Sollania - World Map
Sorry it took me a bit to get to this since I introduced myself. Been a bit occupied.
Sollania.png
So, right now, this is how my map looks. Since this was before I knew anything about GIMP or the like, it's essentially something I worked on in OpenOffice's draw program (amusing aside: I think the Draw function is better than the word processor). The free-form objects with hatching are major forests.
So, right now, I can see two major issues. One, my river systems are hilariously sparse (though thousands of tributaries seems unnecessary at this scale). Two, I'm really not sure how to deal with the actual scale of the map. There are definitely other land masses beyond these in all directions. Additionally, I imagine the spread of the climate ranging from subarctic to subtropical (north to south...assume the top is north). And make that three issues. I'm also rather new to mapping, not in putting ideas on paper insomuch as I've never made anything more advanced than what you see before you. It would be useful if anyone has advice or particularly good tutorials for something like this.
Note: Though it's not solid or on this version, I do have a sense of major settlements.
So, there you go. Thanks for looking!
I think it passes the river police - I'm assuming the northwestern part of the bottom right continent and the top-right continent are dry or desert, since there's no rivers at all. Personally I don't like the symbol you've used around the coasts to indicate sea, it looks like a bit like the standard symbol for a swamp!
Well, I had just considered those symbols waves, frankly. I would not have associated them with swamps. Observation noted, though.
While you're right about the continent in the northeast, the northwestern corner...not so much. I actually just realized I really didn't put anything there, when it should be forested. Oops....
And I'm back! Apologies for the double post.
Almost forgot about this. I suppose I should be a little more specific.
I suppose what I'm looking to do is take this, what is essentially a rough sketch, and try to turn it into something prettier. Well, two something's prettier. I want to create a a relief map to showcase the physical features and a more traditional map to put greater emphasis on the geopolitical features. However, I'm not quite sure where to look for such information and I'd be interested to see an opinion or two on what methods to use to achieve those ends.
For a 'traditional' map, you can't go wrong with Ascension's antique-style tutorial: http://www.cartographersguild.com/tu...photoshop.html
You might also just do a more detailed black & white map; with enough detail they can look pretty awesome.
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