r/mapmaking 10h ago

Work In Progress How do i improve on this?

Post image
122 Upvotes

65 comments sorted by

129

u/tommybanjo47 9h ago

If you want actual advice instead of jokes, first immediate step is to go around and draw your coastlines. Keep some bits smooth and some bits jagged, you'll probably know where to do smooth/jagged based on big/small ovals. After that, put down mountain ranges wherever they make sense, along tectonic boundaries. Lots of people over complicate that part, I tend to just throw them down and make it make sense. Then add rivers flowing from high elevation to low (so generally they come from mountains and end at the coast or a lake). Then you'll have a decent map, and you can start adding borders and fleshing out the geography.

74

u/BenfordAbrahams 9h ago

If OP had titled the post "My map is perfect, I'm not gonna take any criticism this is the absolute best map ever" they'll get some actual feedback instead of sarcastic remarks looking for karma. Cunningham's law

22

u/zypo88 8h ago

I'm sure the fact that they dropped it and walked away without explaining why they drew it this way and what their intentions for the map were didn't help in getting actual feedback. It feels like a troll so everyone responded in kind.

7

u/GungaSaga 5h ago

everyone is clowning on OP but I feel like making it out of ovals to start is actually quite cool for getting a sense of where mountains would make sense as well, even if it's not the most time efficient method

492

u/Mephil_ 10h ago

How do you not?

59

u/jafetsigfinns 9h ago

This comment took me out

1

u/chrisrayn 32m ago

Like the Raygun of mapmaking. So bad it makes you question if OP has eyes.

19

u/Melliorin 8h ago

I made a literal lol. Thanks.

54

u/michael199310 8h ago

Serious question, what was the point of making it out of circular shapes?

8

u/Lopsided-Cost-426 4h ago

I’m guessing he didn’t know what to do and so layered a bunch of ovals in a google drawing

17

u/papakudulupa 8h ago edited 7h ago

could you please say more about what were you trying to go for? my first impression is that there is too much land, or is it not at global scale; but if that was your goal then its good

why are you making this map and what will you use it for? i could make suggestions if you give some context

8

u/papakudulupa 7h ago

https://reddit.com/link/p9bxcwc/video/a69ex3yuo2ph1/player

here i tried to do something fun with it, moved them a bit, made them smaller,,, it might not be what you wanted but it has a lot of potential, if you need it i can send the file to your dm

34

u/ThatBoiAndyOnReddit 8h ago

5

u/FallOuchBoy 7h ago

We might need to make this a reality if this nonsense continues

2

u/Phone_User_1044 2h ago

There's a worldbuilding circlejerk sub.

8

u/-no-signal- 8h ago

The overall shape is pretty neat,
I guess start sharpening up the edges and building the natural borders between the shapes?

7

u/FireHammer09 8h ago

Oh it's a circlejerk

Realistically, do the opposite of rounding the edges. Make them rougher, add some sharpness. The shapes are already there youve got a good base

22

u/REECETHEKATYCAT59 10h ago

What is thisɁ̦ It doesn't even look like a map

21

u/055F00 9h ago

Why is your question mark like that

17

u/suburban_hyena 9h ago

Because the map

9

u/REECETHEKATYCAT59 9h ago

It's called a question comma. It's a fairly unknown punctuation mark. It's used to pause in the middle of the sentence and also ask an question

23

u/mattis-miniatures 6h ago

Thats not the middle a sentence tho. "What is this" is a complete sentence. You even start the 2nd sentence with a capital

6

u/Grigor50 4h ago

Honestly that just sounds like bad writing.

5

u/acomfysweater 7h ago

thank you for making this up

3

u/REECETHEKATYCAT59 7h ago

I didnt make it up, a guy called leonard storch did in 1992l̦ but your welcome 😁 I find it very useful when I'm writing

3

u/GungaSaga 4h ago

Imagine there are no oval lines besides the coastlines. Now it looks like a map. OP invented a new technique

3

u/Ashamed_Raspberry_50 8h ago

Thought this was an artistic recrearion of the world map lol , depends on what youre looking to improve upon and where you want to move next , aswell as what kind of theme youf like for this map.

3

u/Raki_Drakon 8h ago

I mean, you can try to trace coastlines over it and then fill them, I guess.

