Ok I'm going to go on holidays. I fiddled with GIMP a bit but didn't have time to contribute anything. Reading this thread and even some recent replies was galling enough, though. So, here is a small course on creativity, it might do some people some good.

The creative process could be said to exist in two fases: divergence and convergence, the results of which are a product.



Divergence: This fase is about creating new ideas, building on old ones, without casting any aside or disparaging them (as happens in the post above me). Instead of (nonconstructive) criticism, it is encouraged to produce alternatives. There isn't any selection process yet: you just throw idea after idea, without judgement. This is also how brainstorming works. Any idea/tile/style is welcome.

This fase could be said to be the basis of most of LMAT: you don't kill tiles or hate on them, you just either improve them or, if you cannot, contribute new ones that are better. Keywords: fantasy, experimenting, process-oriented, not caring about prestation, pushing boundaries.

Convergence: this fase could be visualized by a funnel. You start selecting ideas. The ones that don't work are removed. You keep removing branches until you get to the tree. Keywords: results oriented, judgement, reality-based, choice

Right now, too many of you are busy with convergence. Don't do that. That's for when you have enough ideas to finish a tileset with and you need to put one together.

Starting by scratch isn't necessary. I've seen like 4 different styles of tiles, all that can be worked on. It's the divergent fase though, so if you want to add new tiles in a different style, don't request permission to do so, but just do it.