Map of the Twin Kingdoms of Aran and Ilan - Handdrawn

[Eilathen]

To start with, i really liked your satellite map *thumbs up* !

Now as to the new, handdrawn version...to be honest, the mountains look way too big to me. If i look at the rivers and the overall map and your worldmap, i think this part of the world is quite big...not just a little local snippet. Therefore i think the mountains are out of proportion. The ones at the bottom left of the continent are quite ok, i guess...but most of the others are too big to my eyes.
Otherwise, this looks like it will be another good looking map. And the mountains, stylewise, are very well done.

[Caenwyr]

Now as to the new, handdrawn version...to be honest, the mountains look way too big to me.

As a matter of fact I had the same feeling about the mountains. I guess I got carried away by my enthousiasm ;-). After all the bigger mountains are so much richer in texture than the smaller ones, which makes the smaller ridges look almost cheap in comparison. The thing is, I wanted to convey the idea that this central mountain ridge is really, really unsurpassible (except for two mountain passes), but maybe I did indeed overdo it a bit.

Who else thinks my mountains are a tad too big to be realistic? I can always redraw them - it should be fun!

[Caenwyr]

Okay, I did a quick test on the central mountain range. I'm at work now, so I can't use my drawing tablet to add the shading just yet, but I managed to at least recreate the mountain range with smaller mountains. Below you can find the "old" mountains on the left, and the new (as yet unshaded) ones on the right. Let me know which of the two you prefer!



thanks for your comments!
C

[fabio p]

First, I have to say that I really like your mountains, in both versions.

If realism is what you're worried, in my opinion in this kind of maps is actually acceptable that the proportions may be slightly altered: for example, the icons of the city, or the trees are always a little larger than they would be if all was really proportionate.
If it is a matter of general harmony of the map, in my opinion, to decide on the size of the mountains you have to consider how you draw the other elements and what size they will have.