Zombie Nirvana Games

Comment from TheNorbFace
Time: July 29, 2007, 2:36 am

wow, that’s really impressive!
i want to create a map by myself, so i will be using this tutorials for sure. thank you for sharing!
but since my map will be a bit bigger than yours (should be like a country or a continent), i’d like to know how to make mountains and steppes and other landscape-oriented things (villages & cities are maybe just icons on this map).
when will you be doing this part? so i don’t have to check each hour for a new uploaded video
thanks a lot for the forest and the lakes, i’ll use these as a start.

Comment from Butch
Time: July 29, 2007, 8:26 am

Thanks! Right now, the plan is to finish up the Foster’s Meadow tutorials, take a week off, and then move on to some more painterly techniques for a couple of episodes. If those aren’t to your liking, the book should be out at about that time, and it’s just chock full of techniques that I won’t have time to cover in the podcast.

Oh, and the new podcasts come out every Monday, so you don’t have to kill yourself all week checking for them. (Actually, I usually upload some time on Sunday, but they “officially” come out on Mondays; that’s when I update ZNG and put up my show notes for the week. But if you check Revver or YouTube Sunday nights, the latest episode will most likely be there.)

Comment from TheNorbFace
Time: July 30, 2007, 1:23 am

i’m really looking forward to your book!
i’ve now started a little map, but it’s still under construction. your tutorials are a great help!
one thing i want to know: how did you create the shores in your map “western lands”? they look really realistic for a map. i think the technique you showed in FCAP#6 is pretty neat for a lake, but if you want to draw some islands, the “western lands”-style is perfect!

“your” sunday night is already “my” monday morning, it’s gmt+1 over here
just saw FCAP #10… ingenious as usual.

Comment from Butch
Time: July 30, 2007, 12:05 pm

I’m actually going to be using the Western Lands map as my example for the “painterly” maps in the next section on the podcast, so there’ll be a whole episode on the shoreline technique in the next 4 weeks or so.

I wouldn’t say episode 10 is ingenious, but I like to think it’s a pretty decent layman’s description of how Displace works! I tend to ramble when I start talking about Photoshop’s mechanics… they’re really fascinating!

Comment from Michael
Time: July 30, 2007, 6:08 pm

Love the work, and I will deff. be purchasing your text. However most of maps used in my gaming group are Large scale, not small like this example, will the book be as usefull in creating large scale maps? Note I am particulary intrested in contrast or topagraphical mapping techniques. Would love to see some clues..

Comment from Butch
Time: July 30, 2007, 6:36 pm

Thanks Michael! The Overland volume of Fantasy Cartography will have a LOT of different techniques in many different styles. The podcast hasn’t even scratched the surface, really, but that’s largely because of how I chose to organize it (i.e., dividing it into ‘volumes’ with each volume showing a map from beginning to end). It makes it a lot easier for me to record the shows when I know more-or-less exactly what I’ll be talking about from week to week!

Comment from Riccardo
Time: July 31, 2007, 5:13 am

Your tutorial is GREAT, i’m actually using it to realise the maps for my fantasy on-line community and i hope to put my hands on your book, or at least on PDFs (are you releasing it right?) soon.

Comment from Butch
Time: July 31, 2007, 8:09 am

Thanks Riccardo! I’m working hard on the book; I’m shooting to have it done within the next couple of months.

Pingback from TheNorbFace » fantasy map
Time: August 3, 2007, 10:19 am

[...] of the website, butch curry, is fascinated by both photoshop and cartography, thus he decided to write a book about creating a map with adobe photoshop. plus, he has released 10 videos by now about certain [...]

Comment from TheNorbFace
Time: August 3, 2007, 10:27 am

ah, wordpress is wonderful. i don’t even have to inform you myself
as you can see, i’ve now finished my map by following your tutorials. i hope you don’t mind that i took the “north-sign” of one of your maps?

Comment from Butch
Time: August 3, 2007, 10:55 am

Very cool! And swipe away, as long as you don’t try to sell it.

Comment from Butch as well
Time: August 4, 2007, 10:26 pm

Great tutorials! And they say Butch’s are only good at sports or NASCAR.

I too am looking forward to your book on overland map making. I am not a photoshop guru and I find your tutorials easy to follow and have learned a great deal going through them. I came into the tutorials after 10, have done them all over a couple of days and now have to wait for more.

thank you for this it is great!

