Cartography Guide with Gimp

Looking to polish your country's map? You've come to the right place. Before we start there are 3 things you need. Firstly you will want an account on an image sharing site like Photobucket. This shouldn't be a problem, if you use NS you probably have one already. The next thing you want to get is the latest version of Gimp which I believe is 2.8. If you are fluent with another program you can follow along with it, however I don't think I'd be able to help you if you experienced issues with a step. If you have any Gimp questions TG them to me and I'll see what I can do. The last thing you may want is a template map. This can be any rough/zoomed up map of your nation. You don't need it, it is just to trace your borders from. If you have borders already you can skip to the step right below the image marked Step 1b. I will show each step with screen shots to help show you as we go along. Without further delay, let's get started:

Step 1: Borders and Contrast

-Start up Gimp 2.8. There are 2 toolboxes and the main window. The left hand window has all the tools we will be using. Double click on one to bring up the tool options. The right hand window allows you to control the layers of the image. Make sure you are aware of which layer you have selected or you may end up changing the wrong one.

-Now take the zoomed image of your country and drag and drop it into the main window. You should see this:

Step 1a:

-Now, go to the top of the screen and click Layer>New Layer...

-The size of the layer should be the same as your template. Name this layer Borders or something else similarly appropriate. Make sure that it is selected as Transparency only. Now click OK.

-Now in the Right hand window, make sure that you transparent layer is highlighted in blue and is toggled to visible.

-With this layer selected, now go to the left hand window and double click on the pencil tool. Set the size to 1.00.

-Here comes what has to be the longest step, carefully trace out your nation's borders and all land and sea borders. You can go to the top and click on View>Zoom and set it to something like 800x so you can see individual pixels and it will help you draw the lines. This will take a long time to trace if you have a lot of coastal area like I do. Make sure that when use the pencil tool that your lines are continuous, IE all pixels in the border are touching the sides of their neighbors, diagonal contact with the other pixels isn't enough. The program won't read them as continuous if they are only diagonally touching.

-Once finished you can check out you border layer alone by toggling off the visibility of the template layer (eye icon). You can leave the template layer on/off, it doesn't matter. You should have something that looks like this:

Step 1b:

-Now go to the right hand tool box, right click on the border layer you just finished and click on >duplicate layer. Rename the copy: Land/Sea contrast.

-Select the contrast layer and equip the bucket fill tool. Fill all the land in the map in with black. If your borders are not continuous you would get this color spreading into places where it shouldn't be; like your sea area. Now bucket fill all the water bodies in with white. (You may choose to fill in small patches on the land with white for the lakes, that way you don't need to add them in later but I will show you how to add them later anyways). Keep in mind only the largest of lakes are visible on satellite images, most rivers and smaller bodies of water aren't which is why you don't see them on the finished maps I did.

-No you should have an image with the land all in black and the water in white. There should be no gradients or transparency on the contrast layer, solid black or white fill only.

-If everything filled correctly you can go ahead and delete the template layer you traced from. There is going to be a lot of layers later on so I will tell you which one you can remove to free up space. To delete the layer right click your template layer and click >delete layer. You should have something that looks like this:

Step 1c:

Step 2: The Oceans

-To start, go to the Toolbox on the left-hand window and click on the colour selection tool. If you set up looks like mine, it is the in the middle of the second row on the top.

-With the contrast Layer selected click on your water bodies so that they are selected and then Right Click>Edit>Copy.

-Right click on your image and select: Edit>Paste. You should see in the layer window a layer titled Floating Selection (Pasted Layer) on the top.

-Right click the floating layer and click: To New Layer. This command should be near the top of the command options. To make sure it worked, toggle the two layers below to invisible. You should only see you water bodies in white against a transparent background. While we’re at it, double click the Pasted Layer’s name and change it to Oceans or a similar title and hit enter. You should now see this:

Step 2a:

-Now right click you Ocean Layer and hit Duplicate Layer. Don’t bother re-naming this one, it will be used to generate the ocean texture and will ultimately be destroyed.

-Now with you Duplicated layer selected go to the top and click on: Filters>Render>Clouds>Plasma... Now this is what ultimately gives your ocean depth and what you are looking for in this splash of colours is lots of contrast. Click random seed to change the appearance. Keep in mind the general shape of your coast line and try to pick a seed that has a lot of variety where your oceans are.

-In this window you may also want to crank up the turbulence, try not to set the value too high or your oceans will look really weird. I have my own set on 1.5. Once you are satisfied click Ok.

-This tie-dyed mess of colours needs some work. Go to the top and Click Colors>Desaturate. For the three desaturation choices it doesn't matter which one you pick, chose the one that looks best to you. Click Ok. You should now be looking at this:

Step 2b:

-With the copied Ocean layer selected, go over to the right-hand “Layer” window and you should see on the top there is a drop down menu titled Mode. Scroll down and set the mode to darken only. Now you should have a black and white textured Ocean!

