# Mapping Resources > Tutorials/How-To >  [Award Winner] Making maps in Photoshop

## jezelf

Hi there.

I discovered this forum a week or so ago. A great place! I've been doing some tutorials, originally inspired by fellow creative writers over at the Chronicles Network  as we were talking about Map making there on a map creation thread and this map thread.  

Since being here at CG it's pretty clear how little I know! Wilbur was a brilliant find and I'm looking forward to going through the other tutorials here and checking out various software.

So without further a-do, here are the tutorials...



Turning your hand drawn sketch into a detailed alpha map



A Basic Alpha Map



Aged, Parchment with a creation method for mountain ranges, trees and trails.



One of many options to colour your map



4 ways to give your map a relief using height maps - using Wilbur for one of them.




EDIT  - the above are downloadable PDF documents.  You can get a reader here 


EDIT - Until further notice,  this thread is the place to download them from, they no longer on my web site ,as it was more to showcase my portfolio to get a job, I just havent had time to provide a space for them. You can always contact me should they break here or something. If I dont get back within a week, then send another - you're email's probably got lost in my junk mail, I'll always respond to fellow creators if I spot ya  :Smile:  

please note: my website is now is now located @ jez-elf.com  (NOT jezelf.co.uk as stated on the tutorials - you'll get a dead link)...I've gone global  :Smile:   - there's a contact form there if you need my help.





Thanks for your interest in them!

Cheers

Jez

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## ravells

OMG! I love the 'blur sketchy colours' step ! What a great way of getting gradients without having to use them and getting a lot more control besides! That tip by itself is pure golddust not to mention the rest of the tutorials which are fantastic. 

Have 5 stars! I wish I could give you more!

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## jfrazierjr

> OMG! I love the 'blur sketchy colours' step ! What a great way of getting gradients without having to use them and getting a lot more control besides! That tip by itself is pure golddust not to mention the rest of the tutorials which are fantastic. 
> 
> Have 5 stars! I wish I could give you more!


You could give him one of those new fangled tut author icon things....

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## ravells

I could...but once there's 5 stars by the tutorial....get rating everybody! Once 5 people have rated the tutorial at 5 stars, jezelf gets an icon. 

...it's to ensure that the icon grant is community driven rather than just on the whims of the CLs

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## jfrazierjr

> I could...but once there's 5 stars by the tutorial....get rating everybody! Once 5 people have rated the tutorial at 5 stars, jezelf gets an icon. 
> 
> ...it's to ensure that the icon grant is community driven rather than just on the whims of the CLs



Rated and Repped the post(er)!

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## Tancread

Very helpful and readable tutorial. You got some great results playing with settings I rarely poke at with photography. Really neat stuff. I was thinking about doing some maps straight in photoshop but was struggling with randomness, you have given me what I needed to get poking away here.

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## Clercon

Thanks for some great tips. This will come very usefull in the future.

cheers :-)

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## jezelf

:Very Happy:  woo-hoo! I  got an award! Cool! - Thank you for that, and the stars!  Nice surprise. Glad to hear the tutorials are helpful to you. 

Also happy to hear it's readable - a few typos slipped through I noticed, so I'll go through and sort them out this weekend (sorry anout those). I feel it's probably too verbose but I like to try and write a tutorial as if my own feeble mind was going to follow it. Sometimes I can get stumped at the first step as I try to navigate around various programs UIs and termology.

The great thing about this place is that there are so many handy tutorials. I've always been a firm believer in sharing knowledge ( from personal experience of trying to work things out and wasting so much time on trial and error). It also good discovering new things  - from that I didn't know were possible and within my current skill, to learning new stuff to raise it.

Tancread: I noticed that ViewDale - Instant Island (Thanks to Redrobes for that one ) could give similar results than going through all the Difference Clouds thing I mention. You can then import it into PS and use levels on it. The added advantage of using Instant Island is that it also generates a height map. ( BTW, II  saves your created file to C:\Program Files\ViewingDale folder - It wasn't obvious to my feeble mind at first   :Smile:  )

cheers!
Jez

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## Tancread

Thanks for the tip, playing with the island generator now.

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## RobA

Just wanted to point out this tutorial for gimp (which should be transferable to photoshop) on creating not so random coastlines.  It is a bit easier than the cut/paste/rotate/fit process you follow.  

You could also probably apply a difference clouds several times at step 4 to make it a bit rougher, but you would want to make the initial blur smaller.

-Rob A>

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## jezelf

Hey that is great, RobA. thanks for that link. Doh it's such an easier techique!  I'll amend or add it to my tutorials - or link to it or something (I'll give yer a credit) if don't mind me doing that?  It should save people time -especially when going from their sketch. 

thanks!

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## RobA

I'll agree it is easier, but it doesn't give the same control your way provides...

