Qoloru

[Arilayna]

My first post with a WIP map. I'd really appreciate any feedback (even such comments as "It looks like popcorn!" - thanks, Boss!) I wanted to play around with a couple of the tutorials and this was (part of) the result. This is just the basic map before I add cities and all sorts of fun things.

Credits: Ascension Atlas Style Tutorial, Jezelf Tut Map 03, Saderan Tutorial v103, Ravells Tut 2 for non-destructive textured maps in Photoshop, the thread on How to Get Rivers in the Right Place (be kind, River Police - this is my first time =P), and Terminal's thread Cartographical Economics and Demographics - A Guide to Realism.


qoloru_small_WIP copy.jpg

[AlexSchacher]

It looks pretty good so far Arilayna, I really like the textures and the colors. The rivers look pretty good aswell, although the river on the east coast seems like it starts to come down into that green valley, and then cuts through mountains, which seems like the river would have to go uphill to do that. The valley seems to be a basin completely surrounded by mountains, and so it might be hard for rain to get in there to create rivers, which would also make it a desert. If there was a river running into it, it would more than likely create a lake or sea with no outlet. (Although Im not exactly an expert, I think thats about right)

[Arilayna]

It looks pretty good so far Arilayna, I really like the textures and the colors. The rivers look pretty good aswell, although the river on the east coast seems like it starts to come down into that green valley, and then cuts through mountains, which seems like the river would have to go uphill to do that. The valley seems to be a basin completely surrounded by mountains, and so it might be hard for rain to get in there to create rivers, which would also make it a desert. If there was a river running into it, it would more than likely create a lake or sea with no outlet. (Although Im not exactly an expert, I think thats about right)

Thanks for the input! When you say the river on the east coast, are you referring to the forked river on the far right? I just want to make sure I'm following you... I was trying to go to a river rolls down mountains into forested valley and empties into sea. Guess I'm not quite there yet!

Thanks again for the response!

[Diamond]

It looks like moldy popcorn!

I like look of it; the colors are good, and the general layout is nice, even though you're edging into 'must fill every part of a square canvas'-itis. The stroke around the coastline looks odd to me; did you apply a gradient to it? It seems to be white on the eastern coasts, and black in the west.

As far as the mountains, I like the color and look of them, but they seem rather flat. Can you add some bevel and/or emboss effects to make them pop a bit?

But overall, looking good, and have some rep for jumping in with a map!

[Arilayna]

Thanks for the reply, Diamond!

The reason it looks like "must fill every part of a square" is because this is a snippet - the overall map is actually five times larger with a total of 9 "continents". But I wanted to focus on this particular continent since it is where my next campaign takes place.

Yep - there's a gradient on the coast. I'm not crazy about it. It was in one of the various tutorials I played with. I don't think it works as well with my final colors, so I'll be changing it.

The mountains have a bevel/emboss effect, but I think I need to tweak settings. I agree - they really do look to flat.

Mmm...moldy popcorn. Breakfast of champions...?

Thanks so much for the feedback!!

[AlexSchacher]

Yeah, I get that's the effect you were going for. Let me try to explain what Im seeing though,


qolorue.png


The mountainous ridge seems like it should connect along a line (highlighted as the orange line) so that would be the highest land near it. The green area seems to be a lower grassy valley. The problem is your river runs down towards the valley, and then crosses over the mountainous area, which is more than likely going to be higher altitude. If you removed the mountains circled in purple, it would make more sense (to me, anyways). Im definitely not an expert though like I said, its just what popped out to me. The river going through there is possible, just doesn't seem likely.

[Arilayna]

Yeah, I get that's the effect you were going for. Let me try to explain what Im seeing though,


qolorue.png


The mountainous ridge seems like it should connect along a line (highlighted as the orange line) so that would be the highest land near it. The green area seems to be a lower grassy valley. The problem is your river runs down towards the valley, and then crosses over the mountainous area, which is more than likely going to be higher altitude. If you removed the mountains circled in purple, it would make more sense (to me, anyways). Im definitely not an expert though like I said, its just what popped out to me. The river going through there is possible, just doesn't seem likely.

Awesome, thanks! It's always great to have multiple eyes looking at the map. I wasn't envisioning the mountains on that coast to be all one range, so I'm really glad you said that. I've cut back the mountains there and in a few others places and changed a few other issues as well (like the outline of the coast being a gradient) so I'll be uploading some changes early next week.

As always, thanks so much to everyone for the comments!!

[Arilayna]

Here it is - with updates. I've cut back the mountains, hills, and darker forests around the forked river on the right. I tried to blend my deserts a little better. The gradient stroke around the land masses has been updated. And just some other small tweaks and changes. I started labeling the map, including putting in some territory borders. I don't want to leave the text in plain black, but I haven't come up with what I actually want to do stylistically yet...

qoloru3_smaller copy.jpg