My first map, need some help

[BZenwrath]

Alright, so this is my first map but i've used photoshop quite a bit so i have an idea of what i've been doing but I'm stumped. I'm not sure how i want to represent roads for my maps, I have just the basic outline of capital cities on it as well as main roads but I want to make them fit in more with the map itself. The quick sketch of roads and cities just isn't doing it for me. Any advice? (btw, All the names on the map are place markers, they aren't the ones i'm going to have for the rpg haha)

[daeVArt]

i think the color of the map was too contrast (from my perspective), but, for the 1st map, it was pretty good ^^. just an advice from me, maybe you need to decrease the contrast, and soften the texture a lil bit ^^


-daeVArt

[Yora]

After 5 years my maps don't look like that.

I think the problem is that you are doing the land surface in a rather realistic way but now you have to add things that wouldn't be visible at that scale and distance. It will have to look a bit artificial.
This is one of the latest maps for Eberron, which does use a somewhat similar style as yours. I think the tiny detail that could be making the difference with that one is that slight shadow below the markers, making it look as if they are hovering slightly above the map. That could work well for you as well.

[BZenwrath]

Hmmmmm... I will definitely take your advice daeVArt, thankyou.

Yora- Thanks! thats actually sorta what i'm wanting to do, so you nailed it with your link. I'll post when i have an update done!

[jtougas]

Nice job for a first map. The problem is scale. It's difficult to denote relatively small things like roads on a large map. One way around this is to fade the roads into the textures. You can do this by changing the opacity of your roads layer and perhaps running a very light stroke pass on them. Keep up the good work

[BZenwrath]

well, I took your ideas and ran with them. This is what i've come up with. Now that i'm passed this i was wondering where one might get decorative borders for the map itself as well as fancy compasses?

[jtougas]

HERE are some very nice compass roses also a Google search is a great resource as well. HERE is a great tutorial on how to create map borders
The roads look better now although maybe the color is throwing me off. (that's just a personal thing though) Very nice work Have some rep