Feel free to link away  :Smile: 

-Rob A>

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## jezelf

Had a play about in PS. It can be done. Might be able to to do a video tutorial using that technique then feeding it through wilbur and ending up with the relief map I've done. still testing but might be able to get the whole process down to 10 minutes (real time)

cheers

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## Redrobes

> Tancread: I noticed that ViewDale - Instant Island (Thanks to Redrobes for that one ) could give similar results than going through all the Difference Clouds thing I mention. You can then import it into PS and use levels on it. The added advantage of using Instant Island is that it also generates a height map. ( BTW, II  saves your created file to C:\Program Files\ViewingDale folder - It wasn't obvious to my feeble mind at first   )


Just checked and it saves to the current folder so if you have installed it to C : \ Program Files\ViewingDale then thats where the saves go to. Its a single .exe so you can take the app and put it where ever you want and run it from there. Or you could create a (or modify the desktop) shortcut and edit the current directory for it. I think that should put the saves in that place too. The intention was to put the InstantIslands and the DragonFlight in the same dir and then run II, save a terrain out and then run DF and then you get the 3D view of the island terrain in one shot.

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## Azurecrusader

Hey Jezelf,

I love the tutorials but I am having some trouble duplicating the blurred color effect.  No matter how much I seem to blur the colors there is always a hard edge to them (even when duplicating your colors exactly).  Could you walk me through this process a little more thoroughly?

Currently I have only the "extra color" layer selected, the green land layer is not selected, is that my problem?  If so, how do you keep from blurring out your coastline?

Thanks!

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## jezelf

Hi Azurecrusader.

Sorry to hear you're stuck. (But this will help me refine the tutorials for others)

can you say which tutorial and step you are at? Is it colouring the map?  at step 1.6 -  1.8??

From what you mention, it sounds to me like you have a duplicate of your sketchy colours. you blur the copy, but the original is still visible underneath, and that would appear as if nothing is happening. make sure that layer is hidden - or delete it if you don't need to edit it.

here are some things to try...

a) Do you have any duplicate layers of the  colours you want to blur visible?  

You can see in the screen grab on the tutorial I have an an original layer (named sketchy terrain) and a copy (that I named  Blurred terrain ),  but I turned off  the visibility of the sketchy terrain (I kept it only as a back up, it's not really needed) I left the green land one alone so I could change it's hue, colour or saturation if I wanted to - though I didn't, so it's not essential. Having the the blurred terrain colours on a different layer means you can play around with it's opacity to your liking.

(The green land can be any colour, and can be a variety of blurred colours too there is no hard rule.)

b) Have you used your Alpha channel to select the land to blur only that? Alternatively, you can create a new layer not yet worry abour selecting anything, paint over it , blur it, then  use your alpha channel to select the water and  delete any blurred bits over the water.

c) There is always multiple ways of doing stuff - you could merge everything to do with the land onto a new layer  and blur it in one go...
click on the top layerselect all  (Ctrl+A )merge visible layers (ctrl+shift+c then Ctrl+v ) with this new layer active, select the land using your alpha channelFilter > Guassian Bluruse your alpha channel to delete any blurring on the water area if needed (invert selection)


let me know how you get on. if you're still stuck, you could send me the file, so you could crop your work down to a square to show a problem area no bigger than 500x500 pixel (for file size). I only need to see how your layers are placed, not your whole map, so it can be emailed.


good luck

Jez

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## lanyards

I did the first part of the tutorial where I create my basic black and white / alpha channel map, and this was my result:



The black is land and the white is water.

Now I am on the tutorial "Adding Basic Color to a Map".

You think you could explain this part a little better:




> 1:1 OK! - this is why we have spent a fair bit of time creating this Alpha map - now we can have some fun. On the floating Layers box - you'll see it has two other tabs - Channels and Paths. Choose Channels, then under the Blue Channel, create a new alpha channel -'Alpha 1' by clicking on the new layers icon
> 
> 1:2: Now click back to your Layers tab, Duplicate the Background image by dragging it over the New Layer Icon. Then Select all [ Ctrl+A ] and copy and paste into the Chanels tab. In your new Alpha Channel. You might find you have to click on RGB layer to get everything back after creating the Alpha Channel, because when you create it, it will turn off all the other channels and you'll just see black.
> 
> You should now have Background and Background copy in your Layers and RGB, Red, Green, Blue and Alpha 1 in your Channels - all showing an thumbnail of your map. When you click on your Alpha map channel you'll notice the balck areas are red. This is normal. It's showing that it's identified the Black from white and it also knows the grey scales too.


I can make the new channel "Alpha 1". The I duplicate the background layer. Then I am supposed to select all and then copy and paste into the new channel. How do I copy and paste? When I use "save selection", the channel thumbnail is just all white, not a thumbnail of my map.

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial, the end results you got look real nice.  :Smile: 

--lanyards

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## jezelf

lanyards: Hi there. Sorry you can't follow the instructions.

