First map: Unnamed WIP

[Matrim]

So, here we go!
My first WIP/map thread on the board.
I created this map using Gidde's GIMP version of Ascension's Atlas style tut, after having seen Arsheesh's map, which turned out very nice. That, and i need the practice, being a GIMP newbie.
I have yet to put in any names, towns and borders, and i'm thinking about changing the ocean style to something more similar to Tear's Saderan tut, using photoshop.

Not sure about the rivers either by the way. Maybe a bit too squiggly.
And now that I think about it, it's missing forests as well.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter =)

Edit: working title added

[arsheesh]

Hey that's looking great so far!. The detail in the mountains turned out better on your map then they did in mine. I kinda like the squiggly rivers myself. Course if you're not satisfied with them, there are a few scripts and plug-ins for GIMP that RobA and others have made floating around the site somewhere that are particularly helpful for rivers (do a search for: "stroke path with taper," "Tapered straight path," "Fractalize Path," and "Smooth Path" if your interested). Yeah forests are sort of a must, but there's always plenty of time for that later. Your off to a good start though.

Cheers,

-Arsheesh

[Ascension]

If you're using Photoshop then you can always just use my original tutorial but the only the only thing that I see is that the big river in the middle splits...river's don't split and stay split, they join except in deltas. All of the other rivers are fine. Pretty good so far, though.

[Matrim]

First update!
Thanks for the comments guys =)
I had a look at some other rivers (real and made here), and turns out squiggly isn't too bad. I did undo the river split, made a new river somewhat parallel to the original river. Not much left of it now though, since i also added forests, which almost completely covered it up. Maybe if you squint you can spot some curves poking out between the trees
Also redid the ocean, but i still want to finish it off by putting Ascension's ocean tile on the surface to get that cool wavey effect.
And finally, I think I somehow messed up the snowpeaks layer, so i put some in manually

The things I'm not so sure of are the shrubs scattered between the forests, and the grey 'dead' forest in the top left corner...
Let's hear that criticism!

[Ascension]

The forests are weird with the big black thing in them but this is pretty killer lookin. If you have your rivers on their own layer then use them as a mask or selection and then erase in the forests to let the river show through some more. I like to let my rivers peek out from between the trees just a little but not all the way. Very nice work, though.

[Rongar]

That looks pretty damn good!

Makes me seriously want to give that tutorial a whirl too, even though I'm actually not the biggest fan of sat-style maps around here. You may take that as a compliment.

The rivers could be slightly more noticeable though, but that's probably just me.

[Diamond]

Man, that is looking seriously nice. The only thing that looks funky to me is that odd mottling effect between the forests in the west.

[Matrim]

Okay, another update:

- darkened some forests, lightened others, and gave the river a chance to see the daylight (Thanks Ascension! Still tinkering with the darkness of the forests, they're still not exactly the way I want them, but I'm not sure how to improve them now.)
- tried to remove some of the blotting in the landscape (Thanks Diamond!)
- placed Ascension's tile on the sea, for some added realism, and made the sea bottom a little more pronounced because I almost lost the huge unnatural underwater mountain, hehe.
- darkened the rivers and placed a subtle outer bevel on them (Thanks Rongar, and be sure to try the tut! Even if it's just for some new techniques )
- tried my hand at a few beaches on the coast, didn't turn out the way I wanted, but meh, good enough I suppose.
- gave the map a working title.

I think I'm ready for cities, towns, roads etc for the next update, but don't hesitate to give some tips for further improvement of what I've got now

[Diamond]

That looks sweet. Rivers are much easier to see now.

[Steel General]

This is progressing quite nicely, good job so far.