Scanning Your Maps for Photoshop
Added 2017-06-23 07:00:01 +0000 UTCClick here to return to the course index
Advantages to drawing on paper and bringing everything into Photoshop:
- If I mess up on the illustration, either in pencil or ink, it doesn’t affect the rest of the map. Nothing’s worse than spending endless hours creating a map only to mess it up while trying to draw an illustration.
- I can resize the compass or illustration to better fit the map. Sometimes what looks good in pencil becomes overwhelming in ink.
- I don’t have to worry about working around other objects. As you have seen, I already work in a very specific bottom to top manner to allow for the overlapping effect on my topography, adding things like text & illustrations to the mix makes things even more complicated.
- Adding text through Photoshop cuts down on spelling errors and allows the text to change in size to be more legible.
- I get to use fonts! I mean, I might have nice penmanship and all that jazz but…fonts!
- I can fix mistakes like ink dots, stray lines, and smudges.
- I can add or adjust the color of my maps by adding a sepia or blue tone to look like the old fashioned maps of bygone days. Or even to adjust the color of my Copic markers to tone down the color after scanning (scanners tend to create very vibrant images with Copic markers).
Click here to visit the Adobe website and get Photoshop for yourself.
But why would YOU want Photoshop?
Well, imagine what you could do with all the illustrations on my site! If you can’t draw, let me draw for you! Mix and match creatures, compass roses, banners, ships, & more!
How easy is it to use?
Photoshop comes with tons of tutorials on their site but there’s also endless YouTube videos, blogs, & websites devoted to helping you learn the software.
NOTE: I’m not an associate of Photoshop. I do not receive any compensation for recommending the software. I’m just a fan of it. You can use any photo editing software that allows you to add text & images.