You are nearly there. To copy and paste,  Select > All (Ctrl+A). Edit> Copy  (Ctrl+C). back to the Channels tab. Click onto your new Alpha 1 channel . Edit > Paste  (or Ctrl+V) 

You don't need to click on the 'save selection as a channel', but you use the 'Create new Channel ' next to it.

Here's a more detailed walk through...

1: First make sure your artwork (your B&W alpha map you post here ) is in the right color mode. Image >Mode > RGB color  

(It sounds like you are, but I copied your map to my PS to check and it was grayscale, which I'm guessing you changed it to for the sake of putting it up here, but just wanted to check)

If you don't have it as a RGB image, then some of the tutorial may not make sense. All you would see in the channels is 'Gray' and no RGB that I mention. If this is so, perform the step above first.

2: In your Layers tab > L click with your mouse on the Background layer and drag it to the new layers icon. It will create a copy of your B&W image above your Background layer called 'Background copy'. This is not yet technically an alpha map until it's in the channel tabs. it is currently still just a B&W looking image.  

Note: step 2: (on this post) is not absolutely necessary for what I'm explaining here, but I think I use the background copy for other stuff later in the tutorial

3: Now click on your Channels Tab. You should see 4 channels: RGB, Red, Green, Blue. They will most likely all be selected. You can click on them one at  a time to see how they effect the layer. 

4: While still in the Channel tab, L click with your mouse on the new channel icon at the bottom (next to the trash can - looks like the new layer icon from the layer's tab). You will create a new channel, which will name itself as Alpha 1 as default. It will probably be the only channel visible (the eye icon) and will be white, because it's an empty channel. 

5: Click on the Layers Tab. click on your 'Background Copy' layer. Select > All (Ctrl+A). Edit> Copy  (Ctrl+C). 

6: Click back to the Channels tab. Click onto your new Alpha 1 channel . Edit > Paste  (or Ctrl+V) 

7: You can test if it's working by Ctrl+L click with your mouse on that Alpha 1 channel. It should now select only the black & grayscale areas.  

(You can rename your alpha channel if you prefer by double clicking on 'Alpha 1' once it is active and type in something else. The same method for renaming the layers )

You should now have your image in the correct alpha channel. Let me know if this helps - or not. 

cheers

Jez

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## lanyards

Thanks a bunch Jez. :Smile:  I'll be sure to post my end results when I'm finished. :Smile: 

--lanyards

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## lanyards

Sorry to bother you again, but I guess I'm just doing something wrong again. So I have my new Alpha channel. I Select its pixels, and then try to fill in the ocean with a blue, but it turns out red for some reason. I have never used channels, so I don't know what I am doing wrong. Thanks for the help.

--lanyards

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## jezelf

No bother

Use your channels only to select things. Once selected, go back to the Layers tab to do any editing, creating a new layer if needed. Sounds like you are trying to fill in while still in the Channels tab and so you are seeing the selection mask. In the channels red is the default colour to show a mask. 

Returning to the Layer's tab is mentioned in step 1.4. Please see that for further explanation on this step. When I get time I'll edit the tutorial to mention that filling in while still in the channels tab will show stuff up as red.

Also check what colour you have as foreground/background colours in your tools ( defaulted position is on the left side of your screen at the bottom - two boxes, default as black and white ). If you have red, then red will be used to fill in. When you fill, the dialogue box allows you to fill with foreground or background (among other options) so check you are filling in with the colour you want.

hope that helps. I look forward to seeing your finished map.

Cheers
jez

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## bryguy

> Main page
> A Basic Alpha Map
> Aged, Parchment with a creation method for mountain ranges, trees and trails.
> Turning your hand drawn sketch into a detailed alpha map
> One of many options to colour your map
> 4 ways to give your map a relief using height maps - using Wilbur for one of them.


for some reason whenever i click any of the links now it says that its "Forbidden" and wont let me see the tutorial. Whats with that? It worked a couple of weeks ago

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## jgerman

Fantastic tutorial.

I'm following along with the Gimp and am having trouble with 1.4 of the Aged Paper tutorial. 

I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.

Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?

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## bryguy

> Fantastic tutorial.
> 
> I'm following along with the Gimp and am having trouble with 1.4 of the Aged Paper tutorial. 
> 
> I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.
> 
> Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?


try drawing the rivers in a .5 scaled paintbrush or pencil, and when you do the stroke selection, set the size of the stroke to .1. Ill keep experimenting and ill tell you if i find a better way to do it

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## jezelf

> for some reason whenever i click any of the links now it says that its "Forbidden" and wont let me see the tutorial. Whats with that? It worked a couple of weeks ago



Hi

bryguy: Yeah sorry about that. I guess the tutorials are quite popular - I ran out of my transfer data quota. I've brought another 5GB - should be OK now.

jgerman: I've not used GIMP, though there are plenty of others here who have, there might be an answer in one of the GIMP tutorials. I'll have a look at GIMP if I get some time and get back to you on that one.

