[WIP] Aard fantasy continent inspired by europe

[Wulfic]

Hi guys !

I worked on this map alot, I even have posted a thread a few months ago, but apparently the rivers were f****d so I tried to improve them. I think theyre ok now, even tho there is a bit to much of them i think.

Otherwise I think this is very close to finish, This is my first map so my photoshop skills are limited, most of the effects here are trials and errors and some of them I cant even recall how to do them, that means I would need to sit again an hour or two to figure out how to repeat the same steps ...

I really need some guidelines here guys, I dont know how to do a parchment texture thats for one, Colorised borders ( like medieval maps ) and some legend or other nice effects which I perhaps dont know yer, and honestly , tutorials, dont really work for me because I kinda messed up the layers... If Anyone would be interested to help me , I could post a psd file of my map.

For now the link to my almost finished map on Deviantart. Critique is always welcomed !!!!!

http://chryzantemyn.deviantart.com/a...253A1458815287

[vaiyt]

I've no experience with maps myself, but this looks pretty awesome to me! I want to know what's the relationship between the different shields there.

[Wulfic]

thank you vayit , The shields are different kingdoms and lands occupied by different tribes under one banner. The ones in the north are our typical european kingdoms like france, Poland, Britain, Italy , germany , the ones in the south however are a mixture of russian/mongolians and arabic culture.

[Gidde]

Hi Wulfic, you may find that you get a lot more feedback if you actually post the image here, rather than linking to an image-hosting site (even one as reputable as DeviantArt). A lot of us (myself included) tend to read the forums in the tiny tiny chunks of time we have available, and opening a browser takes a lot longer than just looking at the map in my Tapatalk app

[Josiah VE]

Very nice, the shields really give personality to it. It's hard to tell from the small size of the image but are some of the forests darker and some of them lighter? Just thought that was a bit strange.

[Wulfic]

@Gidde , sadly I couldnt find a single site which hadnt had an error while uploading my map, I got so frustraded after 20 or more tries that i Just tried to upload it on deviantart and it worked so there it is

@Josiah VE thanks ! U can zoom very close to the image if u just click on it 2 times. The forests differ because the ones in the north are pines and in the middle of the map are different trees.

[Josiah VE]

The reason it isn't working to upload your map may be because the file is to big, I don't know what the file size limit is but it's definitely under 25 Mb.

Oh okay, it wasn't zooming for me before. Now I see, those 'forests' I thought were so much lighter than the other ones are marshes.

One thing that isn't a giant problem because the map isn't supposed to be viewed at full size, is that some of the mountains are a bit blurry, that would be from making the brush bigger than it's supposed to be, but as I said if it's viewed at half or something you can't notice it. Also the texture you have for the background when viewed at full size is low quality and blue and pink and stuff.

[Falconius]

I believe it's 4 mb, or that's what I recall it being, but that could be wrong.

[Wulfic]

UPDATE

I finally figured a few things out and improved my map, however Im stuck at the "Cartouches" ( I think ? ) and some other stuff that would make my map prettier and to be honest I really cant figure out how or what to add. Any suggestions ?

The updated map : http://chryzantemyn.deviantart.com/a...253A1458934129

[Eld]

I like your map, the shape of the continent, the coat of arms and the design of the mountains. I don't think you have too many rivers on the map because if the continent is on the zone of temperate climate it'll have much rain. The names have a strong slavic touch to them, is this related to your mother tongue? I like that as it gives something unique to the names in comparison to the many maps with names based on the Latin language (French, English, Spanish,...).

I imagine the map would look even better if you'd give the ocean a more blueish color. At the moment it's just a darker shade of the land color. I'd say a dark, desaturated greyish blue would work with the style of your mountains and forests.

By the way, did you know that in the world of The Witcher (the books and rpg game) there is a big river called Pontar? This fact and the slavic style of the names reminds me of the world of The Witcher which I appreciate very much.

Edit:

I just noticed that your labels have a strong white.. erm... shadow? background? (don't know the english word). In my eyes it is too strong. It worked out well on the grey map but now I think it would look better if you could lower the opacity of that layer or desaturate the white color.