An Issue of Resolution

Tonight I spent a lot of time installing ProFantasy mapping software and then copying a lot of the PNG files into some organized folders for my own purposes in Photoshop as iconic imagery. I feel restricted with the ProFantasy interfaces in a way that I don't in Photoshop, but I have Campaign Cartographer 3, City Designer 3, and Dungeon Designer 3. There is a lot of good art in there and I have purchased the rights to use it, even commercially if I ever wanted to. So I decided to finally get my ass to work extracting and organizing the files so that I could.

There is no greater enemy of mapping or graphical progress than procrastinating on organizing supporting files.

Here is a thought that entered my mind though.

Sometimes, when you look at a graphical element, it appears cartoony or it doesn't fit into something you are working on. Take the below image, for example. At first, it appears that it would really clash with the dungeon map I made a few posts back. It looks too much like a cartoon and not like a sharp map.

However, if you drop the resolution way way down, multiply the piece out and connect it, you get this.

Now it fits.

Sometimes, you must shrink something down to extract maximum value.

Thus ends the "Noobs teaching Noobs" advice column for today. :)