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## jgerman

Thanks both, I'll keep experimenting  :Smile:  

Again this is a great tutorial (as are others on the site), for someone that has never played with graphics programs before especially... I've learned a lot of little tricks techniques I can use for other projects. 

Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

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## delgondahntelius

I can't wait for the new tablet to arrive  :Smile:  great tut jezelf !

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## RobA

> I can't seem to get my rivers to come out nice. They don't fade out like the examples do and I suspect it's because (since I'm using Gimp and it's my first time) I'm not selecting the alpha channel correctly.
> 
> Anyone have any advice on how to get that to work with Gimp?


What, specifically, do you mean by "fade out"?  Tapering?  Or something else?

-Rob A>

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## jgerman

> What, specifically, do you mean by "fade out"?  Tapering?  Or something else?
> 
> -Rob A>


On the tutorial for aged paper (http://www.jezelf.co.uk/tutorials_map02.htm) the first few instructions are related to creating a new alpha layer (or channel, I'm not sure which). 

Instruction 1.2 and 1.3 are where the magic (well it's magic to me at least) happens. The creation of a 'Selection Set' from the map alpha followed by the 1 pixel stroke in 1.3.

What I think is happening is that when the stroke is performed, since the selection is from the alpha channel the opacity of the stroked lines will match those of the lines I take the selection from. But I don't seem to be getting that effect. 

Looking at the map under 1.4 you'll see that the rivers fade into the tan as the move inland. This is what I assume the effect I'm botching would cause. What happens on my maps is those pieces I erased away in the first tutorial (to get the tapering rivers) don't appear at all and I just get solid lines for the rest of the river.

I may be screwing up a step in the first tutorial (Creating an Alpha Map). Specifically the paragraph that includes the sentence "partly delete away the harder, brighter inner rivers". I'm noob enough to just not know.

I apologize for the round about way I'm describing things, this is all new to me.

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## jezelf

jgerman: no worries if you're a new - I like to make sure everyone can follow it, so I'll look into editing the instructions when I get some time.

When creating the Alpha map, you're erasing away the black rivers gently so you have a gradient from black to white (or visa-versa if the rivers are white) once flattened down, it'll just be read as a gray scale gradient. 

When this is selected (in the tutorial you are working on) - make sure you *select it while in the channels tab*. This will retain the gradient information. If you select it in the layers tab and fill it in, it'll loose the gradient fall off and just fill everything in with your selected colour.

These instructions are for Photoshop, so it may be just that they don't translate to GIMP that well. Not had the time to test in GIMP. I've now got it installed, but will need to find the equivalent UI things. Hopefully will get get back this week - sooner rather than later.

hang in there  :Smile: 

cheers
jez

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## jgerman

> jgerman: no worries if you're a new - I like to make sure everyone can follow it, so I'll look into editing the instructions when I get some time.
> 
> When creating the Alpha map, you're erasing away the black rivers gently so you have a gradient from black to white (or visa-versa if the rivers are white) once flattened down, it'll just be read as a gray scale gradient. 
> 
> When this is selected (in the tutorial you are working on) - make sure you *select it while in the channels tab*. This will retain the gradient information. If you select it in the layers tab and fill it in, it'll loose the gradient fall off and just fill everything in with your selected colour.
> 
> These instructions are for Photoshop, so it may be just that they don't translate to GIMP that well. Not had the time to test in GIMP. I've now got it installed, but will need to find the equivalent UI things. Hopefully will get get back this week - sooner rather than later.
> 
> hang in there 
> ...


Thanks! I'll keep at it.

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## jezelf

Ok, I've had a quick go - not really much time, so with further work, I'm sure it could be done. First I had a look at tutorials like http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2707

Is this what you wanted in GIMP?  I should add - the last two images are on the LAYERS tab

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## jgerman

> Ok, I've had a quick go - not really much time, so with further work, I'm sure it could be done. First I had a look at tutorials like http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2707
> 
> Is this what you wanted in GIMP?  I should add - the last two images are on the LAYERS tab


Yes that's exactly it, I'll have another try at it, I must be selecting the alpha channel incorrectly.

Thanks for taking the time to look into it, I really appreciate it.

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## Larb

I went through all those tutorials except the last one. I got a bit confused in a couple of places as it wasn't very clear but managed to figure out what it was asking. It was very helpful though, I picked up a few new techniques, which is great as I'm just learning photoshop.

Anyway, ended up with this:
http://www.imperialcross.co.uk/stuff/lerbworld1.jpg

I thing the sea turned out badly, but it's all layered so I can go back and try to fix that. I deviated from the tutorial at the end of the coloured one, using reticulation and difference clouds/emboss to add texture to the land. I also played around a bit with some of the other functions. Basically, I'm still just experimenting with photoshop's features.

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## Ascension

Larb, don't change a thing, it looks awesome!  The sea works really well with the colors...do up some more  :Smile:

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## jfrazierjr

> OMG! I love the 'blur sketchy colours' step ! What a great way of getting gradients without having to use them and getting a lot more control besides! That tip by itself is pure golddust not to mention the rest of the tutorials which are fantastic.


Yes, PURE GOLD...

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## Steel General

That's quite nicely done... bravo!

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## fabio0069

Wow, these tutorials look amazing. I've just skimmed through them and they appear to be full of useful advise. I'll be looking at them in more detail once I've cleared a couple of projects and, hopefully, I can display my results here soon.

Nice one, Jezelf.  :Very Happy:

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## jezelf

Hi thanks - glad they could be helpful. Since i put them up there are some steps folks have found confusing and I noticed a bunch of typos. My apologies about all these. I will refine them when I get some time - which is looking about a month away right now.

but if if something is confusing, or not explained well,  then feel free to post here, or message me - and I'll certainly try to get back to you soon.

cheers

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## jameswllorimer

I think the results you've got are brilliant, especially the height maps. However I do find the tutorials unclear and lacking in concise wording. I've tried copying the effects several times and I still can't get replicable results near to yours.

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## Argas

Is the site/tutorials down for anyone else or is it just me?

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## ravells

I'm getting a 'forbidden' message.

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## Steel General

Yup, me too...

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## RobA

Looks like the site is hosed right now.

That is one reason we encourage all tutorial authors to host here  :Wink: 

-Rob A>

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## Reconciler

Hey, great tutorials. Kinda easy to follow, but I do have problems with understanding how to create the rivers as stated in the Basic Black/White Alpha Channel tutorial (from 2.0-2.2). Don't really follow what you do here. Is there some more simple way to do it? Or if there some way to see it really step by step, more so than it already is in the tutorial? Anyhow, thanks for great tutorials!

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## edjogo2

yeah thats the part im stuck on too. i just dont understand it. I'm using CS4.

The wording says:

To create territorial borders, go back to your first image mentioned at step 1.3. Using your magic wand again click on a black area. While you have your selection, create a new layer above your cool looking map and activate it. Make sure you have white as your foreground colour.

Edit > Stroke > 1 pixel 

2.1: Deselect (Ctrl+D) and using your move tool, move your layer around your map to section off your territories where you want them. Erase, cut and move, rotate where you see fit. You can even use the edge of the document stroke as straight line to make hard line boundaries as you get in American states.


Im able to select it and right click to layer it. but after that im lost. what do i deselct?

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## a2area

I gave the 3D looking one a try and am pretty happy with results.

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## Ascension

That's pretty nice work.

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## Grimmr

What happened to these tutorials? I viewed them a few weeks ago and now I get a 404 Error when I go there. Does anyone have these saved in any format?

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## ravells

Sadly not me. Pity it was a great tutorial and had some methods which I have not seen used elsewhere.

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## jezelf

UPDATE!

Hello everyone! - please accept my humble apologies about the tutorials being unavailable. I've been otherwise busy with 3D work but kept meaning to sort this out. I've felt a bit bad for leaving you all in the dark about it. :Embarassed: 

I never expected the tutorials to be so popluar and the data transfer kept meaning my host would shut down the site if I reached my quota so I kept paying them to increase it and before I knew it the site would be closed again.

Anyway! the good news is that I've changed host and now have unlimited downloads, and as I have had some requests I'm changing the tutorials to downloadable documents (PDFs) 

I've done a couple now and you can get them but the old links direct to the pages wont work as it's all gone from HTML to flashy. If you go - www.jezelf.co.uk   and then to the tutorials section. the first two are there, I'm planning to get at least another 2 done by the end of the week. Once they're all done, I'll upload them to  CG and host them here too.

Again, sorry about all that. Thanks for your interest in them

Cheers
jez

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## RobA

> UPDATE!
> 
> Hello everyone! - please accept my humble apologies about the tutorials being unavailable. I've been otherwise busy with 3D work but kept meaning to sort this out. I've felt a bit bad for leaving you all in the dark about it.
> 
> I never expected the tutorials to be so popluar and the data transfer kept meaning my host would shut down the site if I reached my quota so I kept paying them to increase it and before I knew it the site would be closed again.
> 
> Anyway! the good news is that I've changed host and now have unlimited downloads, and as I have had some requests I'm changing the tutorials to downloadable documents (PDFs) 
> 
> I've done a couple now and you can get them but the old links direct to the pages wont work as it's all gone from HTML to flashy. If you go - www.jezelf.co.uk   and then to the tutorials section. the first two are there, I'm planning to get at least another 2 done by the end of the week. Once they're all done, I'll upload them to  CG and host them here too.
> ...


Feel free to host them here, possibly as PDF's!

