First Map

[xiledsavior]

I've never made a map before (Except random sketches of what I sorta visualize, so please go light on me, I'm not completely done, but I'm not sure how it looks right now. C&C please?

[Steel General]

Looking pretty nice, like the color scheme.

...however...

You have some pretty major river violations. This is a fairly common mistake for new map makers (I did it myself any number of times). Rivers rarely split as they find there way to the sea/ocean/etc. Generally they converge as travel from the high to low. Also a lake may have several 'sources' but almost always has only one outlet.

That being said, if you have a reason for the rivers being the way they are then by all means ignore that last paragraph.

[xiledsavior]

What would you say the best method to fix this is? I would like it to be accurate as possible. I used layer styles etc, so it's not too huge of a deal to modify it, but I'd prefer to lose as few rivers as possible. Maybe if I make some of the lakes smaller and add more lakes to be the source for the other rivers?

[Feralspirit]

Yeah, don't be upset be river criticisms. I'd almost bet any beginning cartographer has made them. I had huge river issues for years (oh, so many moons ago). That being said, I think you may have to redo your existing rivers, I don't think your proposed solution is going to fix what you have there. Try searching the tutorials forum for rivers, and river placement. There is some heavy duty reading there, but it will add a great deal to your map to have your rivers looking right.

Welcome to Guild, BTW, .

[Korash]

Gotta say that, like SG, I like the colours and style of the map.

About those rivers though, it looks like they all have the same source. I would try to see if there are any mountains along or around some of the rivers and try to source them from these. Also they do not have to meet at a lake either.

My suggestion would be to redirect some of these rivers to other sources. Have more than the two rivers out of the north but have the others reaching the coast on their own, and maybe having other smaller rivers join them on their way.

Got more suggestions as well but got to go. be back to this later.

Don't worry though, this is a very nice first map, even with the need for a few fixes. Have some rep

[Ascension]

I'll add my "jeebus that kicks butt". The rivers are a holy mess tho, if you'd like then I'll snag this and throw my thoughts down on top as a guide. You've got more than enough mtns and highlands to source the rivers properly so split em up, one out from each of the big lakes (or maybe chain them like the Great Lakes) the others come from the mtns in other areas. Stylistically, this is superb and accurate rivers might ruin the look of it...I dunno. Aside from the rivers the fields are bit large. At any rate, if you have a riverless version throw it up and I'll put what I think down and others can do the same and then you can pick and choose what you want.

[xiledsavior]

here's the riverless "early version" I may put up a current version without rivers when I finish ripping them back out, b/c now that it's been pointed out I have a huge problem with them

Note: This is before I made the islands... so don't worry too much about them

Edit: Added the newer version, Think I have a general layout for the rivers, I'll add a rough draft in the morning.

[Lathorien]

Your Taiga Region (where the white mountains fade to green) is EXCELLENT. I would love to know how you did such a "scratchy" blending of the two regions. To me it just looks a little more realistic that the norm. All the little islands are a major pain to do so cudo's on doing them, they make it look more like a real landmass.

Only suggestion would be to see how it looks after removing the black outline/stroke for the rivers, but leave it for the coast.

Cheers Good Job!

[xiledsavior]

Ok, here it is with rivers. I changed quite a bit and cut all of the rivers off that huge penninsula (I need to make it look more... cliffy... so I'll figure those out later.) I also realized that when using the non-destructive method, it's better to use layer masks for the rivers, now I can edit the rivers without having to redo my mountains Any suggestions on 1) how to make the end of that penninsula look "cliffy", esp those islands? and 2) how to make the outer glow be on the coastline and lakes without cutting off the rivers?

To some earlier questions: I'm using photoshop CS4.
I made Taiga Region well by using the "jiggle" filter from the eye candy set on both the icey and the sandy parts. this made them sorta interlace, but I also ended up using the smudge tool to pull some sand into areas it looked like it needed it. I think it was also enhanced by the mountains in that area being brown rather than white. (That was an accident, but it looks great, so )

[ravells]

That is looking very juicy! i don't know what scale your map is at, but the rivers make the scale look large, if you want a smaller scale map, I'd suggest you just make the rivers little lines...adds to the sense of size.

You've got a horizontal line artifact (I'm sure you've seen it) on the north coast. Also I'd suggest bringing down the coast stroke by a smidgen - (if you want the map to look small scale) hopefully it's just a layerstyle adjustment, big strokes suggest an island rather than a continent...unless it is an island of course!