WIP/Finished - First Attempt At This

[Castles]

If this isn't even the right forum, I apologize.

This is my first attempt at anyone kind of a map what so ever. I've never done anything like this before, and I'd just like to see where I stand.

There is no really purpose for this map, it was just a test to see where I am/where to do. I have ideas in my head of what I want my world to look like (For a novel) however I want to improve before I attempt it.

[Ascension]

Looks like a really good first try. Believe me, I've seen many. The only thing I'd change right now is to erase some of the bumpiness and leave some flat spots for swamps, deserts, and plains. Keep the mtns and leave some hills around them but make the rest flat except for a dash here n there to give flavor. If not flat make it really really subtle. Nice start, though, better than my first start.

[Radu Vlad]

Hey Chris, where are the castles? I see none...

Joke aside, i like the shape of the landmass, especially the part above the imaginary equator. Now to the looks of it: there are two striking points imo. First, everything is too dark. There is barely any spot with seem to have natural/soft colours. Might be ok if your setup was a devastaded/scorched/perpetual twilight world; to me, its a bit too dark to be fun

Secondly, and related, its what Ascension said. There is roughness all over the place, barely a level spot; it looks quite uninhabitable at this point, imo. I mean, even the shores seem to be replaced by cliffs A newly born volcanic island might look like that i think... On the bright side, the bumpiness for the terrain looks pretty good, and theres a lot of ranges, crevices, peaks that u can use as landmarks, and by toning down some of the land around those, u can get a pretty belivable terrain. You can also try to alternate small size/high detail/roughness areas with greater size/less features ones, as it makes things varied and natural.

Also (but thats just me), the continent stretching outside the map (N and S), prevents the possibility of circumnavigating the landmass, which i always like to be able to do

That points aside, nice first map! Keep posting updates pls, im in the same boast as u are, and i'd love some reciprocal feedback

[Castles]

Hey Chris, where are the castles? I see none...

Joke aside, i like the shape of the landmass, especially the part above the imaginary equator. Now to the looks of it: there are two striking points imo. First, everything is too dark. There is barely any spot with seem to have natural/soft colours. Might be ok if your setup was a devastaded/scorched/perpetual twilight world; to me, its a bit too dark to be fun

Secondly, and related, its what Ascension said. There is roughness all over the place, barely a level spot; it looks quite uninhabitable at this point, imo. I mean, even the shores seem to be replaced by cliffs A newly born volcanic island might look like that i think... On the bright side, the bumpiness for the terrain looks pretty good, and theres a lot of ranges, crevices, peaks that u can use as landmarks, and by toning down some of the land around those, u can get a pretty belivable terrain. You can also try to alternate small size/high detail/roughness areas with greater size/less features ones, as it makes things varied and natural.

Also (but thats just me), the continent stretching outside the map (N and S), prevents the possibility of circumnavigating the landmass, which i always like to be able to do

That points aside, nice first map! Keep posting updates pls, im in the same boast as u are, and i'd love some reciprocal feedback

See, this is where I'm kind of stuck. I've got so many layers (organization isn't a problem) and some are flattened images and so forth. I'm not really sure where I need to start to "lower" some of the bumps in the image. I don't think I can if I wanted to. Also. when it comes to be design I'm good with color, but I've got not idea about suitable colors of terrain/mapping in general.

I've been looking in the mapping elements thread, but I can't really find anything specific to colors/color styles/swatches.

Edit: I've also followed jezelf tutorials in doing this.

[Katto]

I like the colors. Follow Ascension's advices and you will get a great fist map.
If a map seems too dark or not really depends on your monitor (if you have normal settings applied). I also own a bright one and tend to chose darker colors. If you have the possibility to have a look at the map on other computers (and monitors), do it!

[Ascension]

I got lost in the Jezelf tut's as well; nice results if you can make it through, though.

[Castles]

I've pretty much given up on this particular map. The way I made it, it doesn't have much room to improve. I've got an idea that I think will work much better.