Time for critique and hello!

[nikonguy]

Well, I've been hanging out reading the board for about a week now. I would first like to say that this has been an incredible resource. From the tutorials, to reading the discussions, there is enough inspiration to go around!

So, after a good 2-3 year hiatus, I jumped back into the good old fun of D&D. Not wanting to spend the money on it that I did as a youth, I decided to I was going to develop my own campaign setting. I started off with a map of a region that I was writing my adventures for. After completing that one, I decided I wanted to:

1. Refine my abilities as a fantasy cartographer
2. Rekindle the joy of developing a fictional world
3. Create an environ for myself and my friends to WANT to save week after week, dungeon after dungeon

So, here I am submitting three maps for your critique.

The first is the original map I did for this project. It is of the region labeled Northern Aethorium on the world map

The second map (which comes in two varieties, one with text and one without) was completed about 2 weeks after the first, finished this morning. It was painful, as well as aggravating. I studied the tutorials over at Zombie Nirvana as well as looking at others work on the boards...and reading just about every tutorial here.

Hope you all enjoy, I am not that great at illustration, I'm a photojournalist by trade. Also, I understand some parts of the maps may not be realistic...but it's fantasy...sometimes looks trump "reality".

Thanks for any input you guys can give and thanks for all the inspiration!!!