City States Map

[Malika]

Hi there! This is my second ever attempt at a map. It's a fantasy continent, obviously. I don't really have a name for it, I honestly can't think of one, but the premise is it's a Europe sized landmass with three large city states and a number of either independent or dependent large towns. I'm posting this as a WIP because it has no name, and also it's a bit empty. For now I would really appreciate some feedback expertise! Thanks for all the tutorials you post on here, they basically got me started.

fantasymap1.png

[Diamond]

Welcome to the Guild! I like what you've got here - the shapes are pleasing, the colors look good, and nice choice of font. I guess my only nitpick would be that if this is a Europe-sized chunk of land, those aren't really city-states anymore, are they? The borders you've drawn suggest countries the size of Germany or greater.

[feanaaro]

The land seems either to float over the sea or to recede into it. Perhaps adding some more texture to the sea and using a less sharp bevel (if that is what it is) for the land would make it look more natural.

[Malika]

Welcome to the Guild! I like what you've got here - the shapes are pleasing, the colors look good, and nice choice of font. I guess my only nitpick would be that if this is a Europe-sized chunk of land, those aren't really city-states anymore, are they? The borders you've drawn suggest countries the size of Germany or greater.

I suppose not then! The borders were supposed to be rough 'safe zones' rather than land the cities actually owned, but I wasn't really sure how to represent that properly on a map. I might just scrap that idea and have traditional kingdoms though. As you can see, I had some trouble deciding on the scale of things. Also thanks, it's nice to be here.

The land seems either to float over the sea or to recede into it. Perhaps adding some more texture to the sea and using a less sharp bevel (if that is what it is) for the land would make it look more natural.

Thanks, I got the land to a point I'm really happy with so I'll work on the sea. There's no actual bevel, just stroked outlines and places where I've shaded it. I'm not really sure how to add texture to the sea but I'll have a go

[sangi39]

Still running with the city-state idea, to gain a sense of scale, if Aberdell was the size of Belarus, then symbol for "City State" takes up roughly the same area on the map as Homeric Laconia (Sparta) would.

It's worth noting, though, that while individual city-states were fairly small, some of them could have considerable cultural and political influence over their neighbours, similar to the hegemonies of the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues, or they could form more "egalitarian" alliances in the form of confederations. I'm not aware of any grouping of city-states that took up an area the size of Belarus, but something about a quarter the size of Belarus wouldn't be unreasonable

[Coriolis]

One thing to consider: It looks like your water is higher up than your land. If you did this by bump mapping, you may want to consider reversing your height vs depth schemes.

[Schwarzkreuz]

A very nice start. Your colorchoice is fine and do make sense. Keep on

[arsheesh]

A fantastic start, especially for a beginner. Looking forward to seeing this develop.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh