My first map, and it'll be a doozie.

[SilverDrake3]

It is my hope that through the kind assistance of real cartographers, I'll be able to create a halfway decent map for my fantasy novel/s that I'm planning to write. I have a decent grasp of plate tectonics, erosion, currents, and climate but I'm no more than a novice in any of these areas.

The map will be of a full continent approximately 3,000 miles long from north to south. There will be a large mountain range to the south, possibly with areas of permafrost. In the middle will be mostly grasslands trying to invade more barren areas. Finally, to the north will be lush forests with extremely tall trees, possibly tropical in nature.

The Gimp is my weapon of choice, which I am already familiar with, and I'm thinking the first step will be to decide on elevation and general shape, paint that in grayscale, then hit it with a gradient map.

Thanks to the randomness of the noise generator, I managed to get the first inklings of a continent. By doing some very loose dodging and burning, I was able to bring a continent out of the floating mass of islands.

So far, I've managed to do this:



For those who'd like to help me out by figuring out where I should put my rivers and other bodies of water, here's the full image I'm working with:



Stay tuned! Tips are appreciated!