Fantasy-ish map of the real world

[Lingon]

So a couple of days ago I completed a map of Earth for a client. I was asked to draw something quite simple, just coasts and some mountains and rivers, plus country borders, in my normal fantasy style. After delivering it, I thought I could work some more on the map, make it more finished in my own eyes, and maybe offer it as prints sometime since I kept the copyright. Here it is with a paper texture, a shadow around the continents, and a title box. I still want to keep it pretty clean, I think, so I didn't add more features or any labels… What do you think, could this be something?
earth.jpg

[Ilanthar]

I like it, but the choice of mountain ranges seems a bit random (a client's choice, I presume). I mean that there is a mix of very big and more secondary mountain ranges for this world scale, imho. The Hejaz range is a bit too dark too me.
Otherwise, I like the general composition, the "clean" feeling and I would see a few maritime labels and maybe a border or a cartouche? Good job!

[Raptori]

Well that sucks - I just ordered a world map off Amazon, would have been far more interested in one in your style. Overall I quite like it, but agree with Ilanthar's feedback. Do you plan to paint this one in colour? I reckon that'd look stunning...

[Lingon]

@Ilanthar: Thanks! The mountain choices where mine actually, I looked at one of Natural Earth's raster maps and drew the ranges that appeared tallest, but I could absolutely have made some mistakes there. Which ones would you remove or add? Yeah, Hejaz became really dark… One of the downsides of ink – stop concentrating for a few seconds and that happens I'll try to work some Photoshop on it! The maritime labels are a good idea for filling out the oceans, but maybe it would look odd when nothing else is labeled? I'll give it a try though. I don't think I want a cartouche on this one actually, for some reason it just feels right to have the text hanging in the air like that… but maybe a very simple border would look good. Thanks for the suggestions!

@Raptori: Hehe, well, you can always have two world maps, right? I don't think I'll color this one, I didn't think of the possibility to keep working on it so I drew it on paper that is too thin to support paint. But I have a sort of long term plan to make a series of real-world maps in various styles. A colored, up-detailed version of this one is definitely among those

[Ilanthar]

By Lingon
I looked at one of Natural Earth's raster maps and drew the ranges that appeared tallest, but I could absolutely have made some mistakes there. Which ones would you remove or add?

For example, I would add the Tien Chan range between the Altai and the Kunlun mountains (summits over 7000 meters here). In comparison, you've shown the north mountains of central siberia where the top summit is 1701 meters high. Occidental Ghats in India are more high than the australian western range.
In fact, it depends of what you wanted to show, I suppose (the highest mountains, the more "barrier" mountains, the biggest in areas...).

Anyway, I like the map and really get what you mean for the dark Hejaz (I'm far from your talent at drawing and quite never miss to blur or spill ink by inadvertance...).

[Lingon]

Awesome, I'll add those. Thanks! I'm focusing on my challenge entry now, but when that's done I'll try to get this one updated

[Lingon]

Well… This has been dead for a while
But! I have an update. Added the two mountain ranges Ilanthar suggested, and a frame and a handful of labels. I think this version is stronger than the first, even though I actually was a little skeptical to both the frame and labels.
earth2.jpg

[Azélor]

It's nothing dramatic but if you want to make it as realistic as possible, you should make the Appalachian mountains go toward Maine and New Brunswick instead to go straight into Quebec. There are some mountains (still, small compared to the Alps) but they belong to the Canadian Shield, a different geological element.

Appalachian Mountains - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More importantly, I think that the continent label should be easier to read. It's hard to see because there are other elements around them. You could try putting an emphasis ( Emphasis (typography) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

[Ilanthar]

I have to say that I'm not really convinced by the frame, it's probably too red for me. The labels looks fine to me, but I agree with Azelor's suggestion.

You may find me annoying, but as I'm looking at this pretty map, I wonder if you could add the atlas mountains too

[Schwarzkreuz]

Lovely, well executed, great minimal approach.

Just,

I hate the Red Border, which cast all other decency of this map into a bloody mesh. Red as an accent on such map should be use sparsely, if you asked me.