to draw them properly, or to any level of satisfaction. So do I truly hate forests, or do I hate myself? Questions that keep me up at night.

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## Arimel

> I despise forests, yes, but only because I struggle to draw them properly, or to any level of satisfaction. So do I truly hate forests, or do I hate myself? Questions that keep me up at night.


Just go with hating forests! It is easier that way! (and, in all seriousness, I like your forest style)

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## Korash

If you are looking for an easier way to do trees might I introduce you to a little script written by Ramah called Treething. I know the thread is a bit old, but I believe that it still works

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## Impractical Cartographer

Colored pencils, trees and forest.  The movie has been accelerated 4 times to prevent you from falling asleep while watching.




I like the woods  :Smile:

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## delguidance

I respectfully disagree.  Tree after tree and hill after hill, the repetitive nature of filling in these types of patterns soothes my scattered brain.  It's like keeping a zen garden, but I'm keeping a garden of forbidding trees that hide terrible monsters awaiting hapless adventurers.

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## Davidson

Awesome video. The soundtrack is amazing. So soothing and relaxing.

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## jshoer

> I like the woods


As you should! The end results speak for themselves.

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## Rwhyte

Not sure where this may lead, but thought I'd post here with a kind of work in progress. After tinkering with Blender for a 3D map, and Photoshop for a brush-based map, a question formed; Can you put these two approaches together? And then I ran across this, How to fake a forest in Blender, a two-part tutorial. 

This uses Blender's 'particle system' in a way where a single 2D tree image (or a variety of trees) can be duplicated and scattered with various sizes across your map. You can paint with brush tools to define forest areas, or modify the density of trees, and ultimately fine-tune with individual edits.

Manually duplicating a few trees


Applying the particle system. Look at the little tiny trees!


Attempting some paper texture displacement. (following How to make a procedural paper texture)


Ramping up to 8,000 trees


The full area. Trying to carve a path through the woods. There's probably a less-is-more lesson in here somewhere, but I don't want to hear it yet, I'm having fun  :Very Happy: 


To be continued... So far, this was done with one tree from the Widman Brush set from KM Alexander (thanks again for all of these), and there's a bunch more to explore. 


Remains to be seen is if the illusion works for all the other kinds of map elements? But for now, it's been fun to try cultivating some forests from the trees. 

I'm curious as to what folks think. It seems to look good at certain scales. Bit heavy on the shadows? Need more definite boundaries? Can this open up entirely new realms of forest-based tedium?

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## Tiana

Nah, that's not excessive. Results are great, you should do a tutorial in its own thread instead of hiding it in here. I'm pleased with the look you created!

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## Rwhyte

> Nah, that's not excessive. Results are great, you should do a tutorial in its own thread instead of hiding it in here. I'm pleased with the look you created!


Cool, Thanks for the feedback! Very encouraging! and good call, I'll re-post at least in a new thread, and it'd be fun to make a tutorial from this

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