-Rob A>

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## ravells

YAY! Waiting for the last 3 tutorials to be posted, I have a use for your blended colour technique! Your 3d work is lovely....hadn't realised that you did that too!!!

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## ExMachina

This is the first tutorial I followed on this site and it helped me immensely...I'm glad to see that they will be back up and running to help others as well.  :Wink:

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## jezelf

Hello again - all tutorials are now PDF files at the start of this thread. Thanks for all the support and in particular - patience! There shouldn't be any problems now. Thanks to Rob A for the suggestion of uploading them all to CG. 

cheers
Jez

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## Matrim

Ah, I was waiting for these to come available!
Looks like these are more great tuts, can't wait to try them out!

Thanks for uploading  :Smile:

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## ravells

Oh thank you, thank you, Thank you, Jezelf!!! You've posted these just at the right time for me!

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## Kodiak

These tutorials were super easy to follow. Excellent job on creating them! They've really helped me in making my first map in photoshop.

Really appreciate the time you spent doing these, thanks!

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## Servant Of Thor

Thank you so much, these will help me immensely.

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## kasper105

When i follow the third tutorial, the aged map tutorial, at step 1.3 with the pixel stroke i dont get the (black) outline as in the picture example, there dosn't seem to happen anything when i use stroke 1 px, can someone tell me what the problem might be?

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## jezelf

hello kasper105  - sorry for the late reply, I've been away from this site for a bit. By now you probably fixed this, but could be one of these...

1: no selection for stroking
2: foreground colour (that will be used for stroke) is the same as your water/background you're stroking on top of
3: the layer you are on to stroke could have a layer blend that is bringing it up transparent - eg. if you stroke black on a layer that is set as Colour Burn, Lighten, Screen, Colour dodge, Linear Dodge, Lighter colour, overlay, Softlight, Hard mix, Difference, etc..you may not see anything. for this step use Normal or Multiply and on a new layer and change Opacity of the layer
4: You're working on a layer under other layers that will cover what you're trying to do. Make sure it's above it. You can click-drag layers above each other.

hope that helps.

thanks everyone for your responses, you're all very welcome - happy to be of assistance. Happy mapping!

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## DingShu

Im stucking at 1.6 in the third tutorial (the aged map). When I select my background layer (Black & White) and Invert it, no thing happened....

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## jezelf

> Im stucking at 1.6 in the third tutorial (the aged map). When I select my background layer (Black & White) and Invert it, no thing happened....


Hi DingShu

Apologies for the late reply - been away, changing jobs and moving to a new home and such.

1.6 - Can you actually see your B&W layer whilst you have your brown version on top? It may be because you haven't lowered the opacity of the brown layer that it's covering the B&W one, preventing you from seeing the invert?

you could also make a copy of the B&W layer and drag it above the others to see the change - but you'll also need to lower it's opacity so you see your work underneath - if you get what I mean :-)

hope that helps
Jez

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## Lachasso

beautiful map, thanks

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## Moonblade

Fantastic tutorial. I'm a novice photoshop user, but the step-by-steps are very easy to follow. I tried it out and in mere 2 hours I've made a good progress and even made a few modifications of my own.

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/...Shrine-Cip.jpg

Thank you again, jezelf.

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## Zorrier

Wow i just discovered this forum, and the first tutorial is alsome...

Wonderfull job, and a very nice help too to cartograph begineers like mee.

 :Smile:

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## Magistrate

So, last time I looked at this tutorial, I think it was on (your?/a?) private website. But I forgot to bookmark it! Glad to find it--this is indispensable.

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## Stormhawk

I haven't read all the tutorial but I am so happy that you made a tutorial of the transition between hand drawn maps and alpha map I was always having problems getting there.

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## Maxatt

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks bro!

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## TempyTheCleric

I've had this tutorial... your i believe 2nd one for a few years now - its been sitting in a binder and i just opened it up the other day and thought that i should give it a try and now my search for more tutorials has lead me here. so thank you.

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## Tetrasodium

Awesome tutorials for a novice like me. Many thanks!

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## wreed58

Hello, I am having a lot of trouble when doing steps 1.6 - 1.8 on the map coloring part of the tutorials. Before the bluring part of those steps my map looks like:  
after i apply a guasion blur (i use this because it does not specify which blue to use) it looks like this: 

Please help ! the tutorial looks great but i can't make my map look that good  :Frown:

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## Jalyha

Hi there.  This is not my software, so I'm afraid I can't tell you *precisely* where you went wrong... however, I did notice several things right away that will probably help quite a bit.

1) Your colors are off.  First of all, the colors are too bright, and unnatural.  The shades you chose to highlight certain areas are too different from the base color. Finally, In 1.7 where it says: 


> Create a new layer, pick another colour and draw in areas where you want it to change. don't worry about
> how it looks just now. you can be quite sketchy about it. Make sure you have the LAND areas selected only.
> You can create a new layer for every colour you use if you want to go back over areas and redo.


