(Almost) Finished map of Northern Aruv

[ChickPea]

How about trying to make the roads dotted or dashed? That would help to differentiate from the rivers.

[Caenwyr]

Overall your map is looking great already, but there still are some things I think you might want to tackle.

First there's the transition between rivers and seas. At the moment it looks like the rivers are cut off when they reach the coast, while the transition should be almost imperceptible. Just a minor remark.

Then there's the roads. First off: I actually like how they look, even though at this moment it's hard to see the difference between them and the rivers. I think you'll have to resort to using a dashed line as Chickpea proposed, or maybe just a far thinner line, crisp and clean. I noticed you have at least two road thicknesses in your map, so maybe you could combine both techniques: thin, continous lines for important roads, and equally thin but dashed lines for more minor ones. Anyway, whatever you choose to do, I certainly wouldn't do away with them. The more information your map can give (without looking clunky), the better!

Also, while I generally like where your roads are, there's at least one place where I'd personally have put them somewhere else. I'm being really fussy here, I know, but here goes. East of Asalan, the valley seems to split in two as you go up. The NW arm is broad and deep, while the SE one is narrower, and a fair bit higher in altitude. It's in this narrow valley that you put the road. Personally I'd have put it in the broader one, but of course there might be in-story reasons not to (radioactive contamination, a swamp, raiders, some sort of religious restriction, ...).

A few small remarks, but nothing major as you can see. You're certainly on the right track with this one!

[Ilanthar]

Very good map! I have to agree with Caenwyr about the transition seas/rivers and as ChickPea, I think you need to balance a bit more the color/texture for the sea. I really like your forests, both drawing and coloring.
The labels look fine but some of your small white labels for rivers are hard to read.

[RigoIII]

Yes the rivers were a big problem because of the sort of outline I had, I think I finally fixed it however. I used a blue color picked up from the ocean and smudged the deltas a bit. I changed the road color and made a small thin outline to delineate it more. Caenwyr, your insight that was exactly what I was looking for! Advice and critiques from a more experienced artist is never bad, thank you. I added the road through the larger valley but left the other one as well (might be a little smuggling road who knows). I kinda played around with some sea monsters, not sure if they fit good however (first time doing that so I can't tell much) and added a rose and more labels (actually had to start from scratch with those because I messed up the fonts).



Anything else needs fixing? Speak now or forever hold your peace! Well not really, I change a lot of things... really... A LOT: http://prntscr.com/aavisd

[arsheesh]

Looking good. I too really like those forests.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[vaiyt]

That's one beautiful map.

[Caenwyr]

Now that's what I call roads! That thin stroke helps a lot in identifying what they are. The smuggling road is nice, I like the idea, lends a bit of a story to your map without actually giving it all away!

The river mouths are much better now, well done.

About the monsters: they actually look great, and I don't think they clash with the style of the map. I just noticed that the snakey one seems to be cut off on the right side... You still have the source image laying around somewhere?

Oh I know how easily an (almost) finished map can become a work in progress again. You post it up here, ready for some finishing touches, and before you know it you're completely redoing it!