First Galaxy Map/Story

[AnthonySalvatoreErcolano]

So I've been rolling around ideas for awhile about a sci-fi story and decided to finally put them on a map. I'm relatively new to map building and have almost zero skills as an artist and I was hesitant at first to try and build a map because I REALLY didn't want to see how bad it would be, but eventually I said what the heck and threw myself into Photoshop to see what would come out. Days turned to weeks as I struggled to wrap my mind around the intricacies of the simple brush tool and such, and after a couple of takes I finished with this map. The hardest part of course was making the background galaxy, the rest was relatively easy to do. I want to learn how to impose a more artistic perspective on the map, right now I feel it looks too machined and basic. I really don't know if Photoshop is a good program to use to create maps or if I'm just an artistic dunce that needs more practice. Any feed back would be extremely welcome, because after all you guys are the greatest cartographers around. So anyways here's a brief description of the story so y'all know what the heck your looking at; (This is extremely long)

This is a map of the Creator galaxy, or more commonly known as the Milky Way galaxy. The galaxy is controlled by a race of proto humans known as the Creators, who were dubbed that name by the Kirbinians. The Kirbinians are a race of beings that inhabit an entirely separate galaxy within the galactic neighborhood as the Creator galaxy. The two galactic super powers existed in total isolation of each other until a distress signal was received by a Kirbinian deep space platform from an unknown source. The signal was sent back to the NMC High command who in turn sent it back to the Kirbinian High Clansee and a grand council convened to determine what to do about this signal. The message received was a distress call from a planet known as Earth deep inside of the Creator galaxy. The planet was in a desperate position as nuclear war enveloped the world and was now fast becoming uninhabitable. The message continued to state that the Human governments appealed to the Creators but were turned a cold shoulder by their masters and now they were looking elsewhere for assistance. The Kirbinians, being supremely opportunistic, jumped at the message. Not only would they helped the Humans, but this could be an excellent chance to launch a guerrilla campaign against the Creators to secure more galactic territory to expand their wealth. The plan was to send their main war fleet and a support fleet to Earth and from their they would break off, the war fleet would spread out and engage key targets in the Nordian sector and work their way to Posidieon, the Creators capital world. The Support fleet would divide in half, one half would begin the evacuation of the Humans of Earth back to the Kirbinian galaxy, and the second half would follow the War fleet to maintain control of the planets that were attacked. The plan was executed to the T, the Kirbinians made it to Posidieon with their fleet intact and drove the Creators off of the aquatic world. The victory was short lived though as they underestimated the speed in which the Creators would be able to launch a counter offensive and the planets that were so recently captured by the Kirbinians were now under siege by the Creators. Now the Kirbinians fanned their War fleet out, protection key targets and trying to keep the Creators at bay. Whilst the galactic war was ensuing, other regions under Creator control saw an opportunity to break free from their control. So, formerly pacified galactic regions broke off from their control, as the Creators were tied up with the Kirbinian offensive. Years passed of long and bloody Galactic campaigning, with neither side gaining or loosing much. Within the first few years the Kirbinians were able to capture much of the former Creator territories but couldn't complete total victory. The map you see now is the current state of the Creator Galaxy with all of the individual kingdoms that declared their independence.




So as you can see I like to write a lot... Back to the point, feedback would be awesome thanks for bearing with me whilst I droned on at the keyboard but I get excited, which then leads to me getting carried away, and then y'all are left with a novella to read through.

[Ilanthar]

I always enjoy a galactic map!

I would add a line with no/less transparency around each zone, with the same color code to make the borders more obvious and clean. And why not use a star logo or something more fun for the differents systems?
You already have a functional map and a solid story background, so, just suggestions!

[tilt]

First of all, welcome to the guild, lovely to see your first map. ... Photoshop is a wonderful tool for mapping, but the learning curve is a bit steep, but it looks like you're already good on your way. When you're ready to tackle your next map remember you can make a WIP-thread in here for help and critique while you work

[AnthonySalvatoreErcolano]

Thanks! Will do I'm working on another one as we speak, I look forward to uploading the first version to get some of y'all feed back!

[AnthonySalvatoreErcolano]

Good ideas, I'll go back and incorporate them! Thanks! Got any goods suggestions on how to create a good backdrop for the galaxy? Like some sort of star field? I've been playing around with the noise functions but they just aren't giving me the depth I want.

[Josiah VE]

I've hardly done any of this stuff but I've tried this before, and it was very effective for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czhJfC1SuU0