First Map

[anth0ny]

I'm not too sure if this is the place to post this kind of thing, but here goes. I recently made this map(please don't laugh, I'm very new to this) i would like some constructive criticism on what I'm doing right or wrong, how I could improve.

(And I also have trouble with towns and cities on maps)

[Abu Lafia]

Hi anth0ny, welcome to the guild. I think your map looks really nice! The mountains, hills, cliffs and the canyon are fine in my view, as are the forests. Maybe you should explain more what kind of trouble you have with the towns/cities. I actually like them how they are . The one (and from my view only "real") problem are your rivers. They usually don't "fork" (?) on their way to the sea. There is a thread in the Tutorial Section where you can find all things about "How to get your rivers in the right place". Otherwise the River-Cops might catch you .

[anth0ny]

Thank you for the feedback, I'll make sure to visit that thread. Don't need a criminal record. And my problem with the towns/cities is that they look sorta forced, and not very realistic.

[Abu Lafia]

Doing city-icons for a map myself atm, i totally understand your worries. I think it's always good to keep the quote from Korzybski in mind: "The map is not the territory". Maps are always an abstraction of the reality/territory, otherwise they'd be pretty useless (and not too handy, as Borges' "Del rigor en la ciencia" illustrates very nicely ) So it's (maybe first of all) a question of the purpose of the map, how to depict a city or any element on it. The scale and shape of cities on regional maps (if they are depicted as cities, with a city-wall, houses, castle, etc.) is usually not realistic, otherwise it would be hard to find them . Or do you think they are not very realistic, because they do not look like the city as it is in the "real" fantasy world you imagined (the people on the island you made a map of actually live in tents not in stone houses for example)? One could of course always argue that one element doesn't fit stylistically with the rest of the map and that makes it look "forced".
That's just my two cents as a pretty unexperienced mapmaker myself. Sorry for the textwall, those philosophical questions about mapmaking always trigger my synapses
Cheers,
AL

[Korash]

Howdy anth0ny,

I moved your post to the Regional Mapping WIP forum because this is where people go when they want to look over maps in progress and possibly offer C&C.

Yeah, Abu is right about the rivers. The best way that I have found for explaining how rivers work is to think of them as trees, with the high branches being the sources up in the highlands, gathering together and getting larger as they go on their way to the ground (the sea). The roots of the tree, when exposed, would form the deltas in places where there is a slow flow and silt heavy river.