Here is my first WIP map here on CG for your consideration, questions, comments and criticisms. It is the first map I have attempted with Photoshop, and later I hope to be adding some more map elements done in Illustrator.

This world first saw life as part of a D&D homebrew campaign from almost 20 years ago, since then it has evolved quite a bit in the form of endless hours of scribbling, note taking, some unpublished short stories and collaborations, as well as a couple major overhauls including one about 5 years ago when I advanced the timeframe to a higher tech level for a GURPS: Transhuman Space campaign. Parts of it I had previously attempted to map out with Campaign Cartographer but said files seem to have been eaten by my old PC, so this project is in part an attempt to recreate them.

Click image for larger version.  Name: Iordanne.jpg  Views: 429  Size: 3.75 MB  ID: 36678

My immediate goal is to create a solid base map from which I can make any number of others in a modern(-ish) atlas style. While magic does exist, I'm aiming for landforms that, at least superficially, give the appearance of having been formed through natural processes. The planet was originally heavily terraformed into a sort of post-Ragnarök Eden. Unfortunately, the tech civilization that has evolved has managed to damage the terraforming controls keeping the planet stable and the planet is starting to revert back to its original icy state. Silly humans.

Current list of things to do:

Add some variation to the base biogeographical regions (it's just a simple gradient at present).
Add forests, rivers and mountains.
Figure out and place the names for all the major land forms that I don't already know the name.
Work on the bathymetry.

Big thanks to all the great tutorials that got me this far. A couple that really helped me on my way were Ascension's PS Atlas Style and Tear's Saderan Tutorial. Both are awesome examples of Photoshoppery goodness. Also, an honorable mention to Arsheesh's GIMP Map Borders tutorial, which I was able to translate to Photoshop and made some very cool looking borders which, alas, did not really go with the map style I was aiming for. But I'm sure I'll use them at some point.

Cheers all and thanks!