My first map! Updates following

[crayonqq]

Hey, thanks for coming by my post. I just registered and wanted to show my first take on mapbuilding.

This is what I've done so far. Scanned in my sketch and started working in Photoshop.

Would love some input! Will update this regularly when I get the time.

Thanks!

[Wingshaw]

Hey Crayon, welcome to the Guild, and congratulations on your first map here. Have some rep for including a map with your first post.

I am assuming you will eventually remove those pale hand-drawn lines, but I kinda hope you don't: I think they look really good with this style, and add extra interest.

Great job with the mountains; you've done a really good job with them. One suggestion to make at this stage: perhaps lower the opacity of the mountain lines, a bit. You could probably cut the layer's visibility down to, say, 70%, and let the colour and shadows do most of the work.

Overall, really impressed with your first map, and keen to see the next update. Also, why don't you tell us all a bit about yourself and this map?

THW

[Chick]

Hello Crayonqq, welcome to the Guild! Nice map, I'll look forward to seeing how you develop it

[crayonqq]

Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate the positive comments.

My name is Lars and I live in Norway. 24 years old and I just started looking into some map building. Primarily because I want to start a campaign in Dungeons and Dragons which I believe some of you guys also might be playing. So the map will eventually be a reference point to where I start my campaign ideas, and I'm gathering a totally new crew that has not played DnD before so this will be interesting.

I started sketching and was actually pretty satisfied with it but I wanted to see if I could take it to the next level. My photoshop abilities is a bit rusty so hang in there!

I am assuming you will eventually remove those pale hand-drawn lines, but I kinda hope you don't: I think they look really good with this style, and add extra interest.

You are correct, sir. I was gong to remove it, but I will hang on to the sketch and see how it looks when it's finished to see the whole picture.

Update will come in the next few hours.

[crayonqq]

Added forests. Not particularly satisfied with them, but I think they'll do the job. Feel free to comment on them and make suggestions!

[Wingshaw]

Hmm, the forests aren't as good as the mountains, in my opinion, but I'm not sure what you can do to improve them. One thing that might work is to include scatterings of trees beyond the forest edge. These could be both single trees, and small copses of trees. It would soften the edges of your forests a bit, I think.

Maybe the other problem with the trees is that the colours are too strong; perhaps if you reduce the contrast a little bit.

THW

[crayonqq]

Hi, again!

Been kind of busy lately, but here's the latest update on the map. Have tried some different ideas about the forest edges. Also reduced opacity on mountain ranges and the forests outlining.
Added towns, garrisons and capitols. Have not yet landed on what kind of landmarks I want to use but these work fine just now. Also added rivers but might be looking to improve them a bit.

Thanks for stopping by again!

Cheers! Here goes:

[Wired]

Probably have your rivers wind a bit more, and make their growth in size from source to ocean more notable. I'd also try a different color for the coastline (something a bit more natural; your other colors look really great and blend nicely), and add some color gradient to your oceans, with darker and lighter spots (coastal waters: light).

[crayonqq]

Thanks for the feedback Wired. What do you mean with "rivers wind a bit more"? Not sure what I will do with them yet, but we'll see. I tried to do some of the things you mentioned and here's what I've come up with so far.

Also added winter (suggestions to not make it that white maybe?) and roads, town names (unfinished).

I'm not sure what do add yet on the southern lands. I'm thinking kind of a desert region but I'm not sure what I want to fill the lands with.

Cheers!

[jbgibson]

Nice mountains- wish I could do that. Colors too. By 'more windy' Wired meant rougher, in a wet way :-). For instance your map is hundreds to thousands of km across, right? At that scale your nicely detailed mountains show indentations and ridges a couple of km across. With that level of detail on one feature type, one's eye expects a like level on others - and rivers that long would jig and jog quite a bit - curves but a couple or a dozen km across. Don't get me wrong - on some styles of map what you show is all the watercourse detail to be expected - just not this style that edges toward the photorealistic end of artistic.

Couple of thoughts - unless that forest to the NW of Haven is To Be Avoided At All Costs, wouldn't a road from there to The Crossroads likely bend a little north through what looks like a pass? Try breaking the white coastline where rivers cross it and see if that doesn't look better. And the south coast has a funky phantom faint white line from Fort Drak to Arpen, onshore and offshore - is that an old coastline on a forgotten layer? Oh - I see from your 1/27 post above - it's a coastal construction line.... I'll shaddup and wait for it to go away later :-).

Good stuff.