WIP - Map for New Novel

[Dagnathur]

I decided to do the DIY approach. I would like feedback on my map before it finds its way into the novel. Thank you in advance.
Duradon v1.jpg

[Diamond]

1. Welcome to the Guild, and good job on diving right in. Sometimes the best way to do it is DIY.

2. Your mountain ranges seem a little unrealistic. Is there a specific story-related reason that they line every coast so precisely? That just looks artificial to me.

3. The relative sizes of your mountain icons vs. your tree icons looks wonky. I'd reverse the ratio and make the mountain icons bigger, the trees smaller.

4. Are you planning to add rivers? That's usually the main thing newbie map-makers get wrong.

5. I like the overall shape and 'feel' of the map - looking forward to more!

[Eld]

The peninsulas are some pretty ones here. The ones in the western north look like a head or something.
The most important thing for improvement would be the size of your mountains and trees as Diamond put it. Also some kind of scale would help to figure out, what size the depicted land has.
If you plan to go with more colours, I'd suggest to add colour to the water areas so they could be identified easily.
Maybe you could vary the density of the forests by overlapping the tree icons sometimes and thereby causing irregularities which would make the whole thing more interesting.

A newbies question: DIY is do it yourself?

[Dagnathur]

A newbies question: DIY is do it yourself?

Yes, DIY is Do it Yourself. Thanks for the comments. I can play around with the sizing.

[Dagnathur]

Thanks for the feedback. Some quick changes. Here is round 2.

Duradon v2.jpg

[Dagnathur]

I jumped ahead and started labeling the map. I'm using Photopshop 7. The map feels right. Though I think some cleaning up needs done. I know I have seen amazing stuff posted here.

Duradon v3.jpg

[mats]

I like your new forests a lot. I don't like that the mountains are so uniformly placed. Also cities (circles?). They're all the same distance from one another. I miss some randomness to the map - when looked as a whole it's equally filled everywhere you look. There are no empty areas or areas bursting with activity. But as I'm also a newb to the cartography so take my input with a grain of salt