-Time to add some color. Choose a color that is a little lighter than what you want because the texture will darken it. You can find the tool to change colors in the Right-hand window near the bottom with default color being black. Make sure that the original Ocean layer is selected and bucket fill the white with your chosen color.

-If you are satisfied with the appearance of your ocean skip to the next step. This is a trouble shooting step. You may not like what you see, it doesn't always look that great so ultimately you either need to tweak the color by choosing a lighter one or go back to the copied Oceans layer and change the seed for the texture by doing this step again: Filters>Render>Clouds>Plasma... It really comes down to having a good seed rendered. Took me a few tries to get a good one. There are some tricks you could do with the tools (Blur, Smudge, ect) on the left but it is probably easier for you to re-render the texture.

-Once you have the oceans the way you want right click your copied Oceans texture (Must be on the top and in black and white) and click on Merge Down. Your ocean/water bodies are now complete and should look like this:

Step 2c:

Step 3: Basic Land

Now that I’ve started this section off with a Magic reference, let begin on your basic land. The reason I say basic is because here we will be making the land texture and choosing a base colour. Steps 4 and 5 will cover the addition of deserts/steppes and mountains/lakes respectively.

-To begin, you’ll want to toggle off the visibility of the ocean layer so it is easier for us to see the layer we are about to make. Make your contrast layer visible make sure it is selected in the layer panel to the right. Click on the colour select tool from the left hand window (should be center of second row from the top) and click on the black land space on your contrast layer.

-Now Right click>Edit>copy and then Right click>Edit>paste. Once again like we did for the oceans you should have a floating selection in your layer viewer. Right click it and selected To New Layer. Now it should be a solid layer and I recommend that you rename it to “Basic land” and toggle all other layers’ visibility to off so we can focus on this one. You should now see this:

Step 3a:

-Use the colour selection tool again, reselect the black. Now double click on the bucket fill tool to bring up its settings. Make sure that under Affected Area that you have fill whole selection toggled on.

-Close the bucket fill settings panel and double click on the colour choosing tool. Pick a colour that you want to be the default/background land colour. I suggest you look at satellite images of RL countries with similar climates to yours to pick the optimal land colour. I am going with a dark grey-green. Keep in mind you will probably need to tweak this once you have the land texture. Now you should see this:

Step 3b:

-Go over to the Layer window, right click the Basic land layer and hit Duplicate layer. Rename the duplicate basic land texture.

-Now with you Basic land texture layer selected go to the top of the central window and click on: Filters>Render>Clouds>Solid Noise. In the dialogue box that appears set the X and Y to about 5 and set the detail level to 5 or so. You can change the seed to one you like as well by clicking new seed. Once you are done with the design you like click on OK.

-You should now see a solid rectangular screen of black and white clouds. In order to apply these to your land go over to the top of layer window and click on the mode drop down list. Select overlay. You should now see your basic land! The rendered texture ends up giving you a lot of the high elevations/differences that look nice and are easy for you to generate.

-This step is where a lot of tweaking is done. For me, I found that the colour I used was too vibrant compared to the colour I am going for so I had to re-select the basic land layer and change the colour of it. You may want to turn the oceans to visible for comparisons as well.

-Important: Unlike the ocean layer, you’ll want to keep the basic colour/layout separate from the texture. Do not merge it with the underlying layer; keep the texture layer separate. By keeping it separate we can go in later and add deserts and other geographical features. That’s all for basic land, when you’re done you should see this:

Step 3c:
Step 4: Deserts

While my country’s map does not have a desert I can still show you how to go about designing one. This technique will work with more than just deserts. It can be used to make tropical rain forests, steppes, and any other boundary between biomes. Without further delay let’s jump in:

-Click on the free selection tool which is in the left hand widow, top row on the right. The icon looks like a lasso.

-Go over to the layer window and right click the basic land layers and select New Layer. Rename this layer Desert. Make sure that this layer is between the Basic Land texture layer and the Basic land layer. You can move a selected layer with the green arrow icons in the layer window below the layer list. For simplicity, toggle the above texture layer to invisible so you can better see what you’re doing.

-Now with the Desert layer selected, use the free selection tool to encircle the land you wish to make desert and the steppe which will be on the inside of this boundary. In my map I’ll be putting it in the bottom left corner but you can place the desert where you want.

