Fantasy Map Brushes

[vpallasander]

Hello guys,

I have been doing cartography for fantasy authors and gamers. Until now, I have been using Inkarnate and Wonderdraft for maps. Currently learning how to use Affinity Photo for that. While I have been using specialized cartography brushes, I have been wondering about where I can get brushes to indicate grasslands, deserts, etc. Like the brushes and textures Inkarnate has. I have created colored maps using Affinity Photo, but I'd like to know if there are some premade texture brushes I can use for grasslands, deserts, barren plains, etc instead of simple colored maps. Yes, I can play around with blending and everything, but if any brushes are available, that'd be wonderful and it would make my job easier and faster. 

 

Any leads? Do let me know. Thank you very much in advance. 

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @vpallasander

Did you try searching these forums for cartography resources ?
E.g. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/95612-request-cartography-resources-for-designer/
 

[vpallasander]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:27 PM, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @vpallasander

Did you try searching these forums for cartography resources ?
E.g. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/95612-request-cartography-resources-for-designer/
 

Yes, I did go through those. And I found them useful all right. But I am more or less looking for textures that I find in Inkarnate. Not looking for symbols and assets, but more of coloring textures. For example, how a grassland would look like. Mapmaking software have those textures, which gives a gaming look and feel to my maps. I'm pretty sure Affinity Photo will have some textures. I did download some grassland textures but they are not specific for maps and didn't fit the look. 

[GarryP]

I’ve never used Inkarnate so I don’t now how it works or what things are available for it.

Maybe if you share some visual examples of what you are looking for – maybe not the result as such, but the things you want to use to create the result – it might give people a better idea of what you mean.

You might not get exactly with you want – Photo wasn’t made for map making, specifically – but you might get some ideas from what people can share.

[vpallasander]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

I’ve never used Inkarnate so I don’t now how it works or what things are available for it.

Maybe if you share some visual examples of what you are looking for – maybe not the result as such, but the things you want to use to create the result – it might give people a better idea of what you mean.

You might not get exactly with you want – Photo wasn’t made for map making, specifically – but you might get some ideas from what people can share.

ya I get that it was not made for map making specifically, but since people also can use it to do that, I hoped someone would have been crafty enough to make those brushes, just like how Map Effects, Worldcrafter, etc have made these symbols. Have attached a few images just to get an idea of what I'd want. I could create these using Affinity maybe. Will need to play with blending and opacities maybe and hope I get the right coloring. These are for regional maps. Battlemaps have their own textures where elements of the terrain are more pronounced. Inkarnate and Wonderdraft are good mapmaking software, but I am learning how to use Affinity Photo to achieve the same effects. To the most part, it can. But for the textures I need!

[debraspicher]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:14 AM, vpallasander said:

Hello guys,

I have been doing cartography for fantasy authors and gamers. Until now, I have been using Inkarnate and Wonderdraft for maps. Currently learning how to use Affinity Photo for that. While I have been using specialized cartography brushes, I have been wondering about where I can get brushes to indicate grasslands, deserts, etc. Like the brushes and textures Inkarnate has. I have created colored maps using Affinity Photo, but I'd like to know if there are some premade texture brushes I can use for grasslands, deserts, barren plains, etc instead of simple colored maps. Yes, I can play around with blending and everything, but if any brushes are available, that'd be wonderful and it would make my job easier and faster. 

 

Any leads? Do let me know. Thank you very much in advance. 

While I know it's not exactly what you are looking for, this has some resources in it that could prove useful for your use case. It is a free pack for Affinity owners.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/free-content/

And just so you don't miss these, this is a content pack that was issued for all V2 owners that can be also be claimed.

[vpallasander]

4 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

While I know it's not exactly what you are looking for, this has some resources in it that could prove useful for your use case. It is a free pack for Affinity owners.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/free-content/

And just so you don't miss these, this is a content pack that was issued for all V2 owners that can be also be claimed.

Thanks... I got the 1st one. The other one, I don't have V2 yet. V1 suffices for my needs at the moment. Saved the link when I get V2 though. 

[vpallasander]

8 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

While I know it's not exactly what you are looking for, this has some resources in it that could prove useful for your use case. It is a free pack for Affinity owners.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/free-content/

And just so you don't miss these, this is a content pack that was issued for all V2 owners that can be also be claimed.

You're right... It's not exactly what I wanted, but I can use some of those Thanks.

[StuartRc]

I think this question has been asked before on the forum.

Previously with the help of google I came across this site. (K.M Alexander) Here which may or may not be of interest to you.. The brushes are .abr and will probably need some tweaking in Affinity...but it is a useful starting point!...