Comment from Butch
Time: August 4, 2007, 11:21 pm

Thanks Butch! (Wow, it’s weird saying that… I’ve only ever met one other Butch.) You won’t have to wait long for episode 11; I scripted it out today, and I’ll be sitting down to record it tomorrow afternoon.

Comment from Lev
Time: August 30, 2007, 9:26 am

I must say that your tutorials are great, just found them this week, already seen them all and made my first map. Nothing too fancy, but with some practice…
Now, I’m waiting eagerly for the next couple of tutorials, I have some maps to make, about places in a story I wrote.

Comment from Butch
Time: August 30, 2007, 12:30 pm

Thanks Lev! I’m glad you’re enjoying the shows.

Comment from Brie
Time: September 3, 2007, 10:41 pm

Just found this tonight. Great tutorials on mapping and photoshop in general.

Look forward to more in a couple weeks.

Comment from Butch
Time: September 4, 2007, 4:08 am

Thanks Brie! As long as I’m able to (I’m a bit sick today; there’s a flu bug going around) I’ll record a new show later this afternoon!

Comment from Jessica
Time: October 14, 2007, 9:37 pm

I have been looking for a way to do maps for my game that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg for months. I love the podcasts. I particularly like how easy to follow they are. I want to try out all of the techniques you showed as soon as I can and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Comment from Butch
Time: October 15, 2007, 6:17 am

Thanks Jessica!

Pingback from hack/ » Blog Archive » Mapping Resources
Time: November 9, 2007, 12:15 pm

[...] Fantasy Cartography With Adobe Photoshop [...]

Comment from Zebulon Pi
Time: December 17, 2007, 3:45 pm

Man, this is awesome!! This is EXACTLY what I needed for my mapping.

You’ve been Dug and StumbleUpon’ed

Thank you!

Comment from Butch
Time: December 17, 2007, 3:51 pm

Thanks Zebulon! I’m looking forward to getting back in the recording studio soon.

Comment from Noel
Time: January 8, 2008, 9:46 pm

Butch, this is fantastic! I’ve been using photoshop to create maps for years, and these techniques have opened up so many new possibilities for me. Keep up the great work and many thanks for all your effort mate.

Comment from Butch
Time: January 11, 2008, 7:08 pm

Thanks Noel!

Comment from Liz
Time: January 19, 2008, 1:44 pm

I was really excited to find your podcasts the other day. Even though I don’t have Photoshop (I use Gimp) I have been able to make use of many of your techniques. It has been very exciting playing with some of the tricks that you taught so far. And I have been able to use some of your hints for more than just maps. Wonderful job!!

Comment from Butch
Time: January 19, 2008, 6:19 pm

Thanks Liz! I developed my techniques in Photoshop 7 in the hopes that as many of them as possible would be portable over to GIMP and similar programs. Glad to hear that it worked!

Comment from Kennedy
Time: January 25, 2008, 2:49 pm

Butch,
I love your podcast! It helps me make cool maps and has also helped me develop my Photoshop skills i n a fashion that is both enjoyable and educational. Thank you very much and, please keep up the great job.

I have a question/request. Can you go over a way to add a page curl to these maps. I’d love to see that in a future pod cast.

Again, thank you. I look forward eagerly to the next cast.

Kennedy

Comment from Butch
Time: January 25, 2008, 3:17 pm

Thanks Kennedy! I’ve never really played around with page curls much, but you might check out this entry on Veerle’s website: http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/creating_a_page_curl_in_photoshop/

She’s got a lot of tutorials on her site. I’ve never had reason to use her Photoshop stuff, but I can vouch for her Illustrator work, so I’ve no doubt that that link should help you out!

Pingback from TheNorbFace » fantasy map #2
Time: February 7, 2008, 5:36 pm

[...] a very different style than my first map, since i decided to try out the latest techniques of butch curry. because i taught myself photoshop, i’m glad to learn how photoshop really works and i [...]

Comment from TheNorbFace
Time: February 7, 2008, 5:43 pm

second map finished – thanks to you! the podcast is great.

actually, i made the railroads with the technique you mentioned in fcap #17
but i painted the mountains the same way as the forest. works better for me.

Comment from Jeff
Time: March 8, 2008, 7:00 pm

Wow! I’ve been drawing maps by hand for years, I stopped putting so much effort into it because one rip or spill would be the death of something I’d spent hours on. I’ve never used photoshop but that all changed when I stumbled upon your podcast. Brilliant! Bravo! Optime!

