For the last little while now, I've been working on a map for a friend of mine who is writing a novel. Figured it'd be a decent piece to stick in my folio, and I've always wanted to make something similar to his since I was a kid.
I've little idea on how to actually go about making maps, but after browsing through a few on here (and being thoroughly impressed), I decided that it'd be worth a go putting mine up to get some critique from people who know wha they're doing.
The kingdom itself is currently nameless, so I'll be sure to include that in once I actually know what it is.

Here are a few shots of what I've made so far;



This one was made after my friend described roughly how she wanted the countryside to be. Details were vague at this stage and we still hadn't come up with definite names for the towns.




By this stage, we'd come up with a more refined version, changed a couple names, some more details and some locations had been formed.




This is what I've done tonight. It's still not finished, I still have to add a few more landmarks in, and I want to redraw the mountain ranges as they no longer match the rest of the detailings on the map.
Parts of it may also be hard to read at this resolution because it's made primarily to be printed at A4 size.
Depending on what happens, I'll probably make a version that's more web resolution friendly later on.


• Samphire
is a fancy pants coastal city and is also the capital of Annai.
.......... - Upper Class citizens with good and bad motives reside here.
• Averil is a key point for trade between the two provinces - it's also a historical battleground for a war fought between Ashrah and Annai.
.......... - It has no official leaders, but is governed by a mercenary group that commands trade in the area.
• Bryn is a small town that would probably cease to exist if it weren't near a trade route.
• Othoran is basically the city for the criminal underworld.
.......... - Prostitution, gambling, illegal trading and other sly activities happen here. People go here to disappear.
.......... - Due to being on both sides of the river, it makes the rivers mouth a controlled and dangerous place to be going in/out of unless you've got the right amount of cash.
• Ilidás is an inland city and the capital of Ashrah.
.......... - Relatively safe/well natured environment due to steady military presence.
.......... - Because it's inland, it's home to many different races that have traveled across the landscape and is quite cultural.
• Damaris
is a military based (possibly private) city, akin to the Vatican. As far as I know, it helps monitor trade between the southern towns/cities and Samphire.
• Dale is a river based trading town that makes a living via the Averil trading route. It's home to the mercenary organisation that police North and South averil.


So far, I've spent a few hours working on it in total (roughly 6 I think), plus a couple more spent on creating the paper that I've superimposed the map design onto.

Once the names/locations are more finalised, instead of using a font, I'll probably write the names onto paper, scan them in and superimpose them onto the map.

I also have to redraw the mountains, as they no longer suit the rest of the maps style. I'll draw them with a finer point and add some basic shading etc. to them.
Hopefully then it'll start to look really legit.
I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out so far, although I'd love to hear what you guys think. Any suggestions?