Jagerofelements Project I

[jagerofelements]

What up! So I am working on a big continent for my adventurers. I must say, allot of this is just concept and my adventurers already love the map. But before I go into what I don't like and wish to improve on... let me show the thing to ya...

Dndmap2.png

So the big things about this map I don't like. I feel there isn't very many interesting locations. Sure I got a giant mountain range (the brown thing at the top) and some snow tipped mountains in the east. I got some snow and 3 largish forests... but I feel there isn't enough to where I am happy. I would love to add rivers... if I could figure out how to make them look good.

Another thing is the cities. Right now, I am using a symbol and a sphere to represent how big a city CAN be. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to draw a picture to represent a place...

I could go on and on about this picture and what I wish it could be. But somebody should be able to look at it and know what it needs to become a good looking map. I need help and I would love if somebody could give me some advice... I am kinda at a loss on what to do about some of these things.

Sidenote: The grey islands and landmass isn't done yet. These are landscapes the adventurers know exist but nobody has been there. The mountains stop anyone from visiting the top left landmass. The other 4 islands are impossible to see due to constant storms that break line of sight. I will draw them eventually but for now, I want to work on the main islands.

[Chick]

There is a section of this forum called Tutorials. Go there and spend the next week reading

Start with the sticky at the top called "How to get your rivers in the right place". Then after a week of reading, go back to your map.

[jagerofelements]

Yeah... it might be smart to reread that information. You see, I read all of it a long time ago and about 3 months ago. But can you give so criticism on the picture itself. I really can't figure out what to work on if I don't 100% know everything that desperately needs work. There may be some things things I don't even know need work...

Oh and a tip on the buildings would be nice as well. I have tried dozens of things for the cities. I have tried using pictures of a building, symbols, an X... just nothing looks good at the distance I have it. :/

Oh and before anyone says add a desert in X location, I am not adding a desert to the main isle. Maybe on one of the small ones...

[Wingshaw]

First up, welcome to the Guild!

What you can do with this depends on your software. In your intro thread you say you use Paint.net. I don't know much about it, but I suspect it is a pretty limited program. You would be much better off with Photoshop if you can afford the price tag, or GIMP, which is free.

It is hard to provide constructive criticism on your map when my knowledge of the software is so poor. Here's some of my thoughts:
--I think you would have a more coherent image, if you did cities as simple dots. I think a dark colour would look best.
--the sea is very inconsistent, stylistically, with the rest of the image. The sea is very dynamic and tonally varied, while the land is much more basic. On top of that, the sea is too strong in this picture.
--are you able, in Paint, to smudge the boundaries of certain features: e.g. make the white area to the right blend into the landscape around it?
--maybe, also, change the tan grassland colour to a pale green.

THW

[waldronate]

I think that perhaps the title "continent" might be a little grandiose for a map that's just a couple of miles across. Maybe it's bigger. It's hard to tell without any sort of scale indicator

[Wingshaw]

I'd add to my previous comment, why not tell us what maps/styles you like? That'll help us advise you on how to achieve that result.

THW

[ChickPea]

To throw in my two cents, I'd try to research some tutorials on drawing mountains. When I look at your map, I can figure out land vs sea and forest vs towns, but if you hadn't told me the brown area was mountains, I'm not sure I'd have known. This may not be an issue for your fellow game players, if they can recognise the mountain range, but just glancing at the map, it's not immediately obvious what's meant to be represented. Some simple triangular shapes would convey the sense of a mountain range far more effectively, but I don't know if this is hard to do with your software? I do like what you've done with the sea, but as THW says, it is quite different from the rest of the map.

[Chick]

What software do you have? MSPaint is not adequate for doing much artistically, at least not without an inordinate amount of time and effort. I suggest you consider Photoshop, or if cost is a major factor, then try GIMP which is free. It's really hard to drive in a nail if all you have is a screwdriver. It can be done, but the right tools make it much easier to achieve what you want