My first map

[steelmccoy]

I'm making a map for a homebrew RPG. Other than a few quick and dirty hand-drawn maps 15 years ago, it's really my first map. My first project in GIMP, too. I had a lot of fun putting it together, but I think there's a ton of room for improvement, so constructive criticism is definitely welcome. I think I'm going to ditch the drawn cities for simple dots and re-do the city labels. I don't like the trees much, so might look at re-doing those, too. If anyone has tutorial recommendations for trees that would be good, I might try drawing something really simple myself. Might take another pass at the mountains and try to draw some myself there too, but I need to look through the tutorials here.

I like the oceans and general land shape/coloring, just not thrilled about the features, I suppose.

[Pestilence]

Hello steelmcoy, really a job well done is deserved here, it looks like a beautiful map but as you asked i do have some critiques, be warned though as i am also new to cartography (and art in general) not to put too put too much weight on my words because chances are i'm just looking for something that isn't there.
first i the trees. You said yourself

I don't like the trees much

so my first recommendation is to do away with them, i like how your mountains are done but the trees don't compliment the art style that your mountains were done with. For example, the trees on the lower continent look much better than those on the upper continent when compared with the style of the mountains (most likely the lack of color assists in this.)
secondly there are the city markers, this map looks closest to a hand-drawn style so it doesn't really make much sense to have entire drawn cities on the map, try going with a more minimalist approach and chances are it will probably look a bit better. as you said simple dots or diamond shapes are always a good way to go.
overall however the map looks great, thanks for sharing it with us.

[steelmccoy]

Thanks for the feedback! If the mountains are okay, I'll leave them for now. I saw a map recently that had mangrove trees near the coast that I liked. I might try something like that for the southern islands. And yes, replacing the trees on the mainland with something more similar in art style.

[ace.lo]

Hello steelmcoy!

I like it - both the overall color scheme and the general legibility. Re: the trees, do you dislike all of them, or just the northern/southern ones? I think the southern ones blend with the style decently well, but the northern ones could do with maybe lowered opacity. Generally, both sets may look less out of place next to the mountains if they were a fair bit smaller, too.

[steelmccoy]

Hello steelmcoy!

I like it - both the overall color scheme and the general legibility. Re: the trees, do you dislike all of them, or just the northern/southern ones? I think the southern ones blend with the style decently well, but the northern ones could do with maybe lowered opacity. Generally, both sets may look less out of place next to the mountains if they were a fair bit smaller, too.

Mostly the northern ones - I like the southern ones better. I'll try re-scaling them. I think I am going to try re-doing the mountains, too - I found a tutorial I like for drawing them out. Thanks for the tips!

[steelmccoy]

I cut the tree size in half, and I like it MUCH better. Thanks for the suggestion! I do plan on replacing the mountains and cities with just a dot in the near future, but it's good enough for now to give to my players as a start. I thought it would be a chore, and I tried to find easier solutions, but I have to admit I had a ton of fun going once I'd learned GIMP!

I also created this quick map of the first of the Skybound Isles that my players will be visiting - just about a half mile long.

[ace.lo]

I cut the tree size in half, and I like it MUCH better. Thanks for the suggestion! I do plan on replacing the mountains and cities with just a dot in the near future, but it's good enough for now to give to my players as a start. I thought it would be a chore, and I tried to find easier solutions, but I have to admit I had a ton of fun going once I'd learned GIMP!

Yay! I'm glad it I could help! And that you kept at it with GIMP. GIMP has an obnoxious learning curve at first, but it really is fun once you can make it do what you want.

I also created this quick map of the first of the Skybound Isles that my players will be visiting - just about a half mile long.

This is lovely. I always enjoy seeing the same area in multiple styles.

[DaggerAndBrush]

Hi,

I am also new here and new to map making, but for what it is worth my suggestions/opinion:

I agree that the trees look out of scale wit the mountains and the trees have bolder outlines. So I think the art style clashes with the mountains. The mountains I really like and I could see if you make the trees smaller and the lines thinner, plus go for sepia only this will look very nice and weathered.

I also like the isometric cities. They have just enough quaint detail to keep the eye engaged and I think you should use them in the second style you posted.

The second one looks much more like an oil painting and I must say I really like it. Very evocative. Maybe try to add the cities to that map and remove the outlines. It might just look the part with some shading.

You could also combine the two styles and add light outlines to the second map or colourise the first one fully. I think the first one has lots of potential, it is just the two styles on the same map that make one stop and wonder if it would not be better to just go for one.

Overall excellent effort and I think for your first map you already created something visually pleasing and inspiring.

[steelmccoy]

I decided to go back and re-do this map. My players have picked up a few more locations. I wasn't really happy with the way mountain brushes were working out for me, so I picked up CC3+. I used it for some of the art here, but still did most of the work in GIMP. I also made it MUCH bigger. Too big to attach, actually, so I'm trying to figure out how to get it looking decent in the attachment. Wife's out of town, so I did the whole thing start-to-finish today I think it's a pretty major improvement over the last iteration, but I'm sure there are a ton of ways I could improve further. So critiques welcome!



Edit: Quality should be better now. Still a bit compressed, but decent at high zoom.

[Pestilence]

Quite impressive, definitely much better than the last iteration.
keep up the good work.
-P