[Very WIP] Sense check my landscape?

[ilm]

Aside from a couple minor corrections I already have in mind, I think I' pretty much finished with the landscape here, and about to begin with roads and cities and stuff. Any glaring mistakes or stylistic faux-pas I need to correct before it's too late? I'm a bit concerned by the tree masses and by how the rivers cut through them, which if you think about it to scale doesn't really make sense. I anticipated doing the same thing with roads but while it'll make them easier to read, it'll make it look like they cleared the land for 20 miles on either side of the road, which would definitely not be the case. How do you think I should handle this? Also: thoughts about the polar regions?

(real map is 10,000 by 5,000 but I downsized a bit to save some bandwidth)

[foremost]

Hello ilm! Kudos for posting a map - I repped you for doing so.

I actually like a bunch of things about your landscape... you seem to have put some thought into the mountain ranges and climates. I guess one thing to think about would be the placement of your forests. I think lush forests would be most likely to grow where there is water. Also, your map might benefit if you could try to add some additional lone-standing trees and thinning out the clumps just a tad. Wouldn't want to have the same consistency of forest throughout, but the clumping thing sort of looks artificial.

You might also reduce the glow of the coastline, but apart from that, I think you're all set! Your rivers (and how they cut through the forests) look fine to me.
Looking forward to seeing the labels and cities on this one.
-foremost

[ilm]

Hey thanks for the feedback! I did start of organically with tectonic places and temperature bands, and just let physics and logic guide me from there (with a few bits of creative license tossed in, and no doubt some mistakes too).

I've given a bit more thought to my river patterns and thinned out the forests accordingly. Once I start putting in cities and roads they'll probably thin down a bit more due to human activities and clearing land for crops and what not.

I also added in the two main deserts and some land colors although I'm not entirely sold yet.

Now to find some good icons for cities and points of interest...

[foremost]

Dunno about you, but I think that looks much better.

Not just because you following suggestion about the forests... the land colors really look nice. Maybe you could add a compass, border, or scale to fill some of the empty sea. A number of cartographers have done funny things (like whales eating mermaids) just to full in the area.

Again, looking forward to seeing what you do next.
Foremost

[jbgibson]

Nice work. I'm gonna go ahead and rep you in case I wander off and lose track of the thread by the time you get done.

New version might be better, but don't worry overmuch about the scale of a river cutting through a forest, for example. ANy map but an aerial photo has to be somewhat generalized, for stuff to be visible. Rivers at this scale for instance would probably be well under one pixel wide. Exaggeration for emphasis or clarity may be tricky, but it's altogether necessary & desirable.