My Iridesterra Map (Looking for advice)

[Artilisx]

Hello, first post in like 2 years...
I'm making this map for a world-building project. I've remade it at least three times now. While the third one is closet to what I want it still feels incomplete (I haven't put down where physical features are but that isn't it).
The idea behind them is that they look a lot like explosions and while I like it I also wouldn't be bothered to modify it heavily as long as it kept to it. I'm wondering if it's because they don't look "natural" enough or something have not thought of.
Thank you for any advice and have a nice day.

Please don't mind that they are different shades of grays. I have them color-coded so I know which one is which but added a layer to make them look this way.


Side Note: I spelled my name wrong when I first signed up. It should be "Artilitsx" if you refer to me by any name. Thank you and I'll try to fix to not have to bring it up in the future.

[Dimension Door]

Hey Artilitsx! Craters are a great addition to a map, post apocalyptic? I think it would be good to look at actual craters, look them up on google and you’ll see some great ones. If you really like them to look like craters you could think of some light and shadow. (Did you mean craters? Or actual explosions? If so forget what I said)

Besides that I think there is missing some distortion, you’re using a map projection in the background that makes it look like the shaps are floating above the surface. And while I love the splattered look of the shapes there is still a lot of information missing, are these landmasses? Cities? Floating disks in space? If you could provide some more information the advice could be more on point.

[Artilisx]

Hello, Dimension Door
These are landmasses that I wanted to look as if they are explosions. In the lore, they were made using terraforming bombs long ago but I'm still working out the bits and stuff for that.
Is that the information you needed because I can try to provide more if you need it.
Thank you and have a nice day.

[Mapsburgh]

I think what makes the landmasses look like they're floating rather than circular features on the surface, is that they're drawn as circles on the map. Your graticule looks like a Winkel Tripel. If you look at this link, you'll see how a circle gets distorted into an ellipse in different areas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:W...Distortion.svg

[Dimension Door]

I think what makes the landmasses look like they're floating rather than circular features on the surface, is that they're drawn as circles on the map. Your graticule looks like a Winkel Tripel. If you look at this link, you'll see how a circle gets distorted into an ellipse in different areas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:W...Distortion.svg

What Mapsbugh says! I think that if you add that distortion it won’t look like the islands are floating. Maybe some light and shadow as well to indicate the craters will help I think.