Orov - First map

[Brand]

First of all, I'm highly impressed by the support and unity of this community. It helps me feel more comfortable posting this.

This is my first map, and I'd love to get feedback on things I can do to make it better. I really have no art talent at all, so that hurts, but I have a passion for maps... and that helps. (;

Well, I'll start by baring my soul... Be gentle!



The map was made using GIMP. No tablet.

I used Ascension's Atlas style tutorial...

My hills looked really spotty, so I dropped those layers.

I also have a particular weakness in the realm of rivers and can't ever seem to get them right...

I'd love feedback on better ways to create the snow. The northern area I ultimately want to do a zoomed in map of, but I couldn't figure out how to make snowy territory that didn't look completely washed out.

I'm also very interested in ways to make my desert in the southeast more interesting.

Thanks for any and all help!

[Neyjour]

Welcome to the Guild, Brand.

I'm not familiar with the style/tutorial you're using, but these are a few things I noticed that I hope will help:

* The first is the cropping. Did you crop a portion of a larger map to show us an example? If not, I'd suggest expanding the left/right/bottom edges so your landmasses aren't cut off.

* Your mountains and hills look good to me, but in a few spots (of the left finger and the central island) your mountain/forest layer has some straight, cut-off pieces that don't blend into the rest of the terrain.

* For the desert, I like the higher contrast of the mountains on the right, but the darker yellow on that portion doesn't look as good (IMO) and lacks the subtle texturing of the desert on the left (and the smaller islands).

* The most noticeable problem with your frozen north region is the colour (and base textures showing through). It looks like your base texture for the whole landmass was the green/forest texture, with the wintery texture/layer laid on top? And with the low opacity, that green texture (most noticeably the forest) is showing through. You can either try increasing the opacity (making the white more solid), or erase the forest in that section and change the colour of that base texture (in that region only) to a very subtle grey or blue-ish tint.

Overall, I think you're off to a good start. It's just a matter of tweaking textures/layers and colour.

EDIT: I also noticed a circular cut line of what seems to be the forest, on the right finger.

[Brand]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll take a stab at some updates and post a revision.