How should I go about mapping?/ Asking for general advice

[Milan Neddich]

Apologies if the title is vague. Im bad at wording things to begin with, and im even less sure how to describe what im asking here in a title.
Im working on a little personal worldbuilding project. I want it to, ultimately, be good, at least fairly decent, but I haven't actually done anything like this before. So far it looks like this, getting the coastlines marked over the original MS paint map, an edited form of something from an alternate history forum worldbuilding project.

Made in gimp
Im somewhat worried then, given the lack of experience. I dont really know how I should proceed given that ive not done this before. Already im not exactly sure the level of detail on the coast looks quite right for how large its supposed to be, the big island with a complete coastline being somewhere between 1.5x the size of Borneo and 1/2 the size of Australia. And I really dont know much about the natural effects of rivers and erosion that create coastlines, how things really should look.
Should I try and make more, smaller maps, to practice, if I want this one to be good?(Say, of smaller islands visible)
Is there anything I should study?
Is it fine to continue on with this and just tweak and edit it as I go along, and go back on things, or should I not try it untill im better?

[waldronate]

Look at the finished maps section to see what appeals to you and then read through the tutorials section here to see if there are any that are close to what you want. Then practice. Try something different, and practice again. Refine what you want to place on the map and practice again. The nicest things about a lack of experience is that it's 100% curable and the cure is practice!

[Chick]

Hi Milan,

If you went to an aviation forum and asked "how should I go about landing a plane", the answer would be, you have a lot to learn first. It's kinda the same here. In just one post, you have asked about software, geology, and cartography, all of which take some serious study to do well.

I'd suggest you start with a simple free program, like GIMP, and just make some simple maps. Read some of the getting-started tutorials from the tutorial section of this forum slowly and thoroughly, and do the exercises. Post some of your attempted maps and get some critiques. After a few of these, you will start to know what you still need to learn. Like landing a plane, there is no shortcut to study and practice.

[Milan Neddich]

Alright- thank you both. Ill look around at some completed and historical maps to get an idea of what I wanna do, and practice before going into the main map too much.

[Midgardsormr]

On the other hand, if you try and fail, you're less likely to kill someone with a map than with an airplane.

In terms of practical advice, try scaling your existing map up significantly, like 4 - 8x, and paint over it at that higher resolution. Don't worry about pixel-perfection. If you need it, it can come later, but for now just try to get the large strokes in so that you have something to refine later on. Don't try to get everything right from the get-go—that's a good way to wind up with creative paralysis. Instead, dive right in and don't fear mistakes. Get feedback by posting your works-in-progress and asking questions. We're one of the friendliest communities on the web, so don't be afraid of the critiques!

[Milan Neddich]

In terms of practical advice, try scaling your existing map up significantly, like 4 - 8x,

Uh, you sure? Its 3500x6100 as it is right now, and gimp freezes up in between commands when I work on it. The image was just a zoomed out puush screenshot.
Ill probably go back and do that though, go over the unpainted stuff with a more rough border, or even start again from the scaled up paint image and go over it like that.

[Midgardsormr]

Ah, I hadn't looked closely enough at the image; the coastlines are much higher resolution than the interior of the continent, which is what had attracted my attention. I think I told you to do something you'd already done. That'll teach me to take my time!

[Milan Neddich]

Well, -some- of the coastlines are. Some of them I never went in on with random gimp coastlines. But im not entirely sure the ones that are are really right for their supposed size, and it kiiinda feels like the detail is a bit too intense on the whole- like there should be more smooth coast, and more jagged coast should be a specific kind of feature rather than a quality of the whole thing. At least for something somewhere between borneo and australia in size.
Though, its hard to make that out on that screenshot. Heres an example:

Edit:actually, maybe its not so hard to tell on that original, now that I realize I can click to expand it. Geh.

[Midgardsormr]

Why don't you grab some images of the kinds of coastlines you'd like and use them as guides for your own? There's nothing better for verisimilitude than stealing features from the real world. Snatch bits of coast that are similar in makeup to your own—cliffs, wide sandy beaches, swampy deltas, glaciers, or whatever.

[Milan Neddich]

Probably a smart idea. Though that requires fleshing out just exactly what type of land goes where a bit more. Whats beach, whats river delta(and so, where the rivers run to), amongst other things. Albiet, in some places thats obvious, knowing that the yellow represents higher elevation alot of the coast on that image just posted would likely be cliffs, for example, but not so on alot of others.
A basic outline would probably be the best precursor to figuring things like that.