WIP- unnamed fantasy world

[ascanius]

This is looking fantastic. It puts me in mind of Viking's wonderful work, and that really is the highest praise I can give.

One thing which might have room for improvement is the coastline. The problem (if it is in fact a problem) is that the land just stops and the water begins; I wonder whether something could make the shore more distinct (a slight shadow on the land, for example, or a very narrow band of brighter/more saturated coastal waters)
THW

Thank you for the compliment Yeah the coastlines have been problematic, Right now I've added a very light blue/white at the coastlines in the central sea, I think it works much better, I've also darkened the water.

Ah, yes, that reads better, and the small touch of extra red appears well-blended and natural and makes me curious about the landscape. Also, just wondering... did you intend the desert to be shaped like a skull/profile of a head?

Yeah I was hoping the desert worked, hopefully I didn't over do it with the update.

Hehe I didn't even notice the skull until you pointed it out, it was completely chance that it turned out the way it did. If you search you can also find an upside down ax and an upside down dragon head with it's mouth open.

Map02.jpg

The further I get the more I worry about how I'm going to do things like roads and cities while keeping with the theme

[ascanius]

Ok Here is the latest update, along with some questions.

Map02.jpg

First, right now the mountains are not very consistent in terms of style and color, most notably ranges 4,5, and 6. It annoys the hell out of me and havn't really been able to fix it without making it worse. I'm hoping that the size and distance between them will allow for such variation but.... What are your thoughts.

I'm also debating keeping the oceans a single solid color, mostly because doing the ocean floors is very time consuming, especially the divergent boundaries. My other reason is I don't really need that information, it looks nice but is not really relevent if feel. My last reason the map is going to get very very busy. Any thoughts,

As to the lakes, I am aslo unure how to proceed, Should the lakes follow the same colors as the oceans? If so how much detail should I go into? Along the same lines right now I like how lake #2 looks but I am wonder if maybe a solid color is better like with #1.

Also what do you thinkg about how I did the rivers around #8 compared to the other rivers, I'm undecided right now so I haven't added any more yet.

Area # 7 is giving me a little trouble in that I'm having difficulty in the transition between the desert and what would be a steppe/base of mountains. I'm not sure if how it is right now works or not. Also I have no idea what I should do with the rivers on that side of the mountains, should they follow the entire mountain range and join up with #8? or should some of them go into the desert and dry out? a combination of both?

10, Does the desert canyons work how I have done it? I don't really like how it is right now but it gets too indistinct when I darken the highlights/ sunny side.

9 the ice caps, I'm wondering if they look fuzzy only to me or if they need work, maybe more detail.

And lastly I was thinking about making lake 1 into something like yellowstone caldera submerged but I'm not sure if that makes any sense right there. I was thinking having that northern area having a lot of volcanic activity, though at this scale i'm not sure it matters.

I hope that made sense, any suggestions would be of great help, I'm starting to loose my mind with this map.

[ascanius]

Figured I would post an update. Work is slow and I'm having trouble making headway. Anyway. What do you think?

Map02.jpg

[jshoer]

I really like that desert; it has a great windblown texture to it. Are you planning to try and put dune fields in there?

[ascanius]

I really like that desert; it has a great windblown texture to it. Are you planning to try and put dune fields in there?

Thank you, it was very problematic at first but I figured it out around the fifth try. I thought about the dunes but I probably wont add any, one because the scale, two because I want to finish the map. I may go back and add those small details onces the mountains and everything else is finished.

[ascanius]

Here is an update. Work has been slow, very slow, but I managed to get more mountains done, sorta. Anyway what do you think?

Map02.jpg

[Chashio]

I think it's looking good!

[Pixie]

It's very good. To my eyes, it looks very good.

Zoomed out, comparing to Earth, the color transitions are too strong. But that's something you can fix later with some adjustment layers (saturation, colorizing, etc).

I say keep it up!

[ascanius]

I think it's looking good!

Thank you Chashio

It's very good. To my eyes, it looks very good.

Zoomed out, comparing to Earth, the color transitions are too strong. But that's something you can fix later with some adjustment layers (saturation, colorizing, etc).

I say keep it up!

Thank you Pixie Nice to see you around here, even if it's only once in a while.
Yeah, I have a lot of post processing work once the base map is finished, I think i'm going to redo a few regions also.


Ok here is the update.

Map02.jpg

[Pixie]

Wow, nearly done!

I think you need to focus a little bit more on north/south color variations. Hue drifts from a little more blue in the north to vivid green as one progess south, that kind of variation is missing.

Here's the parts that I really drool over:
- the mountains to the west of Drakes Bay - they are stunningly drawn and colored
- the very large river flowing through the eastern plains to the Cidece Sea - it's going to be a major major civilization magnet (and navigable for a very long distance) (and a colossal wrecker when heavy rains add to spring melting in those mountains)

The mountain range to the west, on the other hand, looks meh - you are loosing the battle against detail-wear (just made this one up).