Island Kingdom of the Grand Holdings
Okay, in the interest of testing attachments (mostly), here is my first map after doing pgs. 16-22 (the section called "The First Map") in the Tome of ULTIMATE Mapping. There are still things to consider on this map (text is bleh, for one), but its not a bad stab at things.
Not bad at all. It has a lot of character and potential.
I like it! The shape of the continent is really nice -- when I went through the tutorial, my continent ended up being rather symmetrical and boring.
I have two comments -- please take them with a grain of salt because I'm also a CC2 newbie and don't have much experience.
1) I think that it's very rare to find a river that splits as it travels downstream, causing it to have two mouths. I could be wrong, though.
2) One thing that I found adds character to a map is putting a patch of shadows beneath trees, much like you surround the mountains with he background of gray. Try a dark or medium gray. This isn't my idea, by the way -- I got it from looking at Allyn's map of Altayn on the ProFantasy site. That's one of my favorite sample maps on the site. http://www.profantasy.com/library/de...rt=37&Image=42
1) Many rivers split as they go downstream. Any large hard terrain type could cause a river to split as would changes in elevation. At the very least they are forming deltas at the end of their journey at the sea. Here's an example of the Mississippi: http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&q=...45325&t=k&om=1
See, I told you I wouldn't necessarily be right.
I do question, though, do splits of these types happen commonly where they result in two major rivers? The split in the Google map in Louisiana results in a rather minor tributary that wouldn't be shown on a map of a similar scale. Googling for Louisiana maps comes up with a number of much smaller-scale maps that only sometimes shows that tributary (if the map has lots of detail).
I probably should have worded my comment more carefully. I was just questioning how common it is for half of the major rivers to split into two major rivers.
By the way, I really like the tree placement in the map. My maps tend to be devoid of trees except right next to the forest. I need to expand my horizons on that.
Ah... yes, now I understand. Here is an example of a major river whose tributary is also a major river: http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/us/A0833414.html
Then of course there are the various Niles. Of course another question would be just how close are we zoomed in on the map? If it was not the whole world, we could argue that yes those are minor rivers, and should be shown. I do understand your original point now though, and it is valid... for our Earth.
But doesn't the Missouri feed the Mississippi, and the Nile tributaries feed into the main river? I am considering the case of the river splitting into two different major rivers, which then each have their own mouths.
Right. Yes, it is the opposite. Sorry about that. You were correct and so I started thinking in that totally different direction. Sorry about that.
Of course as I said, it is true on Earth, but who's to say it wouldn't be the case on other worlds.
Aye, agreed!
In my current project, I'm actually excited to start zooming in on my continent map and start adding that kind of detail. I have to remember that streams and little rivers are very common.
I look forward to seeing it!
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