WIP - (ambitious) World Map of fictious earth-like planet

[selden]

This particular image looks to me like it might be a map of the world's watersheds. Is that its intent?

I'd expect a map which provides a view of the planetary surface as it might appear from space to have quite different coloration, for example.



I'm asking because I'd expect somewhat different coloration i: deserts, rainforests

[Azélor]

This particular image looks to me like it might be a map of the world's watersheds. Is that its intent?

It's an elevation map.

Pixie:
It looks very convincing, I like the colours.

[Pixie]

However, it might be helpful if you put the elevation key in the map itself, since that would make it easier to compare the elevations to Earth (and identify possibly problematic areas).

You are right and you just posted a great color scheme recently with a matching map of Earth, so I will leave a version of this map with those colors/elevation scheme at the end of this post.

None of it looks unnatural to me, but I'm not an expert! I really like all of the fiddly little islands - especially the long ridges of islands on the far left! It would be neat to think about the different cultures which might develop - so close and yet divided by water.

That area is under major revision right now.. Sorry for that.

I personally think it looks awesome and its been my main source of inspiration and teaching for my own world , the only thing that I would say doesn't look very realistic to me are the twirls and spins that some mountains are doing , I understand its geologicial twists made by continent collisions and movements, but somehow seem too accentuated like if it wasn't solid rock but more of a fluid , eventually I would refine that, also on the Hypsographic map I would add more layers of color for mountain heights as so far its all very green and yellow , also I would add a Batymetric map to represent also undersurface continental drift as I did for example in my latest map.
I also would add a triple height distinction based on temperature or on rain , so for example dry hot areas would have a desert like tone , a cold dry area would have a cold icey tone etc...

Thank you Naima, for the kind words and advice.
I have toyed with the idea of using "natural colors" for a map. But I didn't still manage to produce anything worthy and for sure I haven't invested enough time. The same with batymetry - no time invested on that yet.

I am very curious about the places where the twirls and spins put you off. I'm not so happy with some places either. Can you point out those you noted, please.

It looks very convincing, I like the colours.

Thank you Azelor. And don't you go anywhere... I plan to have a good look at the climates of Maward not so far ahead.


And last in this post, a slightly updated map, this time colored with the same elevation key that Charerg just used in this thread.
currentstate_201706_comparablecolor.jpg
(I'm quite unhappy with the comparison, right now... must think...)

[Naima]

You are right and you just posted a great color scheme recently with a matching map of Earth, so I will leave a version of this map with those colors/elevation scheme at the end of this post.
That area is under major revision right now.. Sorry for that.
Thank you Naima, for the kind words and advice.
I have toyed with the idea of using "natural colors" for a map. But I didn't still manage to produce anything worthy and for sure I haven't invested enough time. The same with batymetry - no time invested on that yet.
I am very curious about the places where the twirls and spins put you off. I'm not so happy with some places either. Can you point out those you noted, please.







Thank you Azelor. And don't you go anywhere... I plan to have a good look at the climates of Maward not so far ahead.


And last in this post, a slightly updated map, this time colored with the same elevation key that Charerg just used in this thread.
currentstate_201706_comparablecolor.jpg
(I'm quite unhappy with the comparison, right now... must think...)

Hello Pixie , first let me tell that mine is just a very minor nitpicking sugestion and its based purely on a eye quick comparison between Earth and your world , I personally think that your elevation map shapes are perfect and especially good are the coastline fragmentation and archipelagos as well the mountain positionings etc ...

So here is an image about what I was meaning .

Wsc45w0.jpg

I have only highlighted the twirls that come noticeable to my eyes at a quick survey , I am not saying though that are not right or not possible as I am not a geologist or an expert on tectonic movements , I think you have a much deeper knowledge here so mine are explusively comparisons with the Earth .

I have attached also in the pic the max twirls you can see and notice on earth . What I seem to notice is that those twirls are more subtle to see and seem to have formed over long long time and probably subject to a lot of erosion and breakups that make those little twirls more irregular and less evident, but againits just an observation from an outside perspective and not at all a criticism on the "realism" wich for as much as I know can be totally realistic and plausible.

The new hypsographic map you used above looks good to me and makes the twirls indeed a little less evident .
Your world shapes are extremely realistic and very belieaveable and have nothing to envy to the Chareg one that in my opinion is also great but has some less realistic coastlines due to the almoust similar fragmentation of the shores on the different tectonic plaques sides.
In your map instead I can imediatly see , even without checking the tectonic plaques map what are the movements.

In my map I took a different approach only for time reasons , I do not have lot of time to work on coastlines forever and make also bathymetry and precise mountain drawings, so my approach was the one of FT - Wilbur - Photoshop wich many elements from Real Earth copied and reworked in PS readapted to my needs.
As for the Hypsographic map I used a different approach wich is the one that takes into consideration precipitation and humidity .

so my approach is the one to use Cross-blended Hypsometric Tints for Generalized Environmental Mapping

setup.jpg

Further informations here ...

To make them I created different outputs in wilbur with the custom made hipsographics for biomes as Ialso wanted to represent vegetation so I did sea, Grassland, rainforests, forests, desert and arctic layers and I selectively deleted parts of one or the others to make a see throught result overlays.

[Charerg]

(I'm quite unhappy with the comparison, right now... must think...)

Nice to see someone is making use of that colour scheme I posted (which is still a bit WIP, btw, so any feedback is welcome if there are some weak transitions, for example). Your map may suffer from having originally used different elevation levels than the ones I used (unless you created an actual black-and-white heightmap for it, allowing you to switch elevation levels easily). If you want, I can generate an Earth map with different elevation levels from the ETOPO1 model, if you wish to have a more matching map of Earth for purposes of comparison (although I should warn that my 2-month free license for ArcMap expires in about a week, and after that I'll probably not be able to).

That said, I don't think it's all that bad even in it's present shape. A bit of touch-up here and there, ramping up the elevations in the Acuran interior (since you seem to going for a bit African-ish look for central Acur), and reducing the area covered by the 0-50 level, and it would already be very close to Earth. I guess the mountains in Palamb are a bit on the high side, but that's not necessarily wrong since those are continent-continent collision zones, and surely a touch of exaggeration is acceptable in fantasy (after all, it doesn't have to be exactly like Earth in every detail ).