Elendra - world map

[Ascension]

I don't think it's cartoony at all but rather "emphasized for aesthetic purposes". And, I quite like it. I'd like to see a bigger shot but it looks like a fun place. Nice job.

[Coyotemax]

A few things I like about this map -
Overall it looks nice to me
I like the borders, they follow a logical pattern (borders follow along natural boundaries for the most part) and i see a few areas with stories waiting to be told about border disputes
(like the valley in the northern part - with the border going down the middle... I can see it being contested by one side or the other every 50 years or so, and the locals don't really care as long as they don't get recruited for the armies that mass there, heh)
The colours work well, it looks painterly.

The only suggestion I would make on this considering the overall style would be to reduce the texture on the ocean, let the detail draw the eye to the land itself, where all the real stuff is going on

[arsheesh]

Hey Alvary, this is looking great so far. I really like the colors that you have chosen for this map, they are rich and vibrant, and quite pleasing on the eyes. Couple of suggestions. First the sea. The pattern (or whatever it is that you did to make those bumpy sea ridges) you are using is a bit defined. I'm not sure whether this pattern is supposed to represent waves, or sea bumps. If the former, brilliant! If the latter, it seems that they are both too well defined, and too numerous. I would suggest playing with the layer opacity of the this layer, or perhaps adding a Gaussian blur effect to try and tone them down a bit. Second, the mountains. The northern mountains (especially in the eastern half of the continent) are so obscured by snow that it is tough to make out any details. I would recommend erasing some of the snow, and adding another layer or two (underneath the snow caps layer) of blue-grey, grey-white, or something to try to represent variation in elevation. Overall though I really like this map so far. Looking forward to watching it progress.

Cheers,

-Arsheesh

[Ramah]

I like it. I would echo the sentiments of the others and call for a reduced texture on the sea but it doesn't kill the map as it is.

As much as I like it though I prefer your original version. Have you stopped developing that one now? Seems a shame to lose those lovely mountains.

[Rongar]

Hey there!

I also very much like the overall look, but I do have a couple of suggestions as well.

The forests look nice, but I think they are a wee bit too sharp and their contrast a bit too widely spread. The very light green parts catch my eye everytime I look at them. You could play a bit with their color curves maybe.

The mountais on the other hand - although wonderfully shaped - look actually quite blunt to me, as they're lacking detail. They would probably benefit from a new layer filled with solid noise or even felimage noise which then gets bumpmapped to them.

And lastly - the political borders. I don't know the background story to this world, but in some areas (like between Risha and Areland) they look too "straight" to me. I think they would look better with some fractalizing and distortion, to make them appear as if those countries really expanded unevenly by wars and such.

But this is me being nit-picky. Like I said, I do like this map and I think you've done quite a good job so far.

PS: I really love the rivers. The look very naturally.


Regards,

~~Rongar