Newland or Nuruwand (first one with labels)

[Drowned Fairy]

This is the second completed map I made based on Jezelf's style.
It took me much longer than what I initially thought. I don't know how long though, since it's separated into three days.

Anyways, what do you guys think of it? Is the font placement good?
Feedbacks would be very great and appreciated.



Edit: Yes, the west and east are flipped. I didn't see anything wrong with it (even when saying it out loud) until a good man told me.

[Sanderling]

I like the overall style and the shape of the landmass, and while the colors seem a little murky to me, they work well in creating a moody tone, almost a Dark Ages feel to the map.

The Spider's River seems a little close to the southern coastline, with no obvious highlands to direct its flow almost due north to join with the Modaer as it does. Without any apparent higher terrain, I'd expect the Spider's River to continue flowing east, or east-southeast, and drain into Sweet Sailing Bay.

As for the font, it's a little ornate to read clearly (the Rivers look like Ribers, Warrland looks like Marrland) and I'm not at all sure about using the eraser brush (or something similar?) to lighten the various hill-ranges to allow for text overlays. The effect doesn't really work for me--partly because it keeps fooling my eye into thinking each range of hills has a flat trench across the centerline. It's unfortunate, because the hills themselves are very nicely done.

I'm also a little confused about the dotted lines in chained loops along the southern and southwestern coasts, which I assume are supposed to be shipping lanes. But they look much more like footpaths made by people walking through grass, rather than the broader courses shaped by sailing vessels, and unless there's some other aspect to the world we're not aware of (lines of magnetic or aetheric force, etc.) I can't see too many ships following these routes.

The compass rose fits perfectly with the style and mood of the map, but the scale bar and the map legend are in a very different style, and the contrast between muted sepia and crisply digital is a little jarring. I'm also not sure what "Warrlandic filth" might be, and while I assume it's something pejorative on the part of the fictional mapmaker, without knowing the history of the world it's a confusing sort of cryptic--all the more so since there's no way to know why some features are "filth" while others are simply forts or towns.

And the notation about "West. Dividing Seas" is also a little confusing. If "West." is short for "Western," the use of the period seems, well, not very period--it's a modern convention which feels out of place on a map which works so hard, and so effectively, to have a Dark Ages mood. And given your comments about the cardinal directions, I'm wondering for whom these seas are Western and dividing--the people of Warrland, or whoever it was who drew up the map?

So, overall I like the color and tone, but there are some details to work out as far as geography and presentation, and you should also consider helping a modern-day viewer bridge the gap into the mind of whoever produced this map in your fictional world.

[Drowned Fairy]

I like the overall style and the shape of the landmass, and while the colors seem a little murky to me, they work well in creating a moody tone, almost a Dark Ages feel to the map.

The Spider's River seems a little close to the southern coastline, with no obvious highlands to direct its flow almost due north to join with the Modaer as it does. Without any apparent higher terrain, I'd expect the Spider's River to continue flowing east, or east-southeast, and drain into Sweet Sailing Bay.

Firstly, thank you for the feedback!
And thank you also for providing more help for the river. Someone also told me that the Modaer River should have escaped to the north or northwest as there were no highlands that would direct it south. I will use yours as well as his comment in preparing for a second version of this map.

As for the font, it's a little ornate to read clearly (the Rivers look like Ribers, Warrland looks like Marrland) and I'm not at all sure about using the eraser brush (or something similar?) to lighten the various hill-ranges to allow for text overlays. The effect doesn't really work for me--partly because it keeps fooling my eye into thinking each range of hills has a flat trench across the centerline. It's unfortunate, because the hills themselves are very nicely done.

I had a hard time picking which fonts to use, and I also didn't have time to hunt for nice fonts, so I just used whatever it was that I had. And yes, I used a soft brush set to 40% opacity to erase the hills, and placed the text there. I didn't know where else to put them, and from the small number of maps I saved to my laptop, they did the same. Then again, that's probably because they didn't use brushes to make them. And not made in this style of colouring.

I'm also a little confused about the dotted lines in chained loops along the southern and southwestern coasts, which I assume are supposed to be shipping lanes. But they look much more like footpaths made by people walking through grass, rather than the broader courses shaped by sailing vessels, and unless there's some other aspect to the world we're not aware of (lines of magnetic or aetheric force, etc.) I can't see too many ships following these routes.

