T.e.s. Wip

[ice]

Alright so this the progress of my first ever map, and i have a few questions for all you seasoned map makers

1. how would you guys do snow in the mountains?
2. how would u guys do a canyon?
3. lastly the dark brown is going to be a desert and the yellow is going be a Savanna, i plan to divide them in some way with a river, but my question is is it geographically plausible (if you know) to have 2 such ecosystems so close.

this is a fantasy world so complete realism isn't horribly necessary, but i don't want to be completely unrealistic.


Thanks in advance,
and obviously any other advice/criticisms anyone may have would be more than welcomed

[Gamerprinter]

OK... (nice start)

1. On your larger mountains, place white behind the black lines, on the shadow side, keep the lines black, but use a dark gray-blue fill color.

2. Canyons - well to match your design style, I'd use a solid line to denote the top of the canyon on both sides with a box canyon rounded end or pinched end, then short dash lines from "top of canyon" line inwards towards the bottom of the canyon. (Look at my May Challenge entry at the north side of the creek, see the short embankment. Do it like that on both sides of canyon and it should work out.)

3. Yes, grassy plains or savanah, that gets less rain becomes desert. Many plains areas border deserts of the world. It is definitely geographically possible.

[ice]

hey thanks alot gamerprinter,

though i couldn't really get anything i was happy with, on part of snow, i just ended up putting an ice cap on them

anyway here's what i have so far...


in all honesty i think i'm gonna scrap this one, this one has been a great learning experience and helping me place everything, but i wanna re-do my continent design slightly, that and a few things i did, just weren't looking good to me.

thanks again.

[landorl]

On the SW side of the island/continent, there are some symbols along the rivers flowing into the lake. I can't quite figure out what they stand for. Is it supposed to be marshland? If so, I am not sure that it is the best symbol.

I like the others though, they look good. I think that this is a good style to work with.

[ice]

wow i've forgotten about this place, lol.
bit of an update
haven't worked on this much though at all, but i have re-done the mountains, changed the text to be a bit more appealing, and cleaned it up a bit. still a major work in progress though

[ice]

I came across this great texture that i could easily manipulate in photoshop, only problem i'm having though is that i don't know what to do with the mountains now. i don't like the hand drawn mountains anymore, mainly cause i dont think they fit really. if any one has any suggestions or textures that might blend well with what i have to replace the mountains that would be great.

[jfrazierjr]

I came across this great texture that i could easily manipulate in photoshop, only problem i'm having though is that i don't know what to do with the mountains now. i don't like the hand drawn mountains anymore, mainly cause i dont think they fit really. if any one has any suggestions or textures that might blend well with what i have to replace the mountains that would be great.

Put some color in the "light" side of the mountains and a small bit at the "bottom" of the dark side. Then use the smudge toll to "drag" the color down in various places. This will blend it into the surrounding terrain. Take a look at a thread I started a few weeks ago (and have not had time to get back to) on making mountain brushes if you want to see a quick example. The smudging really blends into the background and also helps to provide some texture, especially if you have used more than just the black and base color to provide some accents.

[Karro]

I'm not sure Isometric mountains are the ideal solution for what you've got going in this map. It looks like a bit of a clashing style. I'd consider mountain types like what HandsomeRob does in his maps... not sure of how those are accomplished, though.

Also, with the green and forested sections of the map looking so nicely textured, your desert and grassland look very flat by comparison. You might want to try applying some textures here, if you weren't planning that already.

[ice]

thanks alot for the advice guys, it's really helping

I'm not sure Isometric mountains are the ideal solution for what you've got going in this map. It looks like a bit of a clashing style. I'd consider mountain types like what HandsomeRob does in his maps... not sure of how those are accomplished, though.

Also, with the green and forested sections of the map looking so nicely textured, your desert and grassland look very flat by comparison. You might want to try applying some textures here, if you weren't planning that already.

yea i know what you mean with the mountains, i'm looking much into finding something that blends much better. and yea i've been looking into applying a texture to the desert and grassland(which i've done now). i'm also trying to find a better texture for the water

[Karro]

thanks alot for the advice guys, it's really helping



yea i know what you mean with the mountains, i'm looking much into finding something that blends much better. and yea i've been looking into applying a texture to the desert and grassland(which i've done now). i'm also trying to find a better texture for the water

Personally, the flat water doesn't bother me nearly as much as the flat features of the landscape next to the textured features of the landscape.

This is looking better, but might I suggest a more gradual blur from the edges of the desert and savanah/grassland into each other and into the green grassland/forests? At least colorwise I suspect a gradual transition might look a little better. Worth a try at least, I think.