Thread: my first photoshop map (unfinished)

Welcome! The boldness to post a map immediately - good form. Then to do so with a creditable first effort - kudos and a pinch of rep ! It looks really nice already. I'm having a hard time believing some of the rivers... if I were water I'd maybe find a plausible path - one more obviously downhill. Examples are the long one flowing north on that eastern peninsula, and the one flowing north along the isthmus just right of center. Your topography's subtle, but I "read" some of the terrain as going up a bit when you're saying water flows down. Too - think about why some of them have largish looping curves in their upper reaches... if they're detouring around hills or ridges, that's fine, but is that what you're portraying as the ground shape just there?

You're being nicely restrained with the river deltas, sizewise. The landforms are delightful - there's a couple of places I want the franchise to dig a canal, a few other spots where some enterprising fool will build a bridge from island to mainland. Harbors and bays that beg for merchant fleets and warships to protect them (or prey on them... ). Lighthouses - these folks are gonna need lots of lighthouses.

Good stuff! Can't wait to see where you take it.

Originally Posted by jbgibson

Welcome! The boldness to post a map immediately - good form. Then to do so with a creditable first effort - kudos and a pinch of rep ! It looks really nice already. I'm having a hard time believing some of the rivers... if I were water I'd maybe find a plausible path - one more obviously downhill. Examples are the long one flowing north on that eastern peninsula, and the one flowing north along the isthmus just right of center. Your topography's subtle, but I "read" some of the terrain as going up a bit when you're saying water flows down. Too - think about why some of them have largish looping curves in their upper reaches... if they're detouring around hills or ridges, that's fine, but is that what you're portraying as the ground shape just there?

You're being nicely restrained with the river deltas, sizewise. The landforms are delightful - there's a couple of places I want the franchise to dig a canal, a few other spots where some enterprising fool will build a bridge from island to mainland. Harbors and bays that beg for merchant fleets and warships to protect them (or prey on them... ). Lighthouses - these folks are gonna need lots of lighthouses.

Good stuff! Can't wait to see where you take it.

Thanks, jbgibson! I figured I should post a map, since I've been looking at everyone's and following tutorials here. Your advice on my rivers is wonderful. Yeah, my curves are a bit random. Maybe I should put some elevated areas where the curves are, instead of changing the rivers around.

On another note, you are right about trade, lighthouses, etc. I was envisioning a fantasy world rich in trade, but being threatened by some external force. Haven't quite thought it all out yet.

This is really very nice.

Looks good! That's a very respectable rendition of Asc's tutorial, and I'd like to second what jbgibson said above

If you're looking to do hand-drawn style on the PC, there are several good tutorials in the how-to section but you may need to dig a bit for them. My tut (in the sig) is also meant for the PC; it uses gimp, so you may need to tweak it a bit to use it in PS (or download Gimp and give it a shot, it's free). Looking forward to seeing more!