La Marche de Kanoba (WIP)

[Deadshade]

Nice map.
I would also randomise the rivers a bit. The tapering is perfect but the meanders seem too regular and always of the same shape/size. You can fractalize that by working f.ex on 2 scales - large loops on a 10 km scale and small loops at 1 km scale (e.g loops within loops).
I find the shore line perfect at least for a rather rugged coast line - if there were to be large lowlands like beaches and prairies then the coastline at such places would be smooth and much less torn up..
The only point that slightly bothered me were the islands along the shore - their separation and distance from shore looks highly regular. It's almost like if you said that exactly every 10 km there must be a small island about 1 km far from shore. But this is perhaps only me.

[Caenwyr]

when you say "the details on the smaller islands seem pretty neat", do you mean the main outline or the tiny details I added ?

I was indeed referring to those tiny details. If you look at the longish islands near the delta, you'll see that the squigglies are pretty close to their shores. That looks about the right distance, actually!

I'll try to keep it believable by checking some satellite pictures.

Satellites are a great source of information, aren't they? Although you might also check out some other maps here on the guild. If you like rivers on one of those, see what exactly it is you like about them, and try to incorporate that into your own work without abandoning your personal style.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Your mountains have a nice flow, but I would maybe clean up some of the shading lines. How do you want to do the forests?

[ThomasR]

Here are addressed some of the issues you noticed.

- I reworked the rive system trying to give it a more jagged flow and I added some streams too.
- I think the details I added to the coastline help give it depth, I'll try better it with some shadows in due time.
- I kept the mountain lot on the south-east shore because reasons and tried to give more room to the single peak on the biggest island.
- The coast was smoothed in many places but is still jagged on the south-east shore of the mainland selling the savage style of this part with rocks and cliffs and stuff.
- I moved some islands in order to randomize a little bit the spacing between them, trying to keep the flow of the island chains.
- Added a little cliff up north (might not be the last, they block the travelers just fine).

Here's what it looks like.


Next moves are the hills and the forests and it'll have to wait a little bit.

I hope that the changes I've done help fix the issues you pointed.

@Schwarzkreuz : when you say "clean up the shading lines" do you mean erase some or make them more believable ? I thought I could dodge the problem by dropping the opacity of the tiny details layer before shading the mountains. Do you think it'll do the trick ?
About the forests, I previously made them like this.

but I'd like to go with something like this
http://i0.wp.com/www.fantasticmaps.c...0-15-58-am.png
but I'll have to practice a lot before I can do it properly. What do you think of it ? Will it be ok with the rest of the map ?

I feel I'm stuck between top down and isometric but I don't think I'll fix it on this project.

Thanks again for all your advices and critics, GLS, Caenwyr, Ilanthar, Deadshade and Scharzkreuz, I really feel it's really helping me progress.

[Schwarzkreuz]

Ah some kind of forests like Torstan/ Jon Roberts? Could work on your map, I am not sure yet, maybe try to draw some and we will see what it will look like. But that style depends heavily on your coloration skills.

[ThomasR]

@Schwarzkreuz : exactly ! I find his tutorials very useful.
After a lot of training, here's a first draft of the forests. It goes with several layers so this work can be adjusted. It took me many attempts but I think it's not that bad. The evergreens satisfy me, not so much the deciduous. You'll tell me.
I know this style depends A LOT on the coloring skills so ... it might be a big problem but I'll have to make it work.

Here's the beast :



Gentlemen, and ladies, time to load the critic-gun and shoot, I'll welcome the bullets.

Thomas

[ThomasR]

I haven't had time these past few days to work on my map but here are a few tweaks.

I wasn't really satisfied with the forests so I redid them. Not satisfied either but I think it's better, especially the deciduous border. I also added some ripples in the sea and a glacier up north.

I tried something on the trees (détails) but dunno if it works that well, I'd be glad to have some feedback.

Here is the whole map.



Here is the glacier.



And here is the tree details.



How do you find those minor changes ?

Thomas

[Ilanthar]

About the glacier, I think it's gonna work very well when colored.

[ThomasR]

Hi everybody,

Getting my forests right has been tough for me, I guess I must be a bit challenged in the wrist department. Anyways, I've spent the last week looking closely at some forest details I like on some maps from the guild and I redid my deciduous, hoping that I won't have to go at it again and ready to move on to the next step which will be some terrain details (hills, grassland and de huge rift at the south east end of the mainland). I'm also working on a frame which will be a mix of celtic/frankish/viking influence and an alternative for a compass using directions that predate the use of the winds and the cardinal points. Wish me luck !

Here's the map with the forests, feel free to express every bit of critic, be harsh, I need it to improve my work.



Thomas

PS : do you think I should post pictures with a lesser resolution ?

[ThomasR]

@ Ilanthar : Merci beaucoup ! I hope it will look good once colored, I'm not very confident in my coloring skills but I'll do my best.