Pathania - WIP

[Diamond]

Just a random map, my first go at using Ascension's Atlas tutorial. I must've done something wrong in the early going, because the terrain is DARK, but for my first attempt it's passable, I think. I went a different way on rivers and borders, mainly so they show up against that dark terrain. There's some odd pixelation on some of the coastlines that I wasn't sure would look okay, but after putting the stroke in around the land layer, they seem... okay.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Any idea what I did wrong to end up with near-black terrain?

[Coyotemax]

Dats pretty nifty, i really like the shape of the landmass.

I can't say what might have happened to the brightness though, been awhile since i've gone through that method.

Have you tried turning off layers one by one to track down where it happened? Once you find the culprit, you could try applying some curves or adjusting the levels to brighten it up maybe.

Though Ascension might be a better guru to answer this one

[Gidde]

Well, most of Ascension's stuff is pretty dark (at least on my monitor), so it doesn't surprise me that following his tut you got dark. However, I don't think it looks almost black, in fact I think it looks great. Beholder's eye and all that

[Diamond]

Actually, the more I look at it, the more I like the way the colors turned out. I've started putting in the labels, and the dark terrain actually really make them pop.

[Ascension]

If you want it lighter, then on the Land layer add a color overlay of white and then set the blend mode of the color overlay to soft light...then turn down the opacity of the color overlay to suit you.

[Diamond]

You, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. It looks awesome now.

[Diamond]

Well, here's the final version:

[Steel General]

I like the lighter version better - nice job!