Earen - A Work In Progress

[philipstephen]

this is a great map... one of the best hand painted looking maps on the site.

I think the mountains in the south look great, as does the forest texture in the bottom area.

the only thing i could think of to improve it in my mind is to add a bit of variety to the shape of the border of the forest.

I am picturing civilizations developing in that area and cutting swaths through the forest... clearing land for farms and building forts and ships and the like...

maybe forming a road to Galeah in the north with several settlements between it...

and perhaps a few natural clearings and larger openings in the forest canopy, with a lake or two in them?

That sense of variety of landscape might jazz the southern portion of the map up a bit.

but the colours and textures of your features are brilliant!

phil

[megrim]

this is a great map... one of the best hand painted looking maps on the site.

I think the mountains in the south look great, as does the forest texture in the bottom area.

the only thing i could think of to improve it in my mind is to add a bit of variety to the shape of the border of the forest.

I am picturing civilizations developing in that area and cutting swaths through the forest... clearing land for farms and building forts and ships and the like...

maybe forming a road to Galeah in the north with several settlements between it...

and perhaps a few natural clearings and larger openings in the forest canopy, with a lake or two in them?

That sense of variety of landscape might jazz the southern portion of the map up a bit.

but the colours and textures of your features are brilliant!

phil

i took some of your suggestions and applied them to the map... here is an updated version:

[philipstephen]

Looks great!

Now maybe a winding river or two that flow from those southern and eastern mountains to connect with those lakes and eventually wind towards the sea.

I think that would jazz up the south a bit more.

Phil

[megrim]

Looks great!

Now maybe a winding river or two that flow from those southern and eastern mountains to connect with those lakes and eventually wind towards the sea.

I think that would jazz up the south a bit more.

Phil

Like This?

[Karro]

Except for one little problem: you've got multiple rivers coming out of the lake, and splitting downstream as they go to the ocean. This is a pretty irregular and typically unnatural occurence, outside of a few specific instances (like river deltas).

[megrim]

Except for one little problem: you've got multiple rivers coming out of the lake, and splitting downstream as they go to the ocean. This is a pretty irregular and typically unnatural occurence, outside of a few specific instances (like river deltas).

what would be a natural course of rivers based on my map then, i rarely draw rivers and you can see why

[Karro]

Well, in the south you have some rivers coming from the mountains and collecting into the large lake. That's pretty good, there. Exiting the lake, however, you'd usually only have one river, connecting to the sea. You have two, so I would just pick one - whichever was the more important. (If neither seems important, pick randomly.) Then, both of those rivers split. It's hard to tell what the scale of this is but rivers tend not to split before rejoining the main channel in a relatively short distance. (Water likes to take the quickest and easiest path downhill.) So, I'd probably pick only of the branches coming off those rivers to keep as well.

In the north you've got some things going on as well. You've got headwaters in the mountains, but it splits relatively quickly, and then many times. Rather, you'd more likely have several headwaters forming small rivers at the mountains that come together as they flow toward the sea. Then you might have another river that forms elsewhere in the mountains and either flows to the sea independently, or joins the larger river further downstream.

You also have a particularly straight river shooting straight from the mountains heading westward. To my mind, this looks like a man-made channel or canal, given its relative straightness. If that were the case, though, you'd probably have large cities/ports at either end.

In the southwest you've also got some strange-looking rivers, but not sure how to fix those. They don't flow from the mountains, but seem to connect the southern sea with the island-filled channel. Again, doesn't look natural, but I don't know how to fix it, since I'm not sure what it's purpose is.

[megrim]

Well, in the south you have some rivers coming from the mountains and collecting into the large lake. That's pretty good, there. Exiting the lake, however, you'd usually only have one river, connecting to the sea. You have two, so I would just pick one - whichever was the more important. (If neither seems important, pick randomly.) Then, both of those rivers split. It's hard to tell what the scale of this is but rivers tend not to split before rejoining the main channel in a relatively short distance. (Water likes to take the quickest and easiest path downhill.) So, I'd probably pick only of the branches coming off those rivers to keep as well.

In the north you've got some things going on as well. You've got headwaters in the mountains, but it splits relatively quickly, and then many times. Rather, you'd more likely have several headwaters forming small rivers at the mountains that come together as they flow toward the sea. Then you might have another river that forms elsewhere in the mountains and either flows to the sea independently, or joins the larger river further downstream.

You also have a particularly straight river shooting straight from the mountains heading westward. To my mind, this looks like a man-made channel or canal, given its relative straightness. If that were the case, though, you'd probably have large cities/ports at either end.

In the southwest you've also got some strange-looking rivers, but not sure how to fix those. They don't flow from the mountains, but seem to connect the southern sea with the island-filled channel. Again, doesn't look natural, but I don't know how to fix it, since I'm not sure what it's purpose is.

i suck at rivers i really do XD feel free to drap ontop of the map where the rivers might seem to fit...

[Karro]

i suck at rivers i really do XD feel free to drap ontop of the map where the rivers might seem to fit...

I don't have something to draw with, here at work.

But... oops, you erased the parts of the rivers connecting to the mountains. As mountains are usually the sources of the rivers, you want to put those back!

What you'll want to take out is some of the downstream branches (flowing away from the mountains and toward the sea) where the rivers split and go in multiple directions toward the sea.

[megrim]

I don't have something to draw with, here at work.

But... oops, you erased the parts of the rivers connecting to the mountains. As mountains are usually the sources of the rivers, you want to put those back!

What you'll want to take out is some of the downstream branches (flowing away from the mountains and toward the sea) where the rivers split and go in multiple directions toward the sea.

i give up XD