Another attempt at a world map

[AlexSchacher]

Wow, excellent color palette!

Thanks!

Can I ask where this tutorial is?

http://www.cartographersguild.com/re...tail-some.html

[Pixie]

I second that - it's a beautiful color palette.

[AlexSchacher]

Now Ive finished the lower half of the heightmap for one of the large continents. I havent put mountains on, but the brownish areas are where mountains would lie. Im not sure if I'm spreading out mountain ranges too evenly across the continent, whereas earth is alot more asymetrical, with much bigger flat areas. What do you guys think? Too many mountains/not enough flat sealevel areas? I like what Ive come up with, but I dont know how unrealistic looking it is.

Also, the biggest brown area will not actually be filled with mountains, but more of a high and mostly flat plateau.

[lomedhel]

Looks great, the coloring and everything.

I havent put mountains on, but the brownish areas are where mountains would lie. Im not sure if I'm spreading out mountain ranges too evenly across the continent, whereas earth is alot more asymetrical, with much bigger flat areas. What do you guys think? Too many mountains/not enough flat sealevel areas?

I feel like there's too much mountains. It could be a feature of this world, it could be quite young and have had little erosion. I really like where the ranges lie, though. You know, when I look at this, I can't help but think of a huge pool of lava, that has been whisked and frozen. That would explain the weird/absent tectonics as well. Pondering on this, the contintents would lie where the moon has twisted off the planet... Sorry, I'm getting carried away.

Anyhow,

From looking at earth heightmaps, all you can really see are the biggest mountain ranges sticking up and thats about it. Anyway let me know what you guys think.

Maybe that's your answer. Unless those huge ranges are simply plateaus?

[AlexSchacher]

I feel like there's too much mountains. It could be a feature of this world, it could be quite young and have had little erosion. I really like where the ranges lie, though. You know, when I look at this, I can't help but think of a huge pool of lava, that has been whisked and frozen. That would explain the weird/absent tectonics as well. Pondering on this, the contintents would lie where the moon has twisted off the planet... Sorry, I'm getting carried away.

The world is supposed to be young, yes, maybe ten thousand years old at the most. I haven't figured out what exactly yet but the world is definately created by a god/gods or something so having it be a lava world and whisked as you said and kind of frozen into stone, as if you had a stormy ocean with big dips and waves and froze it instantly in the shape that it was, i really like that idea. I also like the idea that the formations of the land physically show where the moon/moons twisted off the planet. I love both of those ideas, thanks for the input!

I think I am mostly comfortable with having a very mountainous world. It is fantasy anyway, and it makes for something a bit interesting/different than what has been done before to a certain degree.

[Meshon]

Wow, just started checking out this thread, you have a great looking map coming. I especially like the land shapes; I immediately thought of Izanami and Izanagi churning the ocean with the Heavenly Spear to make the first land. And Japan is significantly mountainish, I don't think you have to worry about your topography. Er... geography. Ehhh, some technical term that I don't know. Height maps, I'll say.

cheers,
Meshon

[AlexSchacher]

As I haven't really been able to figure out what elevation my heightmap represents, I decided to take a map of earth and convert it into a 10-level heightmap that I will use for reference while building my own heightmap with the same levels/colors. The heights are a pretty rough estimate, but I think it should be fine for my purposes. If anyone sees any blaring problems with the levels Ive denoted on earth, please let me know. I am aware that the sealevel is slightly lower than it should be, but like I said, this is very rough and is just to help me get a rough estimate of where my height levels will go. Also note that these levels do not correspond to the heightmaps I have recently posted, I have yet to go back and adjust those to match earths. I may have to redo some or all of my own heightmaps.

[Pixie]

Nice looking and useful. Creating a thorough heightmap like this one for an imaginary planet, though, is a huge task.

[AlexSchacher]

Nice looking and useful. Creating a thorough heightmap like this one for an imaginary planet, though, is a huge task.

Yeah I agree, it will be quite the task. But I find it enjoyable, and I really want to get indepth with every detail of every concept of this world.

Here is my first new heightmap area done, next to northern New Zealand, which I used for reference. Still haven't perfected the art yet, but I feel like its a big step up from my last few images.

One thing I realized as I was doing this, though, is that you can make out some river basins/ravines in the heightmap. I haven't done my rainfall yet, so I haven't been able to figure out where most rivers will form and won't form. But, I feel like I need a good heightmap in order to accurately predict rainfall. So its a bit of a conundrum.

[AlexSchacher]

Okay, heres an update on the how the heightmap is going. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.