First attempt FT + Photoshop

[Redrobes]

Yes, I concur, that is some amazing work for a first attempt. Really nice in many many ways.

If I had to crit it then I would say that the fade for the beach aqua colour to the sea colour is quite severe such that for the continental view it looks like its outlined. That makes it appear to visually 'float' over the sea.

Cities and man made stuff is the hardest part of mapping in my opinion. My only tips there is to think about the way a city or town might have evolved and put in those elements first and then build out from it. I.e. for your city in the second map it would have likely been driven by fishing so that the road network next to the sea would be complex and then the paths would exit out the back of the town where carts and so on might have made roads then houses form along those roads etc. You have them (well the field pattern) drawn as a kind of gridded pattern which is very unlikely and would indicate an overall town planning effect taking place. This only really happens in cities that have been demolished and rebuilt or where a whole new town was constructed in one go with a powerful governmental direction driving it. My only real suggestion is to look at google maps and find some similar looking places in a country with similar technology / wealth rating to the one your planning to draw and note some of its features. The fields would follow the roads of the town or the geography of the terrain.

I have given you rep so you have a little green pip next to your name now. Well done for these maps.