valahn, a beginner's attempt

[aiRo25]

First off, this is an awesome map! I have no other critiques that haven't been stated.

Second, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do the tutorial. And if you could do one in print vs. video, I would love to read it, because I'm not in an area where I can actually do video too much, but this is exactly the kind of thing I've been worrying over on my WIP: elevation and texture.

If I could rep you, you'd be repped.

[Hoel]

Nice job.
I like the look of it as it is, with a grid, but would like to see it without for comparison.
I'm not the river police, my beef with the rivers are the color, it doesn't quite tie in with the sea.
I must say the style reminds me a bit about a Games Workshops map.

I second the req for a text/pic tut. I like to go over the steps a few times in my own pace, testing different ways to do them.

Cheers
/Hoel

[saithan]

I'm working my way slowly, I been busy trying to develop my own style. I still need to study the tutorials here on river placement. But I did take in as much advice as i could from my first attempt.
something I notice that helps me a lot is to visualize some areas of my word and then create some artistic rendering of that area. example:


The arid lands north of Amoot.

[IMG=http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9265/moorowcopyzw0.th.jpg][/IMG]
Vast fertile grounds north west of Moorow.

[IMG=http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2613/kinsportcopygs2.th.jpg][/IMG]
The cold scrub lands just north of Kins Port (road to the barren wastes).

I was just wondering if any one else approaches map making in a similar way?

[Midgardsormr]

Nope, I've never done anything like that. I've entertained the notion of doing a "bird's eye" view as a map, but that's as close as I've gotten.

This new map is even cooler looking than the last one; I'm not sure what you're trying to develop style-wise, because these look pretty unique and stylish already. I can't recall having seen anything quite like them yet, although your color choices do put me in mind of TheRedEpic. The only thing I might change if this were my map would be to use a narrower stroke on the text. I generally feel that the fill should account for at least 75% of the letterform. That's purely a personal preference, though.

There are still some river issues. Those loops should not occur, for one thing. Try drawing some arrows on your map to indicate which direction the water is flowing at as many points as you can. I suspect you'll find at least two places where the arrows will indicate that the river is running in both directions. It's hard to tell, though, which end is the source(s) on that central river. On the other hand, they look pretty good for road networks.

And just one more thing: Would you mind uploading the images to the forum rather than linking from ImageShack? Use the little paperclip icon at the top of the message box--you can give it the ImageShack url, and the forum will transfer the file to its own server. That way, if you ever decide to clean out your ImageShack account, or IS goes under or something, we'll still be able to see the maps.

[Hoel]

Nice one. I like the style, it's original and looks good. The edge trace can be a bit much in some places, especially in the shallows.
Take a look over the rivers, then I think you might be done

[Gandwarf]

Really cool map and I think you shouldn't tinker too much with it anymore. The only thing you might want to look at are indeed the rivers.

[saithan]

thanks for the great advice,
in that last map those are not rivers as i have been afraid to place them yet. those lines are trade routes (roads) I kept them light. for rivers I have yet to decide how to make them look much less where to place them, though I am raiding the fantastic resources in the tutorial sections of this forum.

[Midgardsormr]

Aha! Well, then never mind--they are perfect if they're trade routes.

[Steel General]

Very nice...since they are trade routes than you might want to consider a different color to lessen the chance of the folks here thinking they are rivers, that's what I thought until I read the last post.

Looking forward to see where you take this.