-Fill your colour selection with your chosen desert colour. This will depend on the desert you are putting in. I am putting in a really sandy desert but you can put in a darker brown for a steppe, or alternatively you can put an extra layer on the boundary to add the steppe if you want with the smaller desert layer on top. I recommend using the blur tool to make a nice transition between the two because it is much easier. (See next step)

-Now select the blur tool; it is in the right hand window, center of 2nd row from the bottom and looks like a water drop. Blur the edges of the desert so you get a nice transition. I tried using the gradient tool but I found that you get a much better result with the blur tool. Toggle on the land texture above and you should see this:

Step 4a:

To widen the steppe between the biomes you can widen the blur so that the boundary becomes more stretched out.
Step 5: Lakes and Rivers

You may not need to do this step if you included all your water bodies back in step 2. I will also use a double layering later on in this step which is the same technique you can use for any type of border, such as the desert/steppe border which I mentioned in step 4. First I will show you how to do basic lakes and rivers, and then I will put an oasis in the desert we just made and that’s where I will demonstrate the double layer technique.

-Create a new layer above all the rest and title it Lake or Lake 1 if you plan on making several. Use the free select tool (top row, furthest on the right) and outline a lake with river systems connected to it if you feel they will be visible from a satellite image. Considering that only add you nations lager water bodies.

-Luckily you've done this next step, bucket fill your lake/river system with a blue and then apply Step 2 instructions for shading where needed. If the lake is small enough the variations in the default bucket fill will look good enough with the image at a zoom of 100%. I did not need additional shading for mine but again if the water body is large enough you will have to do the sub-steps in step 2 in order to get the look you want. You should see something like this now:

Step 5a:

Note: I accidentally left the Oceans layer toggle on. It is not part of this step.

-To make an oasis in your desert you much first create a new layer and name it Oasis. Use the free select tool again and surround the land that will include the water and the vegetation immediately around it. Fill the selection with your default land colour and then use the blur tool (middle of 2nd row from the bottom) to blur the edges of the oasis.

-Right now your oasis should look like some weird patch of forest in the desert. To add some water use the free select tool again and select a smaller area within that patch of green and bucket fill it with blue. Make sure to shade like in step 2 if you need to. You should now see this:

Step 5b:

Note: Both Oceans and texture are toggled on, just to give you an idea of what all the combined steps have produced thus far.
Step 6: Mountains

Alright guys brace yourselves, putting mountains on your map takes a lot of work and tweaking especially if you’re like me and you spend a lot of time fixing small details. The more mountains the longer it will take but I will show you how to do one and that will tell you all you need to know about making more.

-Before you start try to think of rational places for these mountains. Think of you topography and what you want it to look like. For instance a lot of the ones in my original map were near my mainland borders because they represent the higher elevations of the drainage basin that was used to create the political borders on mainland Kahari for my nation.

-Now like we have done countless times before create a new layer. Name it mountain or mountain 1 if you plan to make many.

-With the mountain layer selected go to the tool panel on the left and click on the free select tool. It is on the right of the top row.

-Using the free select tool try to make a mountain outline. Use very rough and sharp edges. See my first map for some shape ideas. You may want to adjust the zoom for a better shape and scale. This can be done from the top of the central widow: view>zoom> X%. Or you can find the zoom in the bottom as a drop down menu. Below is a screen shot of the one I just did:

Step 6a:

-Now select the gradient tool. It is the grayish white square in the tool panel. Double click on it to bring up the tool configuration options. In this panel scroll down till you see a drop down menu title shape. Set it to a “Shaped (angular)” gradient.

-Now go to the colour select part of the tool window and set the overlay colour, this will become the mountain top colour. I use a light grey for a mixture of stone and snow. Set the background color to something a little darker than your land’s colour.

-Now with the gradient tool selected, drag the cursor over the selected mountain area and let go. Now you should see this:

Step 6b:

-Now you need to duplicate this mountain layer by right clicking and selecting the duplicate option and then make sure the duplicate is selected in the layer window. This copy will basically give texture to your mountain.

-Go to the top and click on Colors>Desaturate. This will bring up a dialogue box. You can select any of the three options, which ever you think will look best. I went with Average.

-Now go to Colors>Brightness-Contrast. You want to get a stark outline like this:

Step 6c:

-Now go to Fliters>Noise>Spread. You want to mix it up a little so that the colors get a better distribution like this:

Step 6d:

-Toggle this black and white copied mountain layer to invisible.

-With the original coloured mountain layer now selected go to Filters>Map>Bump map. In the dialogue box that appears make sure that the Bump map scroll list has your duplicated invisible mountain layer selected. Click OK.

Step 6e:

-You may now delete the duplicated mountain layer, we don’t need it anymore.

-It turned out beautiful. You never know, sometimes a bad shape messes with the gradients in the wrong way. There is one obvious problem, in comparison to the rest of the map the mountains pop out way too much. While the rest of the map could be a satellite image, this mountain appear to be much closer like a aerial photo from a one of those high flying planes (forget what they are called). Now we must flatten and even it out a bit.

