Hello everyone!

[David Von Balthazar]

Hello guys, my name is David, 21 years old and i'm from Porto Alegre, Brazil

I love RPG (PnP and digital) and war/strategy games, one of the things that most fascinate me is maps of all kinds from small towns to kingdoms and even hole continents,
i'm an avid PnP RPG player so i'm used to draw lots of maps but never got any input on their realism/quality beyond some friends, i also like to draw characters
and write stories about them.

A few days ago i made a sketch on photoshop of a map i'm using for my latest stories (i'm trying to do a short novel on the style of game of thrones), i would love some input on where i can improve it, things that are out of place
and don't make sense and etc, it's a very early sketch just to have some general ideas before i put real work in it, here is the link: http://i.imgur.com/E2vN0nM.jpg

Many thanks!

[Chick]

Hello David, welcome to the Guild! That's a very nice map and if you post it in the WIP thread, I suspect you'll get some good feedback! For a first map, you've done a great job

[Korash]

Well it looks like a nice start to a complicated map

The biggest and most glaring problem you have is the rivers. I do like that you are using the rivers and mountains as natural borders, but there are MAJOR problems with the way that the rivers flow from one coast to the other, as well as split on the way there. THE most glaring?...the river that is the northern border of Swelin, Swyr, Uxhellen (?), and passing through Sweatha. First it branches in Swelin and heads to the southern coast, then again forming the eastern and western borders with Swyr and Uxhellen (?)as it heads to the southern coast again, then splits Uxhellen (?) in half and later forms that nations western border with Sweatha and Bruwya and then ends up at the western shore. There are others but that one struck me the most and immediately.

Not the way rivers work. Do not despair, we have a tut here at the Guild that talks all about the problem people have with placing rivers: How to get your rivers in the right place. It IS one of the hardest things to get right as a beginner mapper.

*EDIT*
MAN do I type s l o w l y. Took me 20 minutes to type just that because chick hadn't responded when I started......

[Chick]

.....*EDIT*
MAN do I type s l o w l y. Took me 20 minutes to type just that because chick hadn't responded when I started......

You said a lot more than I did, though And you are completely right about the rivers, I just figured it was better to do all that explaining in the WIP thread. In any case, excellent advice!

[David Von Balthazar]

Thanks for the tips guys i really appreciate it, indeed rivers are very difficulty for me to pull of but that link will surely help, i'll redesign them and a few other things and post an updated version when i make a WIP thread

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild David! That's a very promising map. Yes there are river issues, but that's easily correctable. Feel free to post more of your work in our forums.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh