Cestran- First attempt at a map

[Ziast]

I'll start by saying I'm not artistically inclined at all. I am mostly a writer and this is the map of my newest creation. I made two maps in different styles. One is more of a realistic satellite view, the other is more map-ish. The second is my preferred of the two.

I'm not sure about the shape of my continent... I've already redone it once. Something about how the plateau and the lower mainland merges. I can reason through how it works to myself, but it just seems odd.

Most of the rivers are obscured in the satellite view, seen better in the second one though there are more that I added in that one.

So, I don't know... What does everyone think? What can I do different?

(The files are too big to post here, so here's link to dA. Somehow they end up being like 5000x5000)

http://ziast.deviantart.com/art/CestranMap2b-614356130

http://ziast.deviantart.com/art/Cestran-Map-2-613477896

[johnvanvliet]

Both look fairly good ,and i have seen WAY worse

one thing in the "sat" view you can work on a height map ( DEM ) using gimp and or wilbur and use that to shade

as to rivers

almost ALL rivers on satellite images of the earth are LESS than one pixel unless it is a very BIG image or a close up

[Ziast]

one thing in the "sat" view you can work on a height map ( DEM ) using gimp and or wilbur and use that to shade

Could you elaborate on that, or direct me to some reading? I'm not familiar with the terminology. Or are you talking about making a topographical map? I am using GIMP.

almost ALL rivers on satellite images of the earth are LESS than one pixel unless it is a very BIG image or a close up

Oh, ya. I see what you mean. The one in the middle is a big river, but I guess at this scale it is a little too big. I can tone those down.

Thank you for the input!

[Robulous]

I hope that isn't a Wall in the North - we've had quite enough of that in fantasy maps thankyou!

[Ziast]

I hope that isn't a Wall in the North - we've had quite enough of that in fantasy maps thankyou!

Ahha! No, don't worry it's not a wall. It's my attempt at drawing a plateau. It goes from aird grassland to a platueau/high elevation desert, then into the mountain range. You have no idea how long I spent on that section trying to make it somewhat resemble one.

[johnvanvliet]

Could you elaborate on that, or direct me to some reading? I'm not familiar with the terminology. Or are you talking about making a topographical map? I am using GIMP.

a height map , something like this ( a quick 20 min. job )



that can be used in Gimp to make a shaded relief image in gimp


( a 16 bit height map and used Gimp2.9.3 DEVELOPMENT )

this is what the "bumpmap" filter dose ( / filter / map / Bump Map)
takes a heightmap and uses that to shade a image .In this case a 50% gray image



as to making that heightmap

have a look at the how to section and
"Fun With Wilbur (and friends)"
http://cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=29412

for this i just used the air-brush and painted a base height map
then eroded it in wilbur

[foremost]

You've picked an interesting scale at which to work... as you may have discovered, it's difficult to show rivers, cities, and other little details when you're trying to fit an entire continent on the page.

I'm surprised to hear that your files were too big for uploading to the Cartographers' Guild! The file size limits are fairly workable here since most users utilize this website for uploading and sharing their maps, and the dimensions of the images you posted on DeviantArt were not so big as to suggest humongous file sizes. If for some reason you are still going above the size limit, experiment with the settings in whatever program you are using to produce a smaller image file.

[Ziast]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm going to try and put it into practice. I've envisioned this world as smaller than earth, and this continent reaches from the pole to about the tropic, so while not as big as Earth, I've overestimated the size of landmarks.

One of the maps uploaded, but other was bigger so I just put them both on dA. Makes for a prettier post. I'v got to do something about the unweildly sizes though. Ends up taking forever to apply a texture to the whole canvas.

[Ziast]

I've largely redone the continent and somehow I have ended up with two others. Not sure what I'm going to do with them at this point.

This time I started by planning out all of the different currents and winds and plates. My plateau area still looks a bit off, I don't know if it needs to be smaller. Think my rivers are still too big in spots. The one on the east continent in center, connecting the biggest lake(inland sea?) I imagine as less of a river and more of a shallow/marshy strait connecting the two.

A few notes about this world so that the climate makes sense:
-I've been basing everything off of the idea that the smaller continent is roughly the size of Greenland.
-The planet size is between the Earth and Mars, closer to Mars.
-Spins in the reverse direction of Earth(East to West)(Because it's easier to move a whole planet then change the location of the plateau)
-Has an axial tilt around 15* (Can be changed, I just thought it'd be something cool to add and work with.
-The northern sea does develop sea ice, I just didn't include it.

Here's one I did via copy-paste from google maps:
Remodel1GoogleCestranDoneNT.jpg

And the whole world. I tried to use the bump map to make my mountains, I like how the northern mountain range came out, the SW one isn't as great. I also used more textures on the terrain vs trying to draw in my own, plus played with the ocean textures. I've included a scale, let me know If I'm out to lunch on the distances.
Cestran SadrenTutNames.png

And some of the climate maps for fun
HeightMap.png
Precipitation map.png

I tried to make one more map like, less real, but it wasn't working out. I don't know what sort of style I like and what ever I try just looks weird. This is what we get then.