New and looking for critiques

[Cloudbourne]

Hello,

I'm going to say I'm new to map making but I have made several maps in the past.
This is the first map I feel came out looking the best.
I used a few tips and tutorials from this site and I'm a bit nervous at my rivers.

So here is my first map that I feel pretty confident in.

Mainland.jpg

[maxsdaddy]

Welcome to the Guild! Kudos for posting a map on your first post. Rep. No critique from me, I'll leave that to the professionals.

[Riggamorphus]

Hello Cloudbourne,

Welcome to the guild. I like the colors and over all presentation of your map! The bigger type is a little wavy or is that your intention? I think your rivers look good. What software are you using? Also, don't be afraid to put them closer together.

rigg


rigg

[Cloudbourne]

Thanks.
I did this all in Photoshop except the text. The text I did in Illustrator.
The curvy text is done purposely, trying to get it to kind of wrap around the land a bit.
My main goal was to make all the text readable.

Thanks for the feed back.

[rdanhenry]

I like the font. Other than going a bit overboard with the wavy text, I'd say it is looking really good.

It wouldn't take long for a name like "Sunsstone" to become "Sunstone", although an older spelling might not keep up with pronunciation.

[Lukc]

The map as a whole seems fine, it's clear and shows what you want to show. BUT: the distortion on the sea text is a bit much - I don't think it really adds much to the map while at the same time grabbing attention and shouting, "Look at me! Look at me!" to the detriment of the rest of the map.

Another thing - you have a Western and Eastern Vale. A vale is, basically, a valley - not usually a feature associated with seas.

[Lukc]

The map as a whole seems fine, it's clear and shows what you want to show. BUT: the distortion on the sea text is a bit much - I don't think it really adds much to the map while at the same time grabbing attention and shouting, "Look at me! Look at me!" to the detriment of the rest of the map.

Another thing - you have a Western and Eastern Vale. A vale is, basically, a valley - not usually a feature associated with seas.

[rdanhenry]

A sea is just a big valley filled with water.

[Lukc]

True, true ... I'm just saying the name is unusual (and causes cognitive dissonance in the unweary peruser of said map) and I wanted to be sure it was on purpose, not accidental

[Saring]

This looks really good.

I do agree with a few of the others though. The Vales were a little confusing. The term typically refers to land.

Also, I don't know if this is just me, but when I zoom in to look at the details, the image pixilates and I have a hard time telling what some of the details are.

Far better than I can do, and great job for a first post.