My first map - Kyrta

[Ascension]

A fairly standard convention is that a man can walk 10 miles a day, horse can go 10 leagues (30 miles). 3 months is roughly 90 days. 90 times 30 = 2700 miles. 4 months is 120 days = 3600 miles. Boston to LA is 2983. Your image is 3000 pixels wide so I would say the scale is about 1 pixel per mile.

Rivers do not split as they go downstream, they join. They may go around a high place or hard rock but they join up again fairly quickly. However, in deltas they do split because they meander all over a flat plane and constantly shift their course. Think of your river backwards, starting at the ocean, as a tree...the delta is the roots, the main trunk is the main river, and the branches are all up near the mountains.

When doing lakes I would suggest first drawing in all of the rivers and then find a few places where it looks like they might pool and put a lake there...small lakes near the mountains and large lakes on the plains. To make a good looking lake, use a cloud brush in Pencil mode. If you don't know where to get cloud brushes, or how to load them into PS, or just don't find any that you like then try this:
1. New layer, fill it with black, using white draw out some rough looking blobby lakes.
2. Filter - Pixelate - Crystallize = 12. Do this again but at 6, then at 3.
3. Image - Adjustments - Brightness/Contrast = max out both.
4. Make black the foreground color. Select - Color Range = set the fuzziness at anything...black will be the color.
5. Hit the Delete key then deselect (ctrl-d).
6. Now you have rough-edged lakes instead of smooth-edged lakes.

Map looks pretty good otherwise, so nice job.

[plamadude30k]

A fairly standard convention is that a man can walk 10 miles a day, horse can go 10 leagues (30 miles). 3 months is roughly 90 days. 90 times 30 = 2700 miles. 4 months is 120 days = 3600 miles. Boston to LA is 2983. Your image is 3000 pixels wide so I would say the scale is about 1 pixel per mile.

For distance and travel time measurements, I look to the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and the usual travel times on that. It's a trail that follows the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges from Mexico to Canada. It's about 2600 miles long, and usually takes 5-6 months to complete. Most people cover around 20 miles a day. However, speed hikers often attempt an extremely light-packed version of the trail, taking barely anything with them, and some average 35-40 miles a day. For horseback, 20 miles a day is apparently considered leisurely (though I'm no equestrian, so take that with a grain of salt), and it seems that a horseback speed of about twice that of walking is reasonable. The record is, I think, just over 66 days walking. When thinking of heroic adventurers on an epic quest, I tend to judge their physical fitness, the distance required, the amount of gear required, and their haste, and use empirical PCT numbers to estimate their travel time.

All of that is to say, Ascension is essentially right; a scale of 1 mile:1 px is probably what you're looking for. I really like the look of this map style, and it seems that you've got it down pretty nicely. Well done.

[Davros01]

Great start!! One thing I would take a look at is the rivers. I'm not sure Ascension is the expert, but the river paths look a bit artificial to me. I would make em meander a bit.

Marc

[Sinnyo]

Great start!! One thing I would take a look at is the rivers. I'm not sure Ascension is the expert, but the river paths look a bit artificial to me. I would make em meander a bit.

I agree, and I wonder if they could do with varying a little more in width as well. Ascension's advice sounds ace, though - rivers as trees; I like.

I like the overall look of your map, and love the colours! I also confess a curiosity as to what lays in that looming, dark crater at the continent's centre...