I'm fairly certain this is referring to new layers for *piling up* your colors.

EXAMPLE:



(Don't worry about the buttons, it's a different program... just look at the main image, and the layers.)

These colors won't blend as well as others, but I wanted to hurry, and I wanted enough contrast for you to see what I was doing.

This doesn't have any kind of blur yet, it's just color painted on different layers.

Now:

2) In the tutorial it specifically mentions a merged layer.  If you don't want to risk messing up your land shapes, I'd make a COPY of each layer before continuing.

BUT what you really need is one layer that has ALL of your colors on it.  THUS:



On YOUR project, you'll still have a lot of other layers.  I'm not doing anything else with this, so I don't really need them, and made no copies.  What you DO need is one layer with ALL of your colors on it.

3) Finally, I *believe* the "blur" mentioned was a TOOL, not an effect.  Like your paintbrush.



I don't know which is the "blur" tool on your software, but it should tell you.  *I* am using "smudge" (the pointing finger) in this image:



And "Blur" in this one (and after a quick google search I believe it might have something to do with the tiny arrow on the button for your smudge tool):



Finally, the same step mentions darkening the outline of your landmasses which will also help achieve the effect in the tutorial.

Hope this helps a bit.  Best of Luck!

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## wreed58

> Hi there.  This is not my software, so I'm afraid I can't tell you *precisely* where you went wrong... however, I did notice several things right away that will probably help quite a bit.
> ....


I appreciate your help, however the effect you achieved above is not nearly as clean and good looking as the one in the tutorial...

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## Jalyha

You're welcome.

and.. No, it isn't.  I took 30 seconds to slap some color on a canvas so you could see the METHOD described in the tutorial.  I'm not working on anything I want to utilize that for at the moment, so I didn't follow any of the other steps in the tutorial.  I did exactly (and only) what you see in that post... the steps that you specifically asked about.  I also chose colors which would contrast, so you could see what was in each layer.

The method in the tutorial works.  You've seen that in the tutorial.  I was simply clarifying where you went wrong in the steps you indicated. This will fix your problem if you 1) Take your time and 2) Use more complimentary colors.... and maybe 3) Have the appropriate program, since I did not.

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## wreed58

> You're welcome.
> 
> and.. No, it isn't.  I took 30 seconds to slap some color on a canvas so you could see the METHOD described in the tutorial.  I'm not working on anything I want to utilize that for at the moment, so I didn't follow any of the other steps in the tutorial.  I did exactly (and only) what you see in that post... the steps that you specifically asked about.  I also chose colors which would contrast, so you could see what was in each layer.
> 
> The method in the tutorial works.  You've seen that in the tutorial.  I was simply clarifying where you went wrong in the steps you indicated. This will fix your problem if you 1) Take your time and 2) Use more complimentary colors.... and maybe 3) Have the appropriate program, since I did not.


still that does not achieve the blurring affect that was like the one in the tutorial. Even after an hour of going at it...

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## arishok

> still that does not achieve the blurring affect that was like the one in the tutorial. Even after an hour of going at it...


Are you using a mouse or tablet?

Also, be sure to check the strength of the blur--bigger number = more blur, etc.

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## wreed58

> Are you using a mouse or tablet?
> 
> Also, be sure to check the strength of the blur--bigger number = more blur, etc.


I am using a mouse. Messed around with that still no change really.

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## jezelf

Thanks folks-  glad this stuff is helping out. I wrote them because they were things I wanted to do as well -enjoy being creative!

wreed58:  Sooo sorry - 2yrs later. I've been away, life , work , changing jobs and stuff like that, also migrated to world machine. 

... Apologies for any unclear or confusing instructions. I'm sure the maps been long done by now, Jalyha thank you for stepping in!  I'll answer this 'for the record' in case anyone else has the same problem.

Yes, clone a layer if you don't want to screw it up - Im always doing that for a fail safe ( or have your history brush on )

In general, I was winging and eyeballing it. The (Gaussian) blur radius and the colour you pick has a lot to do with it.  Looks like your blur radius was not large enough. You can do these different areas on different layers so you have more control if you like the way you did one, but not the other. You can also merge them together and do a smaller blur with all of them, there's no real hard fast rule.

Concerning colours : a personal preference of course, but if you're not sure what's happening looking at reference is always the step I take. Check out real world maps and colour pick from there if you have to. Or print screen my tutorial into  a new document in PS and colour pick from that.  I sometimes have to step back and start again , break down a process and then do my own take on it on the second , (or 5th) try once I get my head around everything.


I've updated my first post on this thread with my new website address ( or here : jez-elf.com ) where you'll find a contact form at the bottom.  I'll certainly help out where I can. Response should be less than a week or so. Advanced apologies if I take ages!

