Trying out a new style - Island Map

[quicksilver]

Hey everyone,

I'm still pretty new here as far as posts as well as map creation. I've done a lot with Saderan's Tutorial and tweaking it here and there, but I decided to try something new.

This is based on another tutorial I found here for a small island by djekspek.

So this is my first full attempt at a map like this. I've drawn a ton of mountain ranges in pencil and in photoshop, but always got stuck. I get these grandiose ideas in my head that I need more practice to actually pull off.

Anyway, any comments, suggestions, ideas, whatever, I would like to hear it. Like I said, this is my first full map in this style. It's pretty big too at 10 x 7.5 @ 300dpi. I really, really wanted to add a river but I just couldn't get it to work. Any ideas on how to pull that off would be appreciated.

IsleDeCite.jpg

[Gold]

Neat looking perspetive and 3-dimensionality. I like what looks like evergreen forest (the outer forest). Not sure what is going on with the flora in the foothills; it appears raised up, but more pillowy - is it jungle, deciduous, or hills of moss? For the river location(s) my guess is you could put 2, one on either side of the ridgeline divide. Whatver technique you used to get the cracks around the island edges, some of those cracks already look like nice intercepters for the river endpoints. I'm not sure how to advise, as far as graphic technique for this. Hopefully others will come along to post more feedback. Good luck with your map. Thank you for posting your draft.

[waldronate]

The regularity of your central spine and centering it on the island makes it look like a chiton fresh from the sea.

The spikiness of the grass and its contrast between green and black makes it seem to pop up a little higher than the forest areas. Perhaps making the strokes shorter might alleviate this effect.

I'm also not sure about the defocus depth of field for a hand-drawn map like this. It seems out of place to me.

The lower-resolution preview looks more pleasing to my jaded eye than the high-resolution version. I do like the overall appearance of both high and low resolution versions, though.

[quicksilver]

Thanks for the feedback! I have yet to start another image in this style, but your comments help a lot.

Gold - The outer layer was supposed to be grassland, the inner deciduous forest. My goal was to have the mountains surrounded by forest, that gave way to grasses and then sandy beach. I agree that the cracks lend themselves to river mouths. Just getting the river to the cracks in a "realistic" way was frustrating. I think more than anything, the scale of the whole thing is what's giving it trouble. The forest is supposed to be on hills building up to the mountains.

waldronate - I'll keep in mind the suggestion about the grass length. I threw the fading blur on there last minute. It kind of bothered me that the whole thing was so sharp. But again, I think that's because I don't really have a good scale in mind. I just kinda drew stuff. heh.