Line art coast line on "flat" horizontal coasts

[alfredftw]

I tried out this coast line technique on the below map and struggled on the north and south coasts because it is fairly flat. Beyond not shaping future continents like a rectangle how could I have done this better, or should I have just picked a different coast line technique that better suited my shape?

This was my first ever map so maybe it was just poor for thought on my part

[Arimel]

I do not use this coastline style, so take this with a slight grain of salt, but I think it is just how flat the actual coastline is. If one drew a straight line from one 'corner' to the other of that continent it would align pretty much with the whole coastline. So yes, I think having a more varied actual coastline, with inlets and curves, would solve the 'problem' (as well as be more realistic!). The actual style you have I have seen applied really well, including on your map.

Really nice mountain and forest styles though! The map overall is really nice, just the shape I would recommend changing (particularly being a first map... my first was nowhere near as good!).

[Falconius]

You just got the subconscious urge to "fill" the page. Part of the problem is that it's a rectangle, a bigger problem is that it aligns to the edges of the document, which calls even further attention to it's shape. Personally I find that coastline a bit too jagged, and a bit too regular in its jaggedness to really sell me on it. If you remember the basic building blocks of making anything, which is start rough and large and then refine, you'll find you can still include all that you want and may come up with other ideas as well that you want to include, or alternately you might see things that you can edit out. My suggestion then is to start with large blobs and scrapes to form the land, and then once you like that shape, the details like the coastline will look good as well.

All that said I think it's a good bit of work you've done there. Well done.

[alfredftw]

Thank you for the feedback. Yes my pathological need to fill all white space is something I will have to work on, even if you look at a few of the in progress photos I had I probably spent more time looking for things and thinking about things to fill in the spaces I had than actually drawing the map itself.

I will definitely be working a lot more on the shape of my continent and cost lines for the next map.