Quote Originally Posted by Lord Herman View Post
Here's a new version. I drew some more rivers, which should give a clearer contrast between the relatively fertile Nivian Valley and the barren lands surrounding it.

I found a way to save the filters and stuff I used in photoshop, so this is probably the last time I'll have to draw those creases and tears in the map. Huzzah!

I'm not sure about the photoshop effects I used this time, though. I used some faint lighting effects to give the canvas some depth, but I had to make sure everything remained legible. Tell me what you think.

Nivian-Valley-v3.jpg
I like specific things going on in your map, like for example the obvious river valley with raised land or slightly higher next to land that is a deeper greenish color that illustrates lower river valley land. IN my mind the forests could have been 'smooth' polygons in CC3 (i use it also) with more variation on the edges (undulation in areas), even. I really like the color choice as it seems very appropriate for this map. The sea/water body could have a lighter area near the shore and that would be easy to do in CC3. As for the mountains I think in my mind they might be more fractal polygons perhaps (emphasizing details at the edge) or smoothed polygons with undulations in the edges. Don't get me wrong, I like your map, but I just think you should explore the less straight edge approach.