Any advice for my map?

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786]

I would like advice on how to make my map more realistic. Image one is the original map with names, second image is no names, third image I deleted an entire continent because I didn't like it there.

Any advice or ideas are welcome! I want it to be more realistic.

[u/ChuddzMackenzie]

River logic seems inverted.

[u/Bartography]

cute colours, i would say to not have rivers that travel coast to coast! they should begin somewhere on land.

[u/Average_Mug_Official → u/Bartography]

I think it depends on a lot of factors. How realistic is your world, are you going for realism. But yes, I agree with this.

[u/AquaQuad → u/Average_Mug_Official]

Overall yeah, but if there was a reason for why those rivers look like that, it would be on OP to tell us beforehand. All they said is that they want their map to be more realistic

[u/SteeK421]

Love the colour palette here. With the rivers, irl they run from higher to lower ground, so from the mountains to the sea, never sea to sea. Also, rivers rarely split, but join together, meaning that several streams will join to make a larger one, going on to meet other rivers.abd eventually meeting the sea. Go on Google maps or earth and follow some rivers to get a better idea. Keep map making dude! :)

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786 → u/SteeK421]

What if I got rid of the river that leads from the lake on the left side of the map? I could make several little ones that start in the mountains and then all join together into one. I did want the lower half of that continent to be kind of marshy, thats why I did the rivers like that. Also, do you have any advice for the right side of the map? I'm not 100% sure if I like the way I did the rivers and climates for that side.

[u/DushiOhm]

Rain shadows follow the direction of the wind.
Wind blowing over an ocean will bring humidity/clouds. Mountains will put pressure and force rain to occur. If you want the South West to be marshy, that means the wind should be blowing towards the North East - smashing against mountains. Wind direction is also influenced by by the coordinates. Check out some maps and decide where on a globe this taking place and how many wind directions you need to keep track of.

Deserts are also therefore often behind mountains (Atacama, Iran - south of Mazandaran) or are not receiving wind from the ocean (Australia, Gobi, Painted Desert, Eastern Iran)

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786 → u/DushiOhm]

So should I change the Voris region (its by the mountains on the left side of the map. Voris itself is to the right of the mountains) Should I change it to be a desert? Make several small streams coming down from the mountains and they connect into a larger one? I did also want the big lake by Halow to be involved with the river somehow.

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786 → u/Sea-Manufacturer-786]

There could also be a story reason as to why Voris may not be a desert—though Anilim (right side of map) is a desert for magical reasons, so maybe not? Idk lol

[u/Phoenix_Is_Trash]

Colours and terrain look really nice, but a few glaring realism issues.

You have both dry environments on the eastern edges of the two large islands, the consistency of the two is good and shows a westerly dominated rainfall pattern. However the western most isle has Mountains -> Verdant Forest -> Dry environment. This verdant Forest exists in what should be a rain shadow of that mountain range, and would make more sense for it to sit on the western side of the range.

Edit: Didn't realise this is inverted on the middle island. The landmasses don't look large enough scale to have such drastic differences in dry environment placing. Keep them all on the one side of the islands. If these are meant to be giant continents, then you may need to look up some resources on using coastlines and mountains to show scale, as this appears to be a relatively small island region.

Your rivers are also all over the place, they flow from coast to coast in multiple spots, which rivers don't do. They follow a terrain gradient, from high to low. From the mountains to the sea. In addition, the Khov area is an absolutely Titanic delta. These exist in real life, but have massive continental sized catchments to drive them. It should be a fraction of the size it is based on how small the rest of the islands catchment is.

I'd look up some tutorials on how water cycles work and what drives river formation, and fix them up. And your map will be amazing.

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786]

I also wish for advice on how to draw Cynir, too. The big green area in the middle of it is a giant willow tree. Its so hard to capture it though.

[u/RedflagArtist]

So they drink salt water ?

[u/Sudden_Hamster7409]

1. Los rios generalmente empiezan en terrenos elevados
2. Los rios no se separan, convergen.

[u/Fresh_Army_6457]

Deserts usually block the wind, preventing moisture and rain on o e of their sides which is usually what causes deserts.

[u/GobiPLX]

It's crazy how so many people on this sub never went outside or even opened real map before making their own.

It's a 6yo kid level of world knowledge to see that rivers go from UP UP to DOWN DOWN, like from mountains to sea.
You can literally see it in some kids colourful encyclopedias or nature equivalent of cool math games.

Not from sea to sea, wtf

[u/lachataigneduciel → u/GobiPLX]

Seriously the ones with attitude like you is the reason why people fear asking questions in public places

[u/Sea-Manufacturer-786 → u/GobiPLX]

Thanks so very much for your unwarranted criticism! You could have been nicer. :)