I need a little advice and resource info

[Scot Harvest]

Chugging along... its slow going (1-2 hr per evening).

I'm not liking the open ground area (now multi color) I think I want more snow... but snow is just white so its boring.

The mountains are coming along nicely.

The forests are looking rubber stamp-ish.

The desert area look too "satellite" I guess I need a texture for that too.

Any suggestions

Pathagrian-Map-WEB.jpg

[Scot Harvest]

Found a really nice old world "wood stamp"? water TUT....

I like it.
Pathagrian-Map-WEB.jpg

Does anyone know where to find a better "Old World" water texture?

[Scot Harvest]

I found some nice middle earth / rune style FONTs for the labels and names.

Forests is coming along better since I colored a couple of trees and used them as STAMPs to make the forest edges more random locoing.

Pathagrian-Map-WEB.jpg

[Scot Harvest]

Working on Rivers.... I have seen some wonderful examples. but samples or no.... there is no substitute for SKILL!

Should I darken the water??Pathagrian-Map-WEB.jpg

[Vinoex]

Looking at the topography of the map, I seams to me that the rivers should be flowing out of the mountains into the plans. More of a northward direction. I would keep the origins in the same location, but have the rivers flow through the forest.

[arsheesh]

Few thoughts. First, there are some inconsistencies in line width. The line work on your mountains and forests is thin and clear and looks pretty nice all around. The line stroke surrounding the island/continent on the other hand is large, fuzzy and pixalized. It looks rather odd. The line stroke along your rivers is thin but barely visible. I'd consider trying to make these lines more consistent; try redrawing the coastline with a pen of the same px size as that which you drew the mountains. Also, make the lines along the shores of the rivers much more apparent.

Second, I find the transition of water color and style from rivers to ocean odd. I think you would do better to pick one style and be consistent with it. My suggestion would be to go with the a solid color for the ocean, perhaps with a lighter hew for the shallower water surrounding the land. You could play around with layer blending modes to try to get the parchment texture to be visible as well.

Finally, there are some inconsistencies in color and texture within the land. Most of your land is covered with a grey-green texture but there are these textureless bright green splotches dispersed within it. These, quite frankly, are an eyesore. This is due to the fact that they both lack any texture, and are bright in comparison to their surrounding. Try to work on making these blend in a bit better by adding texture and muting the brightness a bit.

On the plus side, I like your mountains, forests and city markers. I think there is potential here.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Scot Harvest]

Vinex I will look into this, I want this map to look "natural" but also I like hand drawn look (mistakes and all).
I used the river layout from my infant stage of mapping. I think all the river DO need to be re-thought.

Thanks

arsheesh.... WOW insightful and FANTASTIC advice. I'm on it!

[evilbrotherjohn]

I like this version, its more natural.

[Scot Harvest]

Latest update Sill working (3 hr today) and hoping to finish and print this for the game on the end of Jan 2014

Still humbly requesting critique and suggestions

I condensed the pic here hope its not to unruly.

Pathagrian-Map11WEB.jpg