Hello, I'm new and looking for advice on what I've got so far!

[Zetsuei]

Hi everyone,
I'm a recent entrant to the world of mapmaking, and I'm off to what I think is a good start but at the same time I can tell there's some expertise I don't have yet. For my map I'm brand new to GIMP and this is my first project using the software, but I pick up software quickly in general and I've already learned a good amount from this site's tutorials. On the positive side my knowledge in worlds is pretty comprehensive as a good chunk of my degree involved climate, so I have a head start in things like, Hadley, Ferrel, and Polar cells, ocean and wind currents, climates and biomes, and plate tectonics and their effects. I'll link an imgur album at the end but here are some of my concerns/questions so far:

• If my initial file settings were 7680px X 4380px and 72 dpi have I screwed myself out of all my detail?
• This was supposed to be the whole world but I think it needs to be larger so that each pixel is less distance, is it possible, in GIMP, to increase the size of what I have without ruining things like coastlines, positions, and proportions?
• If I have to cut up the map into Land masses so that the single file size isn't too large, can I combine the parts into a whole later?
• how should I deal with distortions in distance due to an equirectangular projection?
• When I realized I needed to have Ice caps I scaled the image in GIMP and then Increased the Canvas Size, was this a mistake?

Here's what I've got so far:
http://imgur.com/a/YAjLp
I'd like to work on topography and details like rivers, lakes, cities, hills, mountains, and the like next but I'd like input before I try that stuff.
Hope you(the Guild) can give me some tips/advice! Thanks in advance, and glad I can be a member!

[Chick]

Hello Zetsuei, Welcome to the Guild!

I assume you have already read the basic tutorials, but be sure not to miss
How to Get Your Rivers in the Right Place: http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

and
The Most Common Reality Errors:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=30156

[Zetsuei]

Thanks for the links! I have learned most of these things but it's nice to have them in a list so that I can doublecheck if I've forgotten anything.