I eagerly await the book and would love to know how you created Aeia. That map looks better than much of what Wizards officially puts out, seriously. Pat yourself on the back for that one.

Comment from Jeff
Time: March 8, 2008, 7:24 pm

Also, do you use a tablet? I’m considering getting a cheap one… I’m used to drawing with my left hand and using a mouse in my right. I can’t seem to get a natural feel for drawing with a mouse. What would you recommend?

Comment from Butch
Time: March 8, 2008, 9:12 pm

Thanks Jeff! The Aeia map was really not that tough; I knocked it out in my spare time over a weekend. I used the same technique for the forests that I used in Episode 16 of the podcast. The mountains were done with a Bevel/Emboss layer style that I tweaked pretty heavily; I added the snow on top with a technique that I’ll cover in the next episode when I talk about creating effects with the Dissolve blend mode. The blue water is just an Outer Glow layer style using one of the [X] Light blend modes (Hard Light, I think, though I’d have to open it back up to make sure). So there aren’t any super-advanced techniques there! I think the part that took the longest was just choosing the right colors. I think a lot of really technically proficient maps end up not quite measuring up because of bad color choices, but unfortunately color theory is kind of beyond the scope of FCAP!

I use one of the first generation of Wacom Graphire tablets, a 4″x5″. A lot of folks say that that’s too small for them, but once you get used to it they’re more than big enough for just about any casual user out there. I’ve been using the same Graphire since before my son was born, so it’s more than 6 years old, and I’ve never had any trouble with it. I’ve upgraded computers a few times in those years, but I’ve never had to upgrade my Wacom! (Although, I really wish I could afford one of those sweet new Wacom Cintiq 12WX’s!)

Comment from Owain
Time: June 7, 2008, 3:06 am

how would i go about doing the mountain style on the Aeia map?

Comment from Butch
Time: June 9, 2008, 7:55 am

Hi Owain! Those are just done with a bevel/emboss layer style to give them some dimensionality. I painted on the layer mask of a Solid Color layer, with some Foreground/Background jitter on the brush so it would randomly swap back and forth between black and white, which helps give them some texture. I added the snow with a brush set to Dissolve, spraying around some white dots on the mountain tops, followed by a bit of Gaussian Blur to soften it up.

Comment from FantasyWorld
Time: August 8, 2008, 8:26 pm

Wow, that’s absolutely awesome. I have Photoshop CS3 but have yet to install it (yes, I’m slack). I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this site but I’m glad I did. Your tutorial is very well done. I clearly need to learn more about the brush features.

Comment from Butch
Time: August 8, 2008, 9:18 pm

Thanks! Photoshop’s brush engine really is a thing of beauty!

Comment from Karl
Time: August 9, 2008, 2:32 pm

Just came across your podcasts on YouTube and since I am currently working on a book this has really helped me develop my idea’s further and allowed me to explore the possibilities of further travel. I am most definitely going to be buying your book from lulu, any idea on the release date as I can’t seem to find it yet.

Comment from Lerb
Time: August 29, 2008, 11:00 am

I too just came across the videos on YouTube and think they are fantastic.
My problem with photoshop tutorials so far is that they are mostly just text and you get lost quickly, whereas these podcasts are very well done. I can see exactly what you are doing because of the format, and you explain things in a very clear way which is easy for me to follow. The fact that they are related to what I enjoying doing is an added bonus.

So many thanks!

Pingback from Pleasant Hill – Fantasy Town Map » Fantasy Map Maker
Time: September 1, 2008, 7:07 am

[...] map was made by following Butch Curry’s excellent Fantasy Cartography with Adobe Photoshop podcast series. If you have Photoshop (not [...]

Comment from Al
Time: December 31, 2008, 11:32 am

Thanks for the tutorials! I’ve been using Photoshop forever, and these are great tips for using things I typically avoid!

Comment from Rich
Time: February 6, 2009, 7:03 am

Just came across your podcasts. This is exactlly what I was looking for. I need one more thing to help me out and that is how do you put an overlay of hexagons over the map for moving game peices across? Do you address this in any of your podcasts or do you know of any sites where I might be able obtain this info? Keep up the good work.