Ah, this one I did to add an 'authentic' feel to it, which magnificently failed apparently. xD
I once saw a map which showed the average routes the UK's ships sailed in during the 17-18th Century, but I didn't have time to save them because it was already late at night that time. I didn't remember them until I read this part of your post, so thank you for that. I shall research more about these deeply.

The compass rose fits perfectly with the style and mood of the map, but the scale bar and the map legend are in a very different style, and the contrast between muted sepia and crisply digital is a little jarring. I'm also not sure what "Warrlandic filth" might be, and while I assume it's something pejorative on the part of the fictional mapmaker, without knowing the history of the world it's a confusing sort of cryptic--all the more so since there's no way to know why some features are "filth" while others are simply forts or towns.

Thank you for that, although it's embarrassing that I forgot where east and west was.
Initially, I decided against adding the scales, because it looked unrealistic (to the map), but decided to let it stay since my knowledge of making the scales look 'old' is ****. As for the legend, would it be appropriate were I to lower the opacity?

The Warrlandic filth, by the way, basically just means that the Warrlandic peoples live there, and is to be avoided because Morelia and the Warrlandic Nations were at war with each other during that time.
There is also the fact that their relationships with the Warrlandics of Newland is very bad, since the Morelians basically just landed there and ignored the fact that the Warrlands already settled that place for 400 years.

Sorry for not including some context, I'll make sure to do this in the future.

And the notation about "West. Dividing Seas" is also a little confusing. If "West." is short for "Western," the use of the period seems, well, not very period--it's a modern convention which feels out of place on a map which works so hard, and so effectively, to have a Dark Ages mood. And given your comments about the cardinal directions, I'm wondering for whom these seas are Western and dividing--the people of Warrland, or whoever it was who drew up the map?

Again, sorry about that. I didn't know that the periods was a modern thing, and never really paid much attention to it.
As for your last question, I don't know whether my answer will fit with it, but here goes.

It's called the Dividing Seas because up north, there's another large landmass, which was, of course, kept apart by the Seas. The people there, due to having no contact at all with other races who came and influenced Halduin (the largerst landmass), was very different culturally, and caused their hate and really hate relationships with the mainland. Hence why the mainland (the majority of them) called it the Dividing Seas.

So, overall I like the color and tone, but there are some details to work out as far as geography and presentation, and you should also consider helping a modern-day viewer bridge the gap into the mind of whoever produced this map in your fictional world.

Thank you so much again for these. Very helpful.
I'll use these and others' tips as I plan to remake them again.

[Chick]

Firstly, thank you for the feedback!
And thank you also for providing more help for the river. Someone also told me that the Modaer River should have escaped to the north or northwest as there were no highlands that would direct it south. I will use yours as well as his comment in preparing for a second version of this map.

Rivers also run east and west, in case he forgot to mention that

In fact, rivers run downhill, always, forever, never up. So you can actually run your river wherever you want it to run, as long as you put some highlands (mountains, hills, etc) around it to keep it flowing downhill.

Even in flatlands, rivers are running downhill, but on very gentle slopes, such in a plain, they also meander around a lot. Rivers in high country, where the slope is steeper, tend to be less meandering.

When I have a client who wants a river in a particular place, I build the mountains and hills around to make the river run naturally. An example here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...0&d=1414787311

When that map was first posted, someone remarked that the river from Big Tern Lake should flow to the nearest seacoast instead of running all the way south to Wheatly Bay. I pointed out that I had added hills and a region name "Golden Highlands" precisely to justify that flow.

Hope this helps

[Drowned Fairy]

Rivers also run east and west, in case he forgot to mention that

In fact, rivers run downhill, always, forever, never up. So you can actually run your river wherever you want it to run, as long as you put some highlands (mountains, hills, etc) around it to keep it flowing downhill.

Even in flatlands, rivers are running downhill, but on very gentle slopes, such in a plain, they also meander around a lot. Rivers in high country, where the slope is steeper, tend to be less meandering.

When I have a client who wants a river in a particular place, I build the mountains and hills around to make the river run naturally. An example here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...0&d=1414787311

When that map was first posted, someone remarked that the river from Big Tern Lake should flow to the nearest seacoast instead of running all the way south to Wheatly Bay. I pointed out that I had added hills and a region name "Golden Highlands" precisely to justify that flow.

Hope this helps

Thank you, that helps a lot. The map is badass, by the way.
I should have thought of the highlands and flatlands first before making the map.

Also, holy ****, can I know what fonts you used?