Althere - Work In Progress

[ravells]

Lovely continental shapes. Can you talk us through how you went about making them? It looks like a conversion to vector but I can't be sure.

Cheers

Ravs

[mearrin69]

I was actually going to ask the same thing. Can't imagine how to get those interesting edges with any technique other than drawing them by hand. It's a very unique look (don't know if it's realistic or not but I dig it). Looking forward to seeing this map develop.
M

[selden]

I was actually going to ask the same thing. Can't imagine how to get those interesting edges with any technique other than drawing them by hand.
M

Some fractal planet generators will create outlines. Some patience with different seeds may result in one that's interesting.
For example, here's an output from Mogensen's "planet" program.

[Doublar]

Thanks for all the comments and feedback, it's really appreciated .

Actually, I was looking it over again (I may see about borrowing some of the island shapes at some point, those are hot) and the landmass in the southeast corner seems a tadd out of place, almost like it was tacked on at the last moment. I think it's because it doesn't have the same kind of detail as the rest - every other land area has islands around them, this seems kind of plain in comparison.

Thanks for pointing that out. I added some other islands around it to make it fit a bit better. And you were partially right about it being tacked on at the last minute (though I won't bore you with an explanation).

Lovely continental shapes. Can you talk us through how you went about making them? It looks like a conversion to vector but I can't be sure.

I actually drew everything by hand (on paper first, then I edited it digitally). I guess I just got lucky when it came to making the landmasses look nice. When I drew this map (several months ago), I never even knew about all the cool techniques explained on this site (which I'll definitely think of using in the future). Plus I was in school when I did this, so I translated all of my stress into some of the coastlines.

As to how I did the actual image posted, I just made a layer over my original (scanned) map, traced over the lines, then colored the picture (not much to boast about there).

Anyways, I'm just wondering what type of scenery would best fit a map like this. I started working on some mountains (Lord of the Rings style-ish), though I'm not too sure if that type would suit it. I figured I'd be careful and ask the master cartographers here than do everything completely wrong.

[Juggernaut1981]

Anyways, I'm just wondering what type of scenery would best fit a map like this. I started working on some mountains (Lord of the Rings style-ish), though I'm not too sure if that type would suit it. I figured I'd be careful and ask the master cartographers here than do everything completely wrong.

Doublar, i'd be voting for a "hand drawn" effect. Partly because I'm biased, but also because a "digital photo" version might lose all of those really AWESOME little islands... those islands have the distinct look of mis-spent time and OCD...