Comment from Minne
Time: March 26, 2009, 8:49 am

just what I needed thnx man

Comment from Mike
Time: June 3, 2009, 7:08 pm

I just stumbled across your podcast on Miro, and wanted to tell you what a great resource it is. Any idea when the cartography book/pdf will be released? If it’s half as good as the videos, I can guarantee you at least one sale.

Comment from Andreas Carlsson
Time: July 6, 2009, 5:50 am

Mr Butch Curry knows his Photoshop as his own hands. This Podcast is fantastic, I have learnt more by watching this, than I have by working in PS for several years…!

Is there a way to donate?

Thanks man!

/andreas, Sweden

Comment from Colm Mc Geever
Time: July 12, 2009, 6:04 am

Hi Butch. Just a quickie to thank you for these podcasts. I stumbled upon them the other day and they provide exactly what I’m looking for to build a fantasy map for my upcoming website.

Cheers

Colm.

Comment from Butch
Time: July 12, 2009, 7:23 am

Thanks Colm!

Comment from Butch
Time: July 12, 2009, 7:23 am

Thanks so much for your kind words, Andreas!

Comment from Thijs
Time: July 12, 2009, 3:13 pm

Hey,

I just found your tuts from a link on a forum, and this is something I’ve been looking for for ages! I’ve always been obsessed with old maps, and I got a few hanging on my walls. I’ve always been wanting to make my own old looking maps and these podcasts are awesome! I can’t wait to read your PDF book, is it released already?

Thanks,
Thijs.

Pingback from Weekly Digest for July 15th – BorkWeb
Time: July 15, 2009, 6:01 pm

[...] Zombie Nirvana Games » Fantasy Cartography — 6:50am via [...]

Comment from ThomasE
Time: July 17, 2009, 6:58 am

Wow, thats great. You explain simple methods of painting maps in a way, everyone can understand. I love it and I’m gonna try some methods right now. Thanks for sharing your knowlege.

Comment from warpig
Time: October 1, 2009, 11:37 pm

I’ve subscribed to your podcast – that’s not something I do regularly. I’m not actually into video tutorials normally but yours are so informative and easily accessable that it excites me! I’m just waiting for you to publish through LuLu.com so that I can buy the book, because it will certainly be the best way to get all of these in one spot.

Also; a quick question. Are you self taught? What I mean is, is all this amazing work just the product of a long time experimenting? Because if so, then damn, you’re surely a patient guy hahaha Keep up the fantastic work and I await the book release with bated breath

Comment from Chritopher
Time: October 2, 2009, 10:02 am

Hey Butch, your tutorials and cartography work is awesome! I am in the beginning stages of writing a Fantasy novel, and am in need of an overland type map. I really loved your “Western Lands” map. Do you have maps for sale that I could check out? If not, are you willing to do custom maps? Again, keep up the amazing work. Cheers!

Comment from Butch
Time: October 3, 2009, 7:32 am

Thanks for your kind words, warpig! To answer your question, some of what I show in the podcasts is the result of using Photoshop ever since version 3.0 back in college. After nearly 20 years you tend to pick up a few things! Many of them are based on techniques that were pioneered by Bert Monroy. I’ve read all of his books, watched him when he appeared on The Screen Savers on TechTV, and have followed his videocast PixelPerfect since it began. I’m also a big fan of Photoshop TV – though it’s called Photoshop User TV now! – and subscribe to Photoshop User magazine as well. Though they’re typically geared more towards photographers I can usually figure out a way to subvert their techniques to mapmaking! So generally speaking I’d say that most of the techniques I use weren’t created by me; I just figured out a way to turn them into mapmaking tools.

Comment from Butch
Time: October 3, 2009, 7:34 am

Thanks! If you’d like to contact me to discuss a commissioned work, you can use the email form on the Contact page to reach me directly.

Comment from Johnny
Time: January 22, 2010, 10:07 am

Just wanted to say I stumbled onto your tutorials while looking for cartography brushes and you’ve inspired me to make my own map from scratch! Really impressive tutorials! You get major props from me for your speaking voice / editing skills – not a single “um” or “er” – absolutely flawless!! I really hope you’re still planning on releasing your PDF, because I know for sure that I’ll be purchasing a copy! Again, wonderful work!!

-Johnny-

Pingback from Chaddma’s Progress « Mim and Dave
Time: February 11, 2010, 10:33 am

[...] of the graphics might take a while, but I’ve expected that all along. The Fantasy Cartography vidcast at Zombie Nirvana has also given me a few ideas on how to speed this [...]