I wasted a whole weekend on a bad map brush set

I saw a pack of 50 fantasy map brushes for a program called GIMP for only $5, so I grabbed it. The file was huge and took forever to download, and half the brushes were just blurry dots or weird shapes I could never use. I spent maybe 8 hours trying to make them work before giving up and going back to my old ones. Has anyone found a GOOD brush pack for making coastlines that doesn't suck?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkerkim17d ago

Blurry dots or weird shapes" is the worst. Honestly, I've had better luck just making my own coastline brush from a photo of some real rocks. Takes like five minutes.

robin_foster117d ago

Making your own brush sounds way smarter than buying those overpriced packs, @parkerkim.

simonw4113d agoTop Commenter

Wait, doesn't making a brush from a photo just give you the same blurry dot, just a custom one? The real trick is finding a high-contrast source image with sharp edges, like a photo of cracked pavement or a crisp leaf. If your rock photo is flat-lit or out of focus, @parkerkim, you're just baking that fuzz into the brush. I spent ages confused why my custom brushes were still mush until I started hunting for pictures taken in harsh sunlight.