[WIP] Khertagawei

[Yasha Oqlie]

Hi all. This is my first digital map, a regional map of the Empire of Khertagawei and its environs. For this one, I'm following this tutorial by FlowandTorrent. This is also the first colored digital work I've ever done, map or otherwise.





What I have so far is very tentative and there are a lot of things I'm unhappy with, but I'm posting them in the hopes of receiving critiques. I'm especially unhappy with the mountains, as I feel that they are not positioned well. I'm trying to make the terrain and the climate as realistic as I can, so that it would hold up, at least at first glance

I think there are some major changes that I need to make. I've realized through some rough calculations that Khertagawei has turned out to be smaller than I intended, so I will have to take care of that. I also need to increase the actual size of the canvas as I'll most likely want to use this map as a basis for other maps. I'm going to get rid of the lower inland sea. I'll also probably break the southern regions into a second continent, meaning that there won't be an inner sea, but I'm not sure yet.



Here, the pink lines are the rough placement of the borders between various nations, the yellow lines are the rough placement of the political borders between the various provinces of Khertagawei, and the two red lines show the arctic and tropic lines. Obviously, I've failed to follow the natural features for the borders, so they all need to change as well. I'm not gonna bother with the border placements until the terrain map is finished, though. None of these lines are indicative of the final map. As a side note, Khertagawei is placed in the northern hemisphere of its planet.



I also tried to make a rough global map for this world, but I really hate the shape of the landmasses I've come up with, so any suggestions are welcome. The absolute minimum that I need for this story is two continents, though I think I'll also need a landmass for the north pole in order to make the northern areas of Khertagawei less cold than they would be otherwise.

Some general information about the planet (called Reghoss), as I think that might help with the critiques:
Axial Tilt: 33.7
Radius: 1.3 x earth (8,282.3 km)
Circumfrance: 52,012.844 km

[Yasha Oqlie]

Here's the latest update to this map:



So I've deviated from the tutorial I was following...
There are a lot of very obvious mistakes here, but I guess at least now I have some idea of the color scheme. I think I will need to redo the whole thing though.
The biggest problem is that I have not taken the size of the landmass into account. Also, in that regard, I'm not sure whether I'm trying to create a biome/climate map or an elevation one
I think the problem with using FlowandTorrent's tutorial is that you need to have a good eye for how to create a believable terrain map before attempting it. I guess I need to study a lot more tutorials and practice easier ones before I use this one.

In the meantime, constructive criticism is sorely needed, so please don't hold back

[Yasha Oqlie]

I'm back again with a new update

I decided to revise the land shape a bit, and I think I'm more happy with it now. I slabbed on some quick colors which should all be self explanatory except the pink, which I used to indicate both tundra and also infertile lands and the remaining grey areas are fertile lands. They are not representative of the actual climate and geographical features, but I wanted to have some base reference for later. I guess the mountains are better placed compared to the previous version? I'd really appreciate getting feedback on them.

[Ilanthar]

I'm not that much of a specialist, but yeah, I prefer the mountains locations in your last picture.

[Yasha Oqlie]

I'm not that much of a specialist, but yeah, I prefer the mountains locations in your last picture.

Thanks for your input I hope I'll get this right.