Vor-Haven, island map

[CartoCooper]

Heyo cartographers' guild !

Today i want to show you a new map i made, this is my second map on this forum, and my third attempt at making a map.
Everything was made in GIMP, i used no brushes from other people.
The mountains are pretty simple, but i think they are good enough..
If you have any feedback, then please do tell me .

This island is also part of my fantasy world map, found Here

QrInMd2.jpg

The shape idea i got from looking at the Netherlands, however the mountains should be more Icelandic/Scotland ish.
The island should be around as wide as Iceland, and two times as long.

The island is settled by 6 different clans.
4WdbC1U.jpg

The pink one (to the left), is called the Althin Clan. They are a neutral clan without an army.
The clan chiefs all agreed that this ground is no-war.
This is where all the clan chiefs can talk about the politics on the island, in a safe place.
No blood can be shed on these lands, ones this happens anyone in the responsible clan can take down their chief, and replace the traitor.

On what can i improve on this map ? Did i do things wrong ?

[Rene]

I like the locations of the clans that you chose. The borders make sense to me.

I might suggest more contrast between the seas and the island, so that the shape of the island stands out more. Maybe make the yellow parchment color less vibrant?

[Pixie]

I like the color scheme of the first map (without clan territory represented). It gives a very particular feel to the map and binds it very well. Not so much for the second, territory colors way too vibrant in comparison with the rest. Maybe you could try simpler (lighter) border representations.

Also, going back to the first map, here's two cents:

- map looks good as land representation, but a map is drawn to convey information and yours has very little of it - rivers and mountains are good, respecting geographical principles, but would be more valuable and unique if they had names and were labeled, same for islands, bays, gulfs, etc. Overall, spending some time placing names is some of the best spent time on a map (in terms of making it a good one, not necessarily the most enjoyable time)

- there isn't a scale, but the eye takes cues to find the actual size of the land - in your map, the cues I take is the size of the city/capital icons and how sparse population centers are - both these cues, in the present form of the map, make me think of this as a small island. Is it?

- last, but not least, your existing labeling is hard to read, did you try nearly white colors for the letters? Or a glow around them?

[CartoCooper]

I like the locations of the clans that you chose. The borders make sense to me.

I might suggest more contrast between the seas and the island, so that the shape of the island stands out more. Maybe make the yellow parchment color less vibrant?

Thank you
That was my ultimate goal really, where would a clan make its border.
Thank you for the tip, i changed it a bit now. The new map is below in this post. What do you think ? Is this better ?

I like the color scheme of the first map (without clan territory represented). It gives a very particular feel to the map and binds it very well. Not so much for the second, territory colors way too vibrant in comparison with the rest. Maybe you could try simpler (lighter) border representations.

Also, going back to the first map, here's two cents:

- map looks good as land representation, but a map is drawn to convey information and yours has very little of it - rivers and mountains are good, respecting geographical principles, but would be more valuable and unique if they had names and were labeled, same for islands, bays, gulfs, etc. Overall, spending some time placing names is some of the best spent time on a map (in terms of making it a good one, not necessarily the most enjoyable time)

- there isn't a scale, but the eye takes cues to find the actual size of the land - in your map, the cues I take is the size of the city/capital icons and how sparse population centers are - both these cues, in the present form of the map, make me think of this as a small island. Is it?

- last, but not least, your existing labeling is hard to read, did you try nearly white colors for the letters? Or a glow around them?

I agree on the territory colors, thanks for the tip !
I added a lot of names, not every river has a name but most do.
I look at the scale again and i would say it would be the size of the Netherlands, which is fairly small.
The mountains will need alot of space for it to make sense, but it shouldn't be too big.
I hope you can read these ones, clicking on it will give you a better picture.

AOr1xu6.jpg

I think i like the colors from the last time better, but i do think it looks pretty now, too.
I'm not sure about this letter type, so i might change it.
I do like the fact that all the cities have their clan color, but maybe ill put them back to another color.
I renamed the Greyclans to the Grayclans because i think the A fits better to their language, so its not a typo

Thanks for the feedback, its much appreciated !

[Rene]

Thank you
That was my ultimate goal really, where would a clan make its border.
Thank you for the tip, i changed it a bit now. The new map is below in this post. What do you think ? Is this better ?

It looks good! And still has that old-world feel.