(Almost) Finished map of Northern Aruv

[RigoIII]

Here's a black and white and a "very" colorful version of my map. It needs minor touch-ups, such as names of rivers and similar things need to be given proper name placements. I am not sure about that large river in the middle, the Devona. It goes through pretty much the whole North from west to east, from sea to sea, however it does have a lot of minor rivers flowing in to it so it might be possible. It's created between two large mountain chains so that might be plausible (thoughts in comments please). Anyway, this is pretty much my first major finished maps, after many attempts at many different styles. So, any ideas on how to improve, please share!

EDIT:

Putting it on this post too:

[RigoIII]

A little update with no picture at the moment, fixed most of the names, changed the road (hand drawn via drawing tablet), more forests around Enda (cause it's where the Green/Forest elves live so... Eiroen got its own town and other such little touch ups... I'll post a photo when I can.

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[RigoIII]

Re-drawing the whole land because I'm just one of those people where everything has to be perfect... Changed the coastlines (mostly not too drastically), just expanded the Maidorien plain. Tomorrow I'll start hand-drawing the mountains and forests and other such thingies... Any ideas on how to improve some elements from the first version?

[Llannagh]

I think you were off to a good start with the first version(s). Though the refined coastlines look very nice.

Hand-drawing mountains and forests can get tedious, but tend to look better. The biggest critique I have for your first version would be the icy mountains. I'm assuming you wanted to depict the range as very large, but rather than making the single mountains bigger I would suggest to keep the scale of the other mountains but make them more numerous and dense.

I also just noticed the River Kingdoms. If those lines are all rivers (I first thought them to be rifts in ice shelfs or something similar) you should revise them. Rivers don't flow from one coast to the other. For some help with that here's one of the most posted link on the forum : http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3822

Otherwise the map is very clear and readable, despite the level of detail. Maybe desaturate the color of the water, it seems too bright in comparison to the rest.

[RigoIII]

They're not rivers now, it used to be one big river but much of the ice in the north melted and drowned most of the land around the hills. So it actually is just the sea around several islands, but the name stuck. The icy mountains, I'm thinking one or two very large ranges with numerous hills around them, I'll have three tops stick out, such is the storyline I've created for this little world

About the Rivers not going from sea to sea, I know and that's why I'm still thinking what to do about that Devona river in the middle of the map in the first version. I'm thinking because of the lakes between them and many rivers flowing in it might be possible, but I'll probably change that.

Thank you for the feedback!

[Caenwyr]

I don't think Devona river would work. It looks great (it does!), but unfortunately hydraulics disagree... But there's a solution, or better yet: there's several!

The post my predecessor refers to is very popular, but unfortunately also fairly long. This is the general gist. The bottom of a rift between two mountain ranges is never perfectly flat. A surface that isn't perfectly flat by definition has a highest point. In this configuration that point should be found roughly around the middle of the rift (give or take a few hundred miles...), and could be called a Pass, which makes for interesting political stories! A raindrop falling on one side of the pass would eventually drain toward one ocean, while a raindrop falling just inches further would drain to the other.

It's therefore perfectly possible for two rivers to have their sources very close to one another, but there will never be a direct connection between the two. However, I see no reason why there wouldn't be overland transport connecting the navigable parts of both rivers, which means a road, maybe crossed by a toll wall and more such exciting places ;-).

Alternatively, you COULD have a navigable connection through the rift if you turn it into a sea strait (a place where diverging continents break apart), but that will strongly influence the topography near the no-longer-river. This will be far wider than an ordinary river, by definition at sea level along its entire stretch, with consequently very steep mountain sides that crumble into the slowly widening gap. It's plausible - I think your map would work well with that scenario! You'd have to make the Devona Strait a fair bit wider than it is now, and you'd have to keep in mind the riverbanks would become real coasts (salty water etc), but it wouldn't change the look of the map and any possible storylines already developed as much as the first solution.

A last possibility, and least favorable for you I'm afraid since it requires the most work, is a hybrid between the previous two: a widening rift that hasn't connected both oceans yet (still a land bridge somewhere between the mountain ranges, not necessarily in the middle), but with sea arms already penetrating very deeply from two sides along what is currently the river. It would change the map quite a bit, at least in the region influenced by the river(s)/strait(s), but the geological fun would be endless!!

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[RigoIII]

I will change the source and split them, it will be good for the story, a boundary between the elven/dwarven world to the southwest and world of men to the east. Thank you for the idea

[RigoIII]

Unfortunately due to a busy schedule I haven't gotten much work done. To add to the pain, I am still not sure how to go about this map, 3D-ish, Tolkienesque or this way, top-down. I've looked at many ideas and still don't know what to do so I just started a bit. The colors need fixing so I'll see to it till the next update.

[Warlin]

This top down view fit better your landmass but in my opinion the montain ridge seems too wider. Perhaps multiply the ridge and place the montain nearer to the cost

To add to the pain, I am steel not sure how to go about this map,

I feel the same for my map. For me i have to stop thinking about how to do it... and really do it .

[RigoIII]

Did another mountain range, Western Eioren. I really can't commit to a project, I still haven't finished Moonfall... Any suggestions on the water or is it good?



EDIT:
I've done a few more mountains (finished with the larger ones) just a few more smaller mountains and hills. Once again, feedback required.

This top down view fit better your landmass but in my opinion the montain ridge seems too wider. Perhaps multiply the ridge and place the montain nearer to the cost?

The mountain is quite massive, notice the others are smaller but this one is the largest so I'm afraid it has to say as large as it is.