First Map

[MiddleEnglander]

Hey guys!

So, I just finished my first map (CS5) and I'm pretty pleased with some things and much less pleased with others, but I've reached the end of the road with what I know about cartography and my Photoshop skills for now. Critique and feedback are very welcome and appreciated.

The link is here, it's pretty big and I don't want to spam you. XD

Valkyre Completed by ~Corkscrewlu on deviantART

[Bogie]

Welcome to the Guild.
Nice first map. Good layout, I like the trees and mountains. You do have some river problems. Rivers don't normally fork and branch that way.
Thanks for sharing.

[AntonioFrade]

Good ideas!

As Bogie said good mountains and trees (and village icons). I miss some more detail in the sea and I don´t like at all the costline accent.

[amberroberts09]

Welcome to the forum First but nice map...!!!

[Freehand 5.5]

That's a fine map.
But the coastline is so bulky and pitch black.
A little more contrast for the mountains and buildings would be good, too.

[- Max -]

I agree with Freehand about the coastline and the lack of contrast. And what's that ugly giant blurry waterline? Not really good imho. The whole thing needs more work than just putting brushes sets. But pretty first map overall

[domnic]

I have no criticisms as I cannot see past the stunning and flawless aesthetic.

Great work!

[Eochaid]

As already mentioned, the coastline is too black and strong. I disagree about the lack of contrast, since it goes quite well with the style... Depends on the type of map you want to do. If it is for information/travelling, then yes, a little more contrast would be welcome. If this is just an aesthetic map, then all good.

The big advice I would give is about the labels: avoid to put the names ON important features --- for example, the very city you're labeling. If it is a coastal city, put the name on the sea next to it, for example. There was a thread with a very good reference on how to place names on map, but I can't seem to find it again... Try also varying the size and body of your labels to give some more information about the type of elements: big/small town, castle, citadel, why not also naming mountain ranges, rivers, etc.?

Other than that, good work, the overall feeling is quite good!

[MiddleEnglander]

Thanks for your feedback, folks. :3 Hopefully the next one will be a bit cleaner, overall.

Do you guys have any technical recommendations for how to make coastlines more effective?

And a big thanks to those of you who gave me rep, I appreciate it. I think I'm going to work on making some hand-drawn brushes so that it's less basic.

[torstan]

Good stuff! I'd recommend posting a version here, at around 1000px wide. At that scale all the details are still perfectly readable, and you'd get some more critiques

You've done a great job with Ramah's brushes - and I like the bold use of the background texture. That makes it interesting, without getting in the way of the map. The coastline is a bit of a sore-thumb - it's the only solid black area on the map, and the line weight is so much greated than the other lines on the map that it looks out of place.

Other than that, I'd recommend a cleaner font for your labeling - the calligraphic font you've got looks pretty, but is hard to read. And someone's going to say it - your river in the NW needs some work Rivers join as they flow to the sea, they don't branch. In this case you've got a river that has two separate routes to the sea. I'd recommend splitting the section of river NE of Carlysk.

Other than those notes, this is a great piece of work. I love the colour scheme and the subtle variations you've included in the texturing. Good stuff!