Trying to make this map look as 3D as possible D:

[arsheesh]

Lovely work! The trees are much improved. The colors are excellent, as are the map symbols. One thing I noticed is that many of the terrain features (in particular, the hills and mountains) have appear somewhat hazy and ethereal. This may be intentional, and if so, well and good. However other features, such as the trees, appear much more concrete and distinct, which creates a bit of inconsistency in the overall style. My suggestion would be to either reduce the opacity of the stroke and shadow on the trees so that they too appear hazy against the landscape, or alternatively add more definition to the other terrain features (e.g. more contrast between shadow and light and more solid lines). Overall though, this is a lovely piece.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Ilanthar]

I like your trees, but they looks better on the right (near ambrose tears) than the left (nightveil woods) imho. Did you do something different?

For me, your cities (very well done!) labels are legible. I have more trouble to read the labels on a few mountains and seas actually (like "waters of malice" and "hills of the uninvinted"). Maybe you could try a slight glow under the labels?

And yes, you have to color that sea dragon or Jalyha will be the one of the rare to spot it (plus, I'm sure it will be great when colored).

By Seredemia
I haven't merged any layers at all

That's what you have to do in order to be able to change/fix things! I keep layers separated to the end and merged just for print. Sadly, my software tend to force me to merge some or the file may come to big for it.

That's already an amazing map, anyhow.

[seredemia]

Thank you Gamerprinter for your help on the rivers so far!! I really suck at them... I think based on your instructions, I have a vague idea of where they should be now. I hope...

Aside from the whole river stuff, which I agree with wholeheartedly, I just wanted to say this is a hella beautiful map, it's got so much vibrant color, it really makes want to study it and learn about those lands.

Thank you!! I plan on putting some small bg info under the map and then put a frame around everything for people who want some insight into the continent.

My suggestion would be to either reduce the opacity of the stroke and shadow on the trees so that they too appear hazy against the landscape, or alternatively add more definition to the other terrain features (e.g. more contrast between shadow and light and more solid lines). Overall though, this is a lovely piece.

Thank you! And okie doke, that should be a good idea. I'll just make the mountains more defined then!

I like your trees, but they looks better on the right (near ambrose tears) than the left (nightveil woods) imho. Did you do something different?

I haven't actually done anything to the trees towards the east yet... I started the west side by adding some bevel to it since the trees were too small for me to shade in myself. I'll reduce the opacity of the bevel so it doesn't look as obvious as it does now then

And yes, you have to color that sea dragon or Jalyha will be the one of the rare to spot it (plus, I'm sure it will be great when colored).

Hehe, I'm colouring him today I STILL NEED A NAME FOR HIM THOUGH.

[Jalyha]

He has a name already, you silly thing, just ask him

[seredemia]

I'm actually tempted to name him after you since you were the first one to spot him.......

IF SO, I'LL CHANGE HE TO A SHE.

[Jalyha]

How do you know he wasn't a she already?

Anyway, I asked my dragon, and she said his name was IAHMVAAAO, which in dragon means "silly-fishtail" but then she laughed, and so I think she was kidding.

[seredemia]

I'm afraid I might lack the skill to understand dragons as well as you do. So far, I've labelled him as Mr. Serpent on my Photoshop layer and I think that name doesn't really justify him right now. Regardless of whether IAHMVAAAO is his actual name or not, I reckon it's better than Mr. Serpent...

Speaking of which, HE'S ALIVEEEEEEEEEEE.

[Jalyha]

I think he looks lovely (IAHMVAAAO) (hush you)

I think "Mr. Serpent" might make him easier to find until you've decided his name though

[seredemia]

I failed to mention this before but this isn't actually the whole map yet. There's still two countries I haven't included into the map because... well, I couldn't at this view. One country is located underwater (under Aquis Vol and Noxval), and another is located in the sky, floating about Noxval. It probably goes without saying that these countries are magical >___< I was debating whether I should draw separate maps for them and add them onto this map somehow or post them as separate maps. However, considering that this is meant to be a map of the empire of Aversten, then I guess I should add those two countries here as well.

So I made rough sketches of the two countries and did a vague layout of how I wanted the whole thing to look like. I'm going to draw some sort of frame around it so that brown border around it right now isn't what the frame is going to look like. Now that I look at it as well, I'm probably going to move the part with all the crests and text at the very top instead? Would that look better?

I'm still unsure about the design of the underwater country. Basically, the species that reside in it are called the Aquis and the simplest way I can put them as is that they're like elves that have gradually evolved to breathe underwater. I won't bore you guys with the history of it now But in my head, I wanted a country where the capital city was the central focus. Plus GLASS TUNNELS. ENCHANTED GLASS TUNNELS. Still unsure about how I'm going to demonstrate that in the map, but I'll improvise and see...

And the floating island is just that, really. There are some lakes there that have been magically cast by mages, but that's it.

But I really don't know if all this will look good together. I have a vague idea of how I want it to look and I reckon it'll look great if I pull it off but as this is my first map ever, you can probably guess that I'm not very confident... If it doesn't go the way I want it to, I'll probably post the map I've been working on by its own, and post the other two countries as separate maps.

What do you guys think? Bad idea? Good idea??

OH and btw, how in the world do some of you post maps that are like HUUUUGE without the forum quality stopping you?? I always have to resize my maps, even after switching it to jpg?

[madcowchef]

Your layout looks like it would work just fine. Other good options are a classic triptych with two smaller side panels, as these both seem to present mostly vertically, or you could even show each in its relative position with a panel above and below with room for information to either side. As far as your confidence goes have you seen what you made? Its pretty darn impressive.