WIP mapping style advice needed

[ukie]

Just a new landscape style I was working on. It is work in progress so any advice or critique is very welcome,

[ukie]

Update added rivers:

[ukie]

Not one opinion?...

[Chick]

Hi Ukie,

I think sometimes people get busy and unless there is something very specific wrong, don't take the time to post much. So to remedy that, I'll post what I was thinking earlier but didn't say ....

Your map has great coastlines, the rivers are all in the right places, the colors are very bright but attractive.

My only criticism is that I think you should remove the texture from the rivers, and maybe add some to the ocean.

It's a nice start, and I hope you take it further!

[ukie]

FINALLY Thank you really appreciate it. Just wanted to post a new update. Next step - fix rivers and oceans.

[Chick]

Nice, I love the little icons! You might try making the colors a little more unsaturated (not so bright and vivid). The vivid color contrasts are a bit jarring when you first look at it.

[Midgardsormr]

It's got an interesting plastic look to it. I agree with chick in part. I think the land colors are fine where they are, but the ocean blue is overwhelming. Partly because there's just so much of it, partly because it's bright, and partly because it's flat instead of textured.

I think you should mix a little bit of color into the highlights on the mountains and hills so they don't look quite so shiny. Right now I get the impression that they're covered in Saran-wrap.

Overall, the strong bevels and cartoony icons make me think this map would be well suited to a game by Nintendo.

[ukie]

My idea was to make it closer to realistic overhead shot (sun reflecting on mountain range). What would you recommend for taking the glow out? THe best option I guess would be to put it through Wilbur but I find it hard to control river directions and height I get some very unrealistic flow. Here is another optional take on mountain style and icons:

[ukie]

Update tone down colors. Replaces few icons. Next step rivers...

[Midgardsormr]

It isn't the brightness so much as the saturation, or lack thereof. On a small scale, reflected light from most objects is white, but at this scale, you wouldn't actually be seeing a reflection. Instead, you'd see the diffuse color of the mountain or hill. It should be the same hue as the shadowed side, but brighter. From the look of the noise, I guess that you're using Gimp? I don't know the tools there, but it should be possible to choose the highlight color of a bevel or bump operation. It probably defaults to white with a screen blend mode, but you should be able to change it.

The improvements are looking good.