Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: my first photoshop map (unfinished)

  1. #1

    Default my first photoshop map (unfinished)

    This is a work in progress, so be easy on me.
    I have to add a few things:
    + Names/text
    + A lot of cities, towns, etc.
    + Country borders (maybe)
    + mana nodes
    + whatever else...

    I would love some tips. Mostly I'm concerned if the rivers are realistic or not. This is a fantasy map, but still - I want the rivers to be realistic.

    I used Ascension's tutorial, like so many before me seem to have done. It really is a nice tutorial. I tweaked some stuff for my map - really just playing around with some settings. I guess something I am interested in here that I figured out was how to make a little sprawling city icon. I am interested in fantasy mapping, so I might make those icons a bit more... well... iconic.

    Any suggestions on anything would be great.

    For my next project, I'm wanting to do a regional map in the style of users Gidde and Immolate (maps I've seen on here... I'm sure there are other awesome ones). I really would like to take the handmade map thing and translate it somehow to computer (but I don't have a scanner!). Any advice on how to do that kind of map with a computer would be appreciated. Or just any general advice or further tutorials I should read.

    A big thanks again to Ascension.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	first_map.jpg 
Views:	133 
Size:	2.45 MB 
ID:	34093  

  2. #2
    Guild Expert jbgibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Alabama, USA
    Posts
    1,429

    Default

    Welcome! The boldness to post a map immediately - good form. Then to do so with a creditable first effort - kudos and a pinch of rep ! It looks really nice already. I'm having a hard time believing some of the rivers... if I were water I'd maybe find a plausible path - one more obviously downhill. Examples are the long one flowing north on that eastern peninsula, and the one flowing north along the isthmus just right of center. Your topography's subtle, but I "read" some of the terrain as going up a bit when you're saying water flows down. Too - think about why some of them have largish looping curves in their upper reaches... if they're detouring around hills or ridges, that's fine, but is that what you're portraying as the ground shape just there?

    You're being nicely restrained with the river deltas, sizewise. The landforms are delightful - there's a couple of places I want the franchise to dig a canal, a few other spots where some enterprising fool will build a bridge from island to mainland. Harbors and bays that beg for merchant fleets and warships to protect them (or prey on them... ). Lighthouses - these folks are gonna need lots of lighthouses.

    Good stuff! Can't wait to see where you take it.

  3. #3

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jbgibson View Post
    Welcome! The boldness to post a map immediately - good form. Then to do so with a creditable first effort - kudos and a pinch of rep ! It looks really nice already. I'm having a hard time believing some of the rivers... if I were water I'd maybe find a plausible path - one more obviously downhill. Examples are the long one flowing north on that eastern peninsula, and the one flowing north along the isthmus just right of center. Your topography's subtle, but I "read" some of the terrain as going up a bit when you're saying water flows down. Too - think about why some of them have largish looping curves in their upper reaches... if they're detouring around hills or ridges, that's fine, but is that what you're portraying as the ground shape just there?

    You're being nicely restrained with the river deltas, sizewise. The landforms are delightful - there's a couple of places I want the franchise to dig a canal, a few other spots where some enterprising fool will build a bridge from island to mainland. Harbors and bays that beg for merchant fleets and warships to protect them (or prey on them... ). Lighthouses - these folks are gonna need lots of lighthouses.

    Good stuff! Can't wait to see where you take it.
    Thanks, jbgibson! I figured I should post a map, since I've been looking at everyone's and following tutorials here. Your advice on my rivers is wonderful. Yeah, my curves are a bit random. Maybe I should put some elevated areas where the curves are, instead of changing the rivers around.

    On another note, you are right about trade, lighthouses, etc. I was envisioning a fantasy world rich in trade, but being threatened by some external force. Haven't quite thought it all out yet.

  4. #4
    Guild Master Facebook Connected jtougas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Wales Massachusetts
    Posts
    2,813
    Blog Entries
    27

    Default

    This is really very nice.
    I am the breath of Dragons...The Song of Mountains...The Stories of Rivers....The Heart of Cities.... I am A Cartographer....

    Finished Maps
    Kingdom Of Shendenflar Campaign Setting (WIP)

    Everything I post is free for use and redistribution under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 licence, except where noted otherwise in the thread.

  5. #5
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    3,673

    Default

    Looks good! That's a very respectable rendition of Asc's tutorial, and I'd like to second what jbgibson said above

    If you're looking to do hand-drawn style on the PC, there are several good tutorials in the how-to section but you may need to dig a bit for them. My tut (in the sig) is also meant for the PC; it uses gimp, so you may need to tweak it a bit to use it in PS (or download Gimp and give it a shot, it's free). Looking forward to seeing more!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •