My First Attempt at Cartographying: Antarysereia Era I

[Lord Aenaran]

Hi. I am a recently-arrived foreigner-lord, recently because this' first time for me to show my attempt at mapping.

So, here it is.



Edit: This is my new attempt on it. Pardon if it takes too, too long.

 

The Story

Antarysereia is a world or planet that is specially crafted by the Aruvanir on the tutelage of Aruvatar the One. A race then emerged that then known as Moon Elves. They were developing a vast and wondrous civilization, a kingdom which they called Kaleriand, the Land of Starlights. They are first race that ruled the whole world, and became the only one. Despite vast and wondrous civilization, they were known to be enslaving other races which they consider "downgrader", including the primitive Humans. A while later, darkness emerged that destroyed their civilization, and continents almost utterly. Other vassal rulers of the empire who weren't satisfied with Moon Elven rule then rebelled to the collapsing regime in the name of their each race, and they succeed. And so it goes...

Hope you enjoy it.

[XCali]

Hey hey,

You've done a good job on the land so far.
Two things that I note off the bat. The BLUR around your text is too big. I noticed that on my own maps that when the blur was too big when you zoom out, the text tends to be overpowered by the glow. Take it as you will. It's just something I realized along the way on my own maps.
The small text fits nicely to the map, but I do feel the BIG text feels off. Though why, I can't say.

Also, the sea being a block is kind of odd. When you think about the big ocean currents in our world. They are curved when they turn and I think that had an effect on the land. Just me brainstorming.
But really good job so far. The rivers and mountains look nice IMO.

[Lord Aenaran]

True. About that ocean, I am thinking hard about revision, w/o crushing the lore. About those brightly-glowed text, I haven't any idea to make it readable w/o like that.

EDIT: I will reconsider to re-create the map and/or revise. It will be figured out soon.

Anyways, thank you.

[DanielHasenbos]

Very nice, especially for a first attempt. The land shapes and block-shaped ocean are a little odd, but I'm just going to assume that can be explained by the fantasy setting, or serves a purpose.

Otherwise this is really good for a first map. The terrain is very nicely done. Great job!

[Lord Aenaran]

Nah, it is odd and blocking, then.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Mouse]

Nice map

I seriously love the colour scheme. Don't whatever you do get rid of it or alter it in any way. That's just really cool.

As for the blockiness... You would be surprised at how much difference just a little bit of careful reshaping will leave you able to say 'what blockiness?' without a hint of conscience

[Lord Aenaran]

I seriously love the colour scheme. Don't whatever you do get rid of it or alter it in any way. That's just really cool.

Thanks for that. Well, I suppose the world-shaping is not too pyrrhic to cause much losses at all.

[- JO -]

Beautiful work! You have really succeeded in making a "photograph from above" effect! If I had to make a remark, it would be on the cutting of the coasts, which may not be rough enough, but it's really a personal point of view!

[Lord Aenaran]

Ah, really? Well then. Thx.

 

EDIT: I know the following is a bit unrelated. But how do the cartographers create such pretty antique-styled/medieval/blizzlike/such maps? I'm not using photoshop and instead its counterpart. Thank you. (Optional Question)

[DanielHasenbos]

If you want to make antique-styled/medieval maps you could have a look at the tutorial section of the Guild. I would also suggest to look up some maps that you like and just try to copy them asas costly as possible. You'll probably fail a couple of times, but in the end you'll find a way to make those maps that works best for you. If you feel you're not proficient enough with the software you use you can always look up other tutorials. They may not necessarily be what you want to achieve, but I find that I learn new things with every tutorial and it helps getting a better understanding of your software.
I hoe this is any help!