First digital map Redux

[wthrasherb]

Hello, Community!

I hope this post shows up. I posted earlier this morning and my post isn't there... oh well.

I just wanted to share the first digital map I made around 2010. I made it using Campaign Cartographer 2. I'm not looking for feedback on that map. I had no clue what I was doing. I just wanted to show the old version vs. the new version.

The second map here is a recent "rework" of the old map. It isn't exactly the same, but pretty close. I used Photoshop. Critiques are fine for this map, but, other than this forum, my new map is for me while I work on a novel, so I'm not trying to make it a masterpiece work of art.

On the new map, I am trying a new mountain technique. I want top-down mountains similar to satellite imagery of our real world. The technique used on this map is a bunch of squiggly lines with a textured emboss. It is the closest I've come to achieving the effect I'm going for. If anyone has any tips, please share.

Thanks!

Old map (my first digital map):

GAIA_2.jpg

New version:

New_World_BORDER_006a.jpg

[w.gofry]

Outstanding improvement in technique. I really like the contrast in biomes while also allowing for aesthetically pleasing blends from one to another.

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[wthrasherb]

Outstanding improvement in technique. I really like the contrast in biomes while also allowing for aesthetically pleasing blends from one to another.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Thanks! Blending is one of the most frustrating things to me in digital maps. I use "patterns" in photoshop and someitmes you can really tell it's a repeating pattern and I hate that, so I do my best to blend. This map isn't finished. It was just finished enough to compare to the old map.

Thanks for your feedback!

[Tiana]

I made a basic gray and white mountain looping texture you can fool around with to try get the effect, I don't know if it'll work but it might give you the look you want with the right layer mode, and use what you have now as a peak guide.
mountainsgandalf.jpg

Anyway, the reworking is far more appealing! Good job!

[wthrasherb]

I made a basic gray and white mountain looping texture you can fool around with to try get the effect, I don't know if it'll work but it might give you the look you want with the right layer mode, and use what you have now as a peak guide.
mountainsgandalf.jpg

Anyway, the reworking is far more appealing! Good job!

Hey, thanks for the mountain pattern. I'll try it out sometime today.

Thanks for the kind words. I agree. That old map is just a hot mess! LOL