One of my worlds

[Rahva]

Hello everyone!
This is my first post here. It's not the first map I've ever made, but by far the most goodlooking one. It was made with tutorials I found on this site, so I might as well post it for some critique while it's only in its early stages.
The world itself has no name yet - and neither does the story it is for.

Comments:
- The way the continent is formed (top half, bottom half, and mountain range right in the middle with just one pass) is probably not too realistic. Long story short, this is the way the gods of this world have created it: top half for one god, bottom half for the other, to avoid conflict.
- The big grey area in the South-East corner is an infertile wasteland in a huge crater where some idiot set off an artifact left by the gods.

As you can see there is a lot of work still to be done, but I would really like some input on this first feeble attempt. I'll be posting updates here as I go along.

[Gamerprinter]

Hey, Rahva! I am giving you REP for posting a map.

I like the coastal design of your continent - not too smooth, but nice and fractalized, more realistic that way.

The technique you're using to highlight the coastal waters seem kind of weird, but maybe its not completely developed yet. I'd say look at other maps here and get a feel to how we make coastal waters.

Separating a continent in half to favor two different gods is not such outlandish concept in a fantasy game - I say continue on that path, it works. And separated by a huge mountain range is proper obstacle in such a world.

I think you'll need to make more, though smaller mountain ranges, as most continents have more than one range of mountains on it. Unless this is a smaller subcontinent.

Anyway, good start and I look forward to your progress with it.

GP

[Gamerprinter]

Oh, Rahva, not to push you to my style, but here's a continental map I created not long ago, that has a crater (caused by a comet strike, instead) on the geography, near the center of the map. I'm wondering how you're planning to make your final crater when you get to that.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2572

GP

[Ascension]

Rivers look good, trees look cute, all in all I'd say nice job. If you have the time, though, I'd erase some of the brown around the mountains and ensure that they are only in the open slot between the slope lines, just my opinion tho. Nice shape as well, very fantastical and lends itself to a heavily magicked world.

[Hoel]

Ha. I thought cute when I saw the forests too.
The mountain looks a bit too ordered imo. Put some ranges out from the central range.
I want to see where this goes.

[Ascension]

Oh, also, you have a little finger of a range sticking out...more of those might look cool, but not a whole set of hands worth

[Rahva]

Here is an update, full size this time now that I know the forum can handle it.
This is taking some of the advice here from the thread. I culled the brown stuff so it's only around the actual mountains, added more mountains (not done yet), removed the relief from the ocean cause it looked silly. And added more stuff.
I'm curious as to what you think of the mountain pass. Does it work?

I have a question though. Once I get to the stage where I add the cities and so on - do I just put a dot down with a label, or do I draw a funny little city?

Stuff to do:
- Complete terrain, including several more magical anomalies and the crater.
- Emphasise rivers.
- Typography and so on.
- Find out how to do the emblem things most maps have in the corner
- probably lots more

[Midgardsormr]

I have a question though. Once I get to the stage where I add the cities and so on - do I just put a dot down with a label, or do I draw a funny little city?

You can do either. I generally prefer a simple dot, both because I find it more aesthetically pleasing and because it's far easier. Take a look through any dingbat fonts you have installed and see if there are some symbols you might like to use for cities and landmarks.

- Find out how to do the emblem things most maps have in the corner

Here's a breakdown of those sorts of things:
The compass rose is used to indicate which way is North (or whatever cardinal direction is most important in your world).
The scale bar, of course, is a measurement device, showing a standard distance in an appropriate length unit.
The legend is a guide to interpreting the symbols, colors, and textures on the map.
Any box or somesuch used to contain this or other information is known as a cartouche.

[Steel General]

This is coming along nicely, one of many to follow along with the progress.

[Korash]

Knowing that this is a WIP, I might be jumping the gun here, but as things stand now, the terrain features are overpowering the land mass. I am wondering if you are planning to either de-emphasize the features and/or re-emphasize the coast line sometime before the end?

Oh, and by the way, Great going so far