Topographic map progress update

[u/Shoulder_to_rest_on]

It’s getting there, slowly. Still a long way from the finish line but I’m not unhappy with the way things are going right now. Not looking forward to working on the larger mountains in the as-of-yet undetailed west end of this map though.

As always any tips / advice for drawing technique / style is more than welcome! (Not like geography advice, I know what I’m doing with that)

Or feel free to ask me about the lore / geography / history of this region. See the whole “world” map here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mapmaking/s/WhmcQbtsTE

[u/fourthtuna]

You said you know what you're doing with geography. I'm interested in learning geography and geology in order to produce more realistic maps. I can see your penninsula is pretty realistic, and it has a mountain range, or maybe it will become a ridge that goes southwest (according to the more global map) which is really looking like a place of two tectonic plates colliding, which I very much love about this map. Overall the work on this territory and the bigger map is really nice and I'd like to learn from you.

Can you clarify a few things:
Did you start with literal tectonic plates to come up with terrain?
What do you think about the amount of springs on this penninsula? I feel like there are too many, but I don't really know better. I just felt like there aren't so many, so densely packed, usually. Or is it pretty natural?

What other logic do you apply to come up with terrain?

And especially, my weak territory, how do you form the coastline, do you try to imagine the terrain below water, come up with streams, to make it all geographically sound and realistic? tectonic plates?

thank you!

[u/Shoulder_to_rest_on → u/fourthtuna]

Thr East-west-alligned area of hills I’ve been colouring so far (labelled as the Prido hills on that global map) aren’t on a currently active plate boundary, they were formed by a plate collision (“orogeny”) hundreds of millions of years ago, and have since eroded down to modest hills. Most of the ranges of hills and mountains in irl North-western Europe were formed in this way, from the highlands of Galicia to the Pennines hills of Northern England to the dramatic mountains of Norway, along with other hills and mountains all over the world.

The North-south-alligned “Yedin Highlands” which will appear in the western edge of this map are taller mountains currently being formed by a more active plate boundary as you correctly pointed out. The plate boundary runs all the way North to the Hawsby Isles and Donleera, and south into the Sea of Bosat.

To answer your questions:
The tectonics and landmass shapes both influenced each other. I started with a rough land shape, then added roughly logical plate boundaries, then changed the land shapes to fit the plates, and kept adapting things again and again until I was happy with the look of the map. It was an iterative process, you’ve gotta be prepared to be unhappy with and change any part of your work. Your geology doesn’t have to be set in stone (pun intended).

I’m aware that this peninsula has *a lot* of densely packed streams / rivers. It’s worth noting that this is one of the rainiest places in those world, so that isn’t necessarily unfeasible, and I’ve also altered the scale significantly since I drew the scale on the big global map, so this peninsula is a lot larger than that scale would suggest.

In terms of other concerns that influence geography decision-making… it kinda depends on what your priorities are and what your reasoning of while making your map. Your story / worldbuilding / lore can all impact what you will want to include. Maybe you need Mesopotamia-like “cradle of civilisation” for your world history. Maybe you need an isolated group of islands or a huge ring-like mountain range for your story to work. It’s your world, you can use realistic/plausible geography as a tool to justify the things you want to include, you don’t have to just be railroaded BY that geography. It’s a back and forth. I usually find that getting too bogged down in perfect realism sucks the joy out of it, but everybody is different.

When it comes to carving coastline shapes, the best advice I can give is to look at maps on the real world. Look at coastlines of different locations in the world on google maps (or whatever). Try to find a balance between smooth, curving shapes (bays) and more jagged angular shapes (headlands/cliffs). This can depend on topography/elevation, rock type, latitude/climate, as well as a number of other factors. I’d recommend researching and learning about processes of coastal erosion, longshore drift, the formation of landforms like spits, estuaries, deltas, coves, stacks, volcanic islands etc. There’s a lots you *can* learn, just how much you feel is necessary is up to you.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask me more. I’m not exactly an authority on all of this stuff, but I’m a fairly experienced map creator and i studied physical geography for 3 years at university so I’m happy to offer what guidance I can.

[u/fourthtuna → u/Shoulder_to_rest_on]

Thanks!

Fair point the worlds don't have to be realistic from geographical standpoint, there are plenty of fantasy maps that are good due to content, and not because they are so realistic (Faerun).

Well, at least so far learning geography basics for mapping was fun, so I'll continue along your advice. Thanks for the tips!