The World of Hamèl

[terjebol]

Hello there. So, this is my first attempt at creating a world map (or, regional really). I'm so far from an artist as is possible, and my hand drawing looks like ... Well, it's not pretty. So, I have to rely on everything Photoshop can help me with. The map so far has the basic world shape, and it has mountains, basic "grass plains" (default terrain), and some forests and rivers. Cities, and other "entities" are still missing, and so are stuff like glaciers and snow. The map does not show the entire world, thus it has no typical north and south pole. Anyway, I am looking for feedback. Since its my first map, I'm absolutely sure there are multiple things that could be done a lot better. (I've seen proof of that, judging by some of the other maps I've seen on the site!!).

[landorl]

The landmass looks pretty good, and you did the highlands/mountains very well. The only issue that I see is some river problems. You have a couple of rivers that flow towards the ocean in two different directions which is not possible without some sort of "magical" explanation or man made help.

Still the colors are good, and there is a lot of potential with this map.

[hohum]

Yeah, the continent in the upper right has several lakes with multiple outlets, that doesn't happen. Try fractalizing the path of the longer rivers, they seem a little too smooth. The only concern I have about the mountains is in the center surrounding the Lake/ Inland Sea. It seems like you go from the highest peaks on the planet to a sheer drop to the coast. The coast edge seems a little hard to me, but I always feel that way about my maps and am not always successful in fixing that. Pretty good for a first map.

[terjebol]

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. It's funny, I didn't even think twice about the rivers before, but now that you guys pointed it out, I definitely see what you mean Hohum, are you referring to the mountains surrounding the northernmost lake? Or are you referring to the east of the southermost lake? (If so, that's not supposed to be high mountains, but a desert-ish region, so I guessed I messed up there.)

[hohum]

hamel note.jpg

That explains it. I thought the lighter color of the desert area was meant to represent elevation. Now that you told me what it is I see it. I will say however that you have a lot of mountains going right up to the coast. Again that is just something I struggle with in my maps, you can treat it how you want.

[terjebol]

Great Hohum, - I am going to look into this, trying the desert areas look more distinguished from the mountains, and try to soften up the coastlines a bit. Will upload a new version once it's done. Thanks.

[terjebol]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I've done some small changes to the map. I tried to fix the rivers a bit, so that no lake now has two rivers going out from it Also made some of the rivers more snaky. I made an attempt to soften some of the coast lines as well. I also added some text and entities to one of the continents. A little unsure of what I think of it at this stage...