Planet WIP - C&C Welcome

[nolgroth]

I think the lights are much more 'convincing' now. This is coming along nicely.

Thanks. Almost done with the last of the scenery/geographic updates. Then I'm going to try to put in some political boundaries and some labels. I just don't know how much the shadow is going to interfere. We'll see.

[nolgroth]

Another WIP. I really started not to like the shadow, so I deleted it and started over with a shadow that encompasses half of the planet. I wanted to have some continental definition so I had to reduce the opacity of the shadow a bit. To fix this, I created two more shadow layers at 33% and 25% of the planet. I set the opacity of the layers as a sort of primitive gradient and merged them together to get the gradual deepening of the shadow as you get further into the night side.

My initial toying with borders has not been entirely successful. More on that later. I may have to copy a flat map from an earlier version and apply a lens after I have them drawn out. Possible same with the labels.

[MadLetter]

The newest one looks really really good.

Enough green to satisfy me personally, although I'd maybe implement some forests. The cities look brilliant, would you mind telling me the hex-data for the color used? I'd like to try that one for my planetary map, too, if it's okay with you.

Also, you might want to add some rivers maybe? Rivers and woodlands would make this planet a lot more diverse and awesome, I'd say.

Also a last point of criticism: Put a very few lights inside the continent, or at least a little deeper into it from the sea. The land may not be settled much, but - without further knowledge - I'd say there would be several locations on the "inside", too.

Hope this helps in getting this supreme work a tiny bit better! ;D

[nolgroth]

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions. Every suggestion helps. I consider myself a neophyte at best. The tutorials and help on this forum have helped me increase and advance my knowledge so I do not pass up any positive criticism. And because I see this "place" as exactly the kind of resource where we share our concepts and ideas, you are most welcome to use any ideas I post here however you see fit.

To the specifics of your suggestions.

I'm not thinking so much that the interior is not populated as much as there are few, if any population centers. Mostly small outposts and wandering tribes. I have this vision that the mostly desert continent in the shadow is Sahara-grade scorching hot. Still, a commerce center or two might not be completely inappropriate.

The HTML notation is #f6f4b9 (246 244 185) and/or f6f4d1 (246 244 209). Word of warning if you are using the Sparks brush in Gimp; it darkens the color so that the slightly off white becomes a yellowish color. I can only imagine that a darker color would become orange or something similar. See my post above for the specifics on the brush settings I used in Gimp (assuming that is what you are using). No idea what the Photoshop equivalent is.

I've considered rivers, but they would have to be mighty big (Nile or Amazon sized) to be visible from orbit.

[MadLetter]

Good look on things!

I myself am also a neophyte, I've barely scratched the surface of what is doable and what I think I can reach with my abilities and drive (a little arrogance here *grin*) !

Thanks for the hex-codes for the colors, I'll try using them myself, mine look... too bright

Also, I'd add at least one or two rivers, possible more. Make a few 1px thick rivers barely visible, and make a few bigger ones. My suggestions at least

Also, another thing I wanted to say: the new shadow on the planet looks ultimately superior to the old one! Keep the new one definitely!

[nolgroth]

Thanks again. I just discovered another important rule in map making; pixels and dpi don't mean a thing unless you know what you're doing. This map is about half the printed size I will need. Only about a quarter of what I would want it to be like before reducing it to a manageable print size.

Talk about back to the drawing board.

Oh well. Just another chance to get better at my second hobby.