My first map (so far)...what think ye, guildmasters?

[raindog308]

This is an update of the map I posted earlier.

I've got the vegetation done. Decided not to do an "arctic north". The scale has also been changed...I'm thinking this is 2900 miles wide by 2400 high. The lat/long lines are reasonably correct (spaced at 69 miles).

The title will probably be something like "the Northwest Sea" or something, to show that this is a partial world map.

This is really the first map I've done and I more or less followed the Saderan tutorial. A few changes were:

• I first made the rivers using the pen/stroke method, but I found that later vegetation could cover them up. So instead I took that layer and did some work to cut it out of the land instead. So the ocean shows through and the vegetation layer does not intersect with the rivers.
• I obviously used a different ocean...the shelf is vaguely Ascension Atlas style and the ocean itself is blurred chromed clouds.
• For the desert, I brushed in a "beach sand" texture I got.
• I also brushed some hard rocky areas fairly heavy.

The source PSD is 7050x5850 pixels @ 300 (for 24"x20" printing). I shrank it to 1200x1000 for this post.

I would be happy to hear any critiques! The vegetation was probably the most difficult area for me.

[landorl]

It looks good so far. I think that the mountain areas might need to have a different color because it looks a lot like desert.

[Soixante]

Agreed on the mountains...something more rock-colored might be good. Though not all of the mountains need be the same colour/texture, of course. Other than that, looks good. How about posting a larger resolution version so we can see some more detail?

[raindog308]

Thanks for the response. I've learned a lot by following the tutorials but have realized one can't just follow them literally. The Saderan tutorail works if you want a map like Saderan, but mine is different so I tweaked it a bit.

Here is the improvement! Mountain color is a better darker brown and the tundra in the north has improved. I added a few more touches and a name, compass, and scale. Hopefully this isn't too big but Soixante asked for larger resolution ;-)

[Aval Penworth]

Looks quite good so far. Lets see the labels.

21 mile grid? curious.

[raindog308]

The grid is due to Lat/Long on the Earth being 69 miles per degree at the equator...round up that's 70. So each square is 70 miles...hence 210/420. I think I may just modify either the grid or scale because several people have asked about that ;-)

[raindog308]

Hmmm, didn't really increase the resolution...must be the forum software. Well the 2000px-wide version is here.