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## jezelf

> Hello, I am having a lot of trouble when doing steps 1.6 - 1.8 on the map coloring part of the tutorials. Before the bluring part of those steps my map looks like:  
> after i apply a guasion blur (i use this because it does not specify which blue to use) it looks like this: 
> 
> Please help ! the tutorial looks great but i can't make my map look that good



Hi 

Just going to provide some potential solutions to this as I've had other people have a problem with this step. My humble apologies to you all! - it bugs me that it's not working out for you.

I would say there's a couple of things this could be. Top of the list is that my Blur value of 0.3 just worked for me at that time - try a much higher value like 40.

Q1: Have you sketched in your colours like I did or do blobs in different areas like Wreed58 did?
A:  Similar to me: Go to Q2
A: Similar to Wreed58 ->  could be that...
a: you're not overlapping your sketchy colours?  Not essential, but it will help to draw them all on the same layer try not to isolate them in such a high contrasting way . It makes no difference in how you draw them really,  but if they are too far apart then they wont  overlap unless you have a large blur value.  I like to add some colour variance to make it look more interesting - BTW there's a brush setting for that  called colour dynamics. . Also for the green strokes (in my tutorial PDF)  I used a sketchy brush and drew them on, but with the circles I switched to the round brush and used spacing and scattering in the brush tools.


With Wreed58's I would whack up that blur radius. BTW in Photoshop (Win)   Ctrl+F  repeats the last used filter, so you can keep pressing that and watch it blur until it get where you want.

these may help provide clarity - appologies for the typos! DOH! 





Q2: Are you working to a specific  document size?

A:  I think I was working to 72ppi/dpi -  if you have a big image for print ( usually 300dpi) then the blur radius could be too small. The blur size is on a pixel radius, so 0.3 may be fine for 72dpi, but for a 300 dpi you may need 30 (I'm guessing - you'll need to try it out ) - but  that dpi thing will effect your results.

Q3: Have you tried the Layer properties options?

A: Layer properties. I see in my document I have it set to 'Linear Burn'  for the coastline edge, I can't remember if I changed it for the blurred colours but could need setting to 'overlay'. I usually just go down through them and see if any 'pop' into looking cool :-) . I would have mentioned this step if it was important though so don't worry if that's not the solution.

Also, I didn't put specific colour values in the tutorial because it's all just done on the fly and wanted you to have creative freedom etc. but if you want the same colours I picked, then you could simply..
1: open the PDF page step image on your computer , 
2: hit 'print screen' button ( usually at the top right of your keyboard) 
3: then in PS, create a new document (File > New> OK the dimensions it provides) 
4: Ctrl+V (Paste) your new screen grab into you new file
5: Use your colour picker tool to pick any colours you like and use them in your work.

Hope that helps.
Thanks
Have fun!


Jeremy

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## Southern Crane

> Hi 
> 
> Just going to provide some potential solutions to this as I've had other people have a problem with this step. My humble apologies to you all! - it bugs me that it's not working out for you.
> 
> I would say there's a couple of things this could be. Top of the list is that my Blur value of 0.3 just worked for me at that time - try a much higher value like 40.
> 
> Q1: Have you sketched in your colours like I did or do blobs in different areas like Wreed58 did?
> A:  Similar to me: Go to Q2
> A: Similar to Wreed58 ->  could be that...
> ...


Just wanted to thank you for updating this post with this more in depth information. As a writer/worldbuilder who is a rookie hobbyist at cartography this really helped a lot and gave a lot of neat tricks. Cheers

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## nobodi12

Just wanted to tell you thank you.

I used your tutorial to make a map, so thank you for making it. It was extremely helpful.

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## ajrittler

Fantastic thread.  One of the best tutorials I've seen.  Created a map this evening using them and it turned out pretty good.  Could you expand on steps 2.0.4 (the cloning of the sea layer) and steps 2.0.7 - 2.0.9 from the 4th document?  I muddled through them but Not accurately.  

Thanks again for the wonderfully done tutorial!  :Very Happy:

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## Phanues

Thanks for these tutorials. I'm currently in the process of reworking a basic map made by someone else in something a bit more high spec.
While i was already familiar with some of the techniques used and did not follow your tutorials a 100%, there was also a lot in there that helped me out during the process and i managed to pick up a few new tricks, so i'd just like to thank you for your effort in making them.  :Smile:

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## Nikademis

These are brilliant!  Thanks so much for making these tutorials available <3

The texture/parchment tutorial is great as I always feel like my maps feel too flat and lack real texture.  My PS skills are still very much novice so techniques like this are a massive help to me.  Thanks again!

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## swiss

I appreciate you putting these together. Unfortunately, I tried the texture tutorial and could only follow about 65% of it. I know at least part of the problem is I'm using PS Elements 14 and some of the options just don't exist, but for some of it I just could not follow your English. Does an updated version of this tut exist anywhere?

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