Very First World Map Attempt

[Ascension]

If you wanted to make them less jaggy then I'd suggest closing off some of those big inlets or fjord-like bays (I see two that could be closed off...top left and bottom right). You could also try erasing out some of those really narrow points (top right and middle). Lastly, making those inland seas into smaller lakes might help reduce the effect some. Keep in mind that this is only if you really are bothered by the shapes, otherwise, if you're cool with it then I'd say leave em.

[EsotericForest]

Thanks guys for all the positive feedback, I feel better already about how the map is coming. I will take your advice Coyotemax and read some of those tutorials carefully. Thankfully I do have Photoshop Elements 7, though I'm not very used to it yet. I've been using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 for years, so switching to something else is taking some getting used to...though when I can't figure out how to do something I still revert back to PSP.

But anyway, one concern I'm having is because my continents don't take up a whole lot of water space, it's leaving me with a lot of blank ocean. I'm not really sure what to do about it, because I have the fear that if I add another small continent, or several small islands in those spaces, the map will end up looking more like a dalmation than anything .

[Diamond]

But anyway, one concern I'm having is because my continents don't take up a whole lot of water space, it's leaving me with a lot of blank ocean. I'm not really sure what to do about it, because I have the fear that if I add another small continent, or several small islands in those spaces, the map will end up looking more like a dalmation than anything .

Well, you could turn that scattered continent archipelago on the left that looks kinda like a heart-shape into one big continent - fill in the middle with land. Then you could add more land to the bottom right - mid-sized islands, etc. That way the map would look more 'balanced', if that's the effect you're going for.