How I make hexmaps

 I like hexmaps.

Here's one I made earlier. It took about half an hour.

And here's how I did it:

STEP ONE: GO OUTSIDE

It is a lot to ask, I know. But go outside on a clear day and find some nice cloud formations. The picture I am using here is a little too cirrus-filled, ideally you should have one with a very clear divide between cloud and sky. You could also search for clouds online, but where's the fun in that?

STEP TWO: GIMP IMAGE EDITOR

Boot up your copy of GIMP image editor. If you do not have a copy then get one, it's free. Open your picture, go to the select menu, click "Select by colour" and then click around until you find an outline you like. Some feathering like above is not ideal, it can be removed by fiddling with the other selection settings, but ideally you should have an image with little to none because of that high sky to cloud contrast mentioned earlier. You can also grow and shrink a selection to smooth borders or make it more jagged. Once you have a shape you are happy with click "Border" in the selection menu, with 1 pixel depth. Then export as an uncompressed png.

STEP THREE: PAINT

Open your exported PNG in paint. You could continue to use GIMP but I prefer the simplicity of Paint. Use free form selection to clear out the feathering on the edge. I like to take interior holes and larger pieces of feathering and turn them into islands and lakes. Then, cut off any extra pieces of outline you want to turn into rivers and use the paintbucket to make them blue. You can also copy and rotate sections of the coastline to do this, it is not normally noticeable.

Your map should now look something like this:

STEP FOUR: DRAWHEXGRID

Long ago I found this website:

Tutorials & Utilities (cryhavocgames.net)

Put simply, it is a Godsend.

I will not describe how to use the program, it comes with documentation. The preview function will tell you the pixel size of the hexmap you will create, which allows you to match it to your map's size. Then through the power of transparency overlays you can slap it right on top.

STEP FIVE: PAINT (AGAIN)

Now all that is left is to paintbucket in all the biomes you want. One downside of this method is that a lot of tiny pockets can be created if you are not careful with lining up the hexgrid and the terrain, so make sure to catch all of those when filling the map in.

If you take the right photo, or are willing to stitch together a few coastlines, you can create entire continents and worlds with this method. I prefer to make more regional maps, but full continents and islands are not at all hard. You can even overlay hex grids within each other to create a 24-mile grid with a 6-mile grid inside of it. Here is one I spent five hours on:

I hope this has been helpful, or at least enjoyable.