- Select the blur tool (water drop picture) in the tool widow. It is in the center of the row that is the second from the bottom. Double click and select the brush size (not that important so long as it is smaller than your mountain) and make sure it is set to blur and not sharpen. Now slowly drag the cursor over the overly darken patches and the parts that stick out too much. You can always reverse changes with the undo command Crtl + z. For some examples check out the original map [in my factbook] I posted and take a closer look at the mountains.

Step 6f:

There is your first mountain. Well done for getting that finished, it was the most difficult step.
Step 7: Snow and Sea Ice Cover

Given the fact that many of your countries are in warm tropical climates you may wish to skip this step all together if you don’t need it.

-First step is to decide the extent of snow and ice cover in your country. If your country is small like mine you probably shouldn’t have a transition zone from snow covered land to not unless your country happens to be sitting on the latitude where snow cover ends. Sea Ice only exists at very high latitudes so even if you have snow cover you probably won’t have sea ice but that is for you to decide.

-Starting with the snow cover, it is time to dig up that old contrast layer we made in step 1. Duplicate the contrast layer (renaming it snow cover 1) and move this duplicate to the top of the layer stack so that it is the top layer. You can do this with the green up arrow in the layer window below the list of layers.

-Now go to the colour select tool in the tool window (on left) in center of second row from top. Select all the white water bodies by clicking on them. Now right click the oceans and hit Edit>Cut. You should now be left with solid black coloured land and transparent oceans (white removed).

-This part is only for those who want their snow cover to blanket part of their country. If you are going to completely cover yours skip to the next point. You may want all other layers to be invisible so you can focus on the snow one better. Use the free select tool and draw a border around the NON snow covered zones. Cut these out as well.

-Use the bucket tool and now change all the snow covered land to solid white instead of black.

-Here’s where we make it look real. Right click on the snow cover layer in the layer window. Click on the Add Layer Mask option. Make sure white full opacity is selected and then hit OK.

-Now go to Filter>Render>Clouds>Plasma. In the window that pops up you should see a black and white cloudy preview. Set the turbulence to max and hit OK. Now you should see this:

Step 7a:

-Now repeat the above processes and change the seed for the plasma generation to get a variety of snow coverage. If you have partial snow cover do the same process but now make the cut off a little more north each time so you end up with a gradient of snow coverage.

-The final result looks like this:

Step 7b:

I find that it looks much better with full snow cover because it is hard to get a gentle gradient from snow covered land to non snow covered land. Look at my factbook to see my original.

To make sea ice patches:

-Once again duplicate the contrast layer this time renaming it sea ice.

-Use the colour selection tool and this time click on the black land in cut it out. Use the free select tool to remove other parts of the ocean you want to keep ice free.

-Sea Ice pretty much looks like this in real life satellite images so luckily we don’t need to manipulate it any further than this, but you could add a small gradient at the border of the sea ice but it is unnecessary. This is what you should see at the end:

Step 7c:
Step 8: Final Touches

Almost done!

An important feature I think that everyone show add is a fog over areas that don’t belong to their nation that way they don’t describe someone else’s territory for them. That would be considered godmodding so let’s avoid that. Should other nations bordering you do a map, I see no reason why you could not stitch them together with that person’s permission of course. Let get started:

-Duplicate the border layer (made in step 1) and move the duplicate to the top of the layer stack. Rename it fog or shade or something like that.

-Bucket fill in all the land that is beyond your nation black and leave the interior of your land and the oceans clear.
-With the fog layer selected go to the layer window and adjust the opacity to about 75%.
You should now have something like this:

Step 8a:
Next we will make a highlighted border.

-Duplicate the border layer again, rename it highlighted border and then move it to the top.

- Recolour the border with the bucket fill tool. The colour that you use should stand out against the background so it will depend on whether or not the background is snow, forest, or sand covered. I am using the summer version so I will use amber.

-Use the eraser tool and remove any lines that cross areas that aren’t touching your land.

-Another thing I would add to this is a marker for your capital. Selected the pencil tool, choose an appropriate size and colour. You can also change the shape; I will use a red star.

-Now with this highlighted border layer still selected go to Colors>Color to Alpha. Just something that I find makes the border glow a little.

You should see this:

Step 8b:

To make an image file of your map go to File>Export and then choose the format you want (jpg, png, ect) and click OK and it will save your map as a picture in the location of your choice.

Congratulations!

You have successfully made it through this tutorial, I know it has been a long ride some 4, 500 words of type to get through. Please share this tutorial with your friends and region mates, post your maps to your factbooks. If you found this guide helpful give it an up vote. Thank you for showing interest and enjoy your new map!