World Map

[offtoruin]

Hello everyone,

I posted in a thread earlier asking a few questions and then I decided to redo everything again anyways. I was going to try and map out mountains/forests/lakes/rivers and etc on the world map but decided to go against it for a few reasons. So instead I did a bare world map (with just continent/ocean names) and I just finished it up. At least I think it's finished. I'm posting it here and asking for some critique's or tips on what I could do better.

This world map is for a brand new PnP game that I've been developing over the past three years and after a ton of beta tests on it, it's getting close to production stages. So I decided it's finally time to nail down the final iteration of the world that goes a long with the PnP system. The main continent is Avanorn and I will be mapping that out on a bigger scale in the future and then doing regional maps of each of it's regions.

So any tips or complaints would help a great deal.

Asmyth-Dar.jpg

[Diamond]

While I like the shapes of the continents, they seem too symmetrically placed, to be honest. You might try rotating some of those continents, moving some closer together and others farther apart, or even doing away with one or two of 'em.

[- Max -]

I agree with Diamond, the locations of islands (or continents) looks too obvious. You could work a bit more on the coastlines too.

[amberroberts09]

I like the the gray effect ....

[offtoruin]

Thanks for the feedback guys, my main concern was the placement of the continents and islands. I draw them in with my Wacom and it's hard to get the coastlines real looking I guess. Is there anyway in photoshop CS5 to create a fractal type effect? I'm still relatively new at using CS5 and don't know all the tools and tricks yet.

Also what about the font used? Should I keep it or find something different for the map? I guess I'm not that sure of the font either.

[Gold]

Is there anyway in photoshop CS5 to create a fractal type effect? I'm still relatively new at using CS5 and don't know all the tools and tricks yet.

I have CS5, and I'm new at digital cartography myself (just joined this site), but I would say YES, you can 'fractalize' the coastline by following OldGuys' tutorial, it seems geared directly towards that, and seems quite easy to follow. Basically uses the Noise function of Photoshop, along with some layer & selection tricks. Here is a link,
http://www.cartographersguild.com/co...oastlines.html

[- Max -]

Not sure of the fonts but it's too early to say. Maybe wait to have terrains to see how it's going

[offtoruin]

Gold thank you posting that link, that will be extremely helpful. I just started redoing the land masses and I combined a few of the landmasses into one. Hopefully when I finish the coastlines and post the new layout it will look a little less uniform.

[offtoruin]

Ok after taking a serious look at the original map I figured it would be best to just restart (again haha). I decided that I wanted to go for a map that looked old/worn and stained. Keep in mind this is a world map and it's meant to be bare (my continental and regional maps will have mountains/forests/lakes/rivers etc). So I believe after seriously redrawing everything out (the world is meant to be a little uniform in it's design, as if everything is being pulled towards the equator line) and adding more diversity in the land masses I believe I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.

WIP1.jpg

[bqueman]

I like the map, it feels like an old treasure map.

Ok after taking a serious look at the original map I figured it would be best to just restart (again haha). I decided that I wanted to go for a map that looked old/worn and stained. Keep in mind this is a world map and it's meant to be bare (my continental and regional maps will have mountains/forests/lakes/rivers etc). So I believe after seriously redrawing everything out (the world is meant to be a little uniform in it's design, as if everything is being pulled towards the equator line) and adding more diversity in the land masses I believe I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.

WIP1.jpg