Your input on my first map

[Pantso]

Greetings guys ! I am really glad I found you all !
This is a great community !

I just made my first steps in making my first map ! Any advice and critique is very welcome !

Thank you

myfirstmap.JPG

[arsheesh]

Hi there Pantso, welcome to the Guild! Not bad for a first post. I think the crumpled paper effect is perhaps a bit overstated. Maybe if you were to decrease the opacity of that layer a bit. The rivers might look more natural if they were tapered. The colors look good overall. Given the crumpled paper look, it might look nice if you were to make the edges and sides of the map border look a bit warn, burnt, and/or torn.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Ghostman]

The rivers are not behaving realistically. The tributaries should join together as they come nearer the coast, not split. You also have a lake with two rivers exiting it. Overall it's a good bit of work, the forests in particular look nice.

[jbgibson]

Welcome, Pantso - I appreciate you having the boldness to put a map right in your first post - bravo! For that alone I'll grant you a bit of rep.

To elaborate on Ghostman's river comment - the general principle is that at any point in a stream, one may see multiple input from uphill, but there will be only one outlet downhill. There's a whole tutorial thread on this, How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Place.

I prefer a sharper distinction between land and sea - I would put a little more of a thin dark coastline in there. Your light-water stroke around the coasts implies shallow water, which is fine, but it's almost the same value as some of the terrain. I can make out a hint of a dark edge in places, but even the forests could be set off better. And I agree - you've handled the forest texture nicely. All the colors are nice, in fact. The mountain texture is a bit indistinct.

Good start !

[Pantso]

Hey guys thank you very much for the welcome and for the comments ! Yeah looking twice the rivers indeed seem a bit odd, and the coastline very generic and not realistic ! Will fix some stuff and post again my progress !