WIP - Elor

[Dorgrin]

Hey everyone!

As I mentioned in my intro post, I've been lurking CG for a long time now (on and off as time allows), and absolutely love the community here. I am currently working on a broad world building project for a custom D&D setting I'm making. As part of that, I'm developing one of the main continents, named Elor. I've attached the map in its current form - it is very, very far from finished, merely an outline of the landmass. Land is white, water is off-grey. The rotated form (on the left, with the bulk of the landmass at the bottom rather than on the left) is what I'm thinking of moving forward with due to climate considerations, the other is the original orientation it was drawn in.

I would absolutely love any feedback or suggestions you might have for the map, particularly as regards its coastlines and island placements. I am currently considering climate and mountain ranges - I haven't decided whether to make the continent mostly consistent in its climate, or to add some snow in the north or south. The landmass is approximately 12,000KM long, so a transition from polar climate (in the south) through temperate, sub-tropical, tropical and back to sub-tropical might be the way I go.

The map originally started with a rough outline drawn if Photoshop of the main landmass. Then, using clouds, layer masks and the brush tool, I sculpted the general outline of what I wanted - this is how most of the outer islands were born - and then went around and fixed the coastline to minimise mistakes when tracing later (the PSD was 6000x6000 @300DPI). From there, I moved into Illustrator and traced the image, providing the smoother outline along the coast, and fixed some minor errors that cropped up in the tracing process (paths doing weird things mostly). I have yet to decide if I will continue with the map in AI or move to AutoCAD for some more precise drawing (it'll depend on how good the export is and whether I can achieve the same in AI). I intend to use AI and PS to bring colour to the map when it's finalised, but that's just the plan.

Anyway, that's it for now. Let me know what you think, and I'd love any suggestions you might have!

[Chick]

That's a nice job for a starter, Dorgrin! I personally like the left hand map with the landmass at the bottom, and if you plan to put in an arctic climate zone, you will not lose as much land to the ice as you would in the right hand map.

The one lonely island way out in the middle of the central sea looks a bit funny. Islands are either near shore or part of a chain (such as over a hotspot like Hawaii). You can of course put them wherever you want for your purposes, but you might consider making a long chain of island across the central part of the big expanse of sea.

On the other extreme, if the landmass is 12K km, then some of those lakes are pretty gigantic.

Another consideration is that you may want to leave a corner or two not so tightly filled, to have room for a title and legend later.

Those are the first few things that came to mind when I looked at this. Overall, I'd say nice job, especially for a first map post. I'll look forward to seeing what you can do with it

[jbgibson]

Welcome, Dorgrin! Same thought as Chick's but phrased differently - you have a bit of the 'fill up the sheet of paper' malady. Dunno if it's true for Illustrator, but an 8000x8000 canvas where the outer 1000 pixels is mostly blank often doesn't take up much more filespace than your present 6kx6k view. Then if you've allowed for a bunch of margin you'll feel more free to 'draw outside the (inner) box'. After all, your people deserve enough ocean to do some sailing too, right? :-)

Isolated island? Well, then there's the Prince Edward Islands.... and other equivalent specks in the middle of nowhere.

[Chick]

Ah, but if you are talking about the South African Prince Edward Islands, they are part of a chain due to a hotspot volcano, just like Hawaii. All those isolated islands out in the middle of the sea are (or were) over hotspots where an underwater shield volcano is forming them as the tectonic plate moves across the hotspot. Some manage to stick up above sea level and are called islands, the rest are seamounts.

[jbgibson]

Cool - thanks for sending me off on that rabbit trail, Chick. I knew the general mechanism of a lava hotspot, and that the Hawaiian chain is an example, but i had no idea our planet has (had) So. Very. Many. And to boot, I know know a new word - "magmatism".

Valiantly trying to return the subject to the original poster and not TOO much hijacking the thread -- so Dorgrin, take a look at that Wikipedia article I link to, and figure how you could make an isolated island plausible (maybe there's adjacent subsurface seamounts from old volcanic activity). It's also a rationale for other volcanism not associated with tectonic trench/ subduction/ ring of fire type activity. Say, "Tolkein's Erebor" ? :-)

Because when you get right down to it, finding a pleasing set of coastlines is just part of your worldbuilding effort - then there's mountain ranges, climate zones, drainage patterns, and a thousand and one other enjoyable diversions. Unless for you the worldbuilding is a means to an end, and to be skimped on? If so, then by all means make it pretty and/or useful, and enjoy whatever you make. 'Cause if you like it, it's good.

[Ascension]

I'd take the right side pic and turn it upside down because those finger-looking things remind me of fjords. I'll second JB in that your landmasses all follow the edges of the paper. Think outside the square. Well, inside I guess, but think unsquare. The main landmass can be made into a crescent instead anf the islands can be moved away from the edges. Think Rorshach ink blot crazy but without the reflected image aspect.