NOV/ DEC 2014 Lite Challenge: Galaurien Again

[Chick]

Some time back, I posted this map in Finished Maps. I was trying out a new technique I wanted to use for map land and ocean and I thought it came out quite good (the technique, not the map). To make it look like a map, I used PS brush mountains and some other icons on top.






That post brought out a lot of good critique, the most useful these:

TheHoarseWhisperer:

You're right, the colours are nice on this map.

A few suggestions and opinions from me (I'm going to assume, since you mention this is practice, that these are suggestions for your future mapping adventures):
--I like the texture/colour of the seas: perhaps next time you could show a change in water where it approaches coastlines, and on rivers.

--the mountains currently seem to be stuck on top. I think part of the problem is the starkness of their black, and the other aspect is that the land 'beneath' them is the same green as elsewhere.

--additionally, I don't know if that style of mountains suits this kind of map. Mountains depicted as icons on an otherwise topographical-looking map seems disjointed. A better approach, in my opinion, would be if the mountains were shown as if from a satellite view.

--the marbled pattern of greens on the land looks good, but possibly also problematic. At the moment it looks like a painting (which is fine) but from a practical sense, what do the changes in tone mean: does it indicate more/less vegetation, higher/lower altitude? Maps are, fundamentally, about conveying information, and I think the marbled effect looks too random. What if you wanted to add farmland? different types of forest? hills? etc.

--this point actually kinda brings points 2 and 4 together: it is a bit too green. And its green-ness gets in the way of other types of terrain. I'm not sure how easy it would be to start adding deserts, steppes, scrub, or the mountains/farmland previously mentioned.

--there is a tendency towards darkness (especially around Goodley) which can obscure details, if you wanted to include them.

--I'm assuming, as a practice map, you weren't too worried about coastlines/rivers. Just in case, though, I think the rivers should taper as they move away from the coast, and the coastline should be more diverse and rough (the islands in the middle and SE especially look too regular in size, shape, and placement).

--some labels are a bit off: Byne Bay, Withal Bay, Derna Bay. It is probably just that the text is in too large a font. Smaller fonts will let you place the labels better within the feature, and not overlap the land. But then, I'm pretty rubbish at labels, so I can't be too judgemental.

--one last point, and this is a trivial one (and might just be my opinion): do the runes around the edge of the map suit the style/theme of this map? Runes to me suggest Norsemen, and hence wintery terrain; not green and lush, as this appears.

Deadshade:

The colors are really nice.
But like THW above, I Wonder about this mix of CC like mountains and rivers and salellite photo quality textures.

If the style should be a photorealistic map then it'd need also realistic rivers, mountains and fractal coasts.
If the style should bea CC like map then the textures look too random and little informative.

Chashio:

.....your practice map does have a pleasing color palette, though I'm not sure I'd call it truly natural--it's a bit too dark and limited for that--but still nice.

GreatWhiteNorth:

One suggestion I have is to make sure the color of the ocean does not extend beyond the border. It makes it look like your border is sort of just floating in the ocean, when really that is the edge of your map.

In another thread, I asked about and tried my hand briefly at using shaded relief mountains, without a lot of success IMHO. That is still on my list to learn more about.

So for this challenge, I have decided to combine those techniques and redo the Galaurien map, using the original land/ocean technique I developed, shaded relief mountains, and addressing as many of the criticisms as I could.

Cheers,
Cornelia