1st Map: The World of Palanum

[BgRdDragon]

Today i finished my first map, i believe it turned out pretty well; while not as good as some of the stuff ive seen here is just amazing.


Please Comment,Ask questions, and add constructive criticism....

[Rythal]

hmm, the first thing I have to ask is about the elven lands; are they desert or forest? it would be very odd for a desert to be on nearly the same latitude as the arctic (glacirnum). Otherwise, A more "boreal" type of colours would probably communicate the type of region that is a bit better.

secondly, I would suggest blurring the edges of the regions as a start, to indicate transition zones between ecozones. Also, maybe make the mountains in rutilem a bit darker; they are somewhat hard to see.

hope that helps somewhat, you have no river violations as far as I can see, so most of the stuff is aesthetic.

Oh, and gratz on your first post!

[jtougas]

Good job ! I have a couple of suggestions:
1. Make your rivers the same color as your oceans (it will eliminate the odd looking over lap)
2.Center your text over the landmasses it will be easier to read.

All in all a excellent first effort have some rep..

[BgRdDragon]

Ok Thanks all, those are some good ideas that i never thought of doing, ill make sure to use that in my next map.
and Rythal, the Eleven lands are meant to be A "magical" forest something like http://www.wowwiki.com/File:The_Shepherd's_Gate.jpg

[ravells]

Great first effort!

What software are you using to draw it? If helps if you put the software you're using to draw your map in your profile information so that we can help you with advice specific to that software.

Couple of pointers if you are just starting out:
If you are using Gimp or photoshop, then you might want to try Old Guy's tutorial to get a crinkly coastline. (do a search on Old Guy and coastline and you should find it)
Almost all of the time you want to start with your landmasses in black and your sea in white (or vice versa) and keep that on the bottom-most layer as a reference. This makes it easy to use layer masks, clipping masks etc which in turn makes it easy to draw stuff on the land without it going into the sea and vice versa.

Welcome to the Guild.


Cheers

Ravs