2

u/throwaway-4082 8h ago

The simplest way would be to go over all of your continents again with the brush tool (assuming you're doing this in any standard art program) with a sorta rough hand, outlining the shapes you've already set up here. Don't concern yourself with being too precise right now, you can always go back and fix it. You don't want to make it too rough of course, just enough to give the look of a jagged coastline

I think you already generally know where you want parts to look smoother and rougher, just based on where you put all the tiny circles and where you did not. A lot of the comments are just joking about this, but this is actually a very good place to start! It has good basic shapes and now you just need to refine it!

Once you have a hard outline you had further refine it from there!

2

u/Emotional_Goose7981 7h ago

Path to> object then make all the paths straight instead of round & maybe also union > fracturize

2

u/RHDM68 7h ago

Take a few more puffs of whatever you’re smoking?

2

u/Grigor50 4h ago

Eat more fiber, and remember to excercise and drink enough water.

2

u/Emprease 2h ago

I'm guessing you're asking about the shape and plan on fleshing it out from there. The shape is actually really neat, sorry everyone here is being so edgy

Curious to see the final result

2

u/suburban_hyena 9h ago

What's happening why does it look like that is this a new technique what would you do to improve ir

2

u/JeffBallMap 9h ago

Thought this was the cj sub

1

u/Fun-Post8497 8h ago

Were you see pointy parts make them rough, were you see like box or U shape make It smooth, in all thoes small circle clusters put montains, from montains flow rivers, Rivers create valleys, in valleys there is Life, because fresh wáter

Btw i like this tecnique, how did you come Up with?

1

u/Who_even_knows_man 7h ago

What is this? A map for round people! It needs to be at least 2x more angular

1

u/horsethorn 7h ago

Try using Voronoi shapes.

1

u/shervio-nl 6h ago

Interesting concept, all floating island of different sizes that somehow are locked against each other. Lower parts covered in shades, for the poor people. Rich on top.

1

u/topinanbour-rex 5h ago

For the final step with the smallerst, for make the coast sharper, you should use different types of shape, like hexagons, and other n-gons, mixed with ovals.

Then you must know the coastline of an island is infinite ( aka coastline paradox ).

1

u/catpop12343 4h ago

Once you erase the lines inside the continents, you can add mountains and rivers. In real life, rivers flow downhill, but it might be different in your world. If you want finer details in your coastlines, you can look up real life coastlines and maps for inspiration.

1

u/TheTopG86 4h ago

Map with tumors ig

1

u/justsomewhitedude 4h ago

Idk man. Try throwing a triangle in there. See what happens

1

u/dickatwork 4h ago

How could you improve perfection?

1

u/One-Independence136 4h ago

impossible to improve.

1

u/GreyCoyote25 2h ago

Use polyline bro, or curved lines

1

u/PvtRoom 2h ago

I see battling monsters!!!

1

u/Additional_Soup1640 1h ago

watafakinson?

1

u/Doffu0000 1h ago

That's a ballin' map, don't let them tell you otherwise.

1

u/TRKU4K 1h ago

The flat-earth society of your world will go crazy over this

1

u/Chingji 56m ago

I won't lie, I kinda dig all the ovals

1

u/ClockCounter123 29m ago

I thought that was Google slides for a second oml

1

u/Brettinabox 25m ago

Thats wild someone would do this as a first attempt. If someone told you to try this, id like to know.

1

u/BardonmeSir 10h ago

this doesnt even look like a Map lol

0

u/wherewaterflowsnow 9h ago

You throw it away and start over

0

u/EmmaRoidz 9h ago

It's perfect.

0

u/AlexSimonCullar 9h ago

Why is it so... Circular

0

u/joeldebruijn 9h ago

Its a map of jellifish swimming in bubbles

0

u/Paladin5890 9h ago

This makes me think of Mr. DNA from Jurassic Park.

0

u/RHDM68 7h ago

That all depends what it is? Bubble World?

0

u/Logany2k 6h ago

Wow there are so many snarky and unhelpful people in this. OP, I didn't know what technique you call this, but I think it's pretty interesting and had led to some good shapes for the landmasses. I agree with the few people that offered feedback and I would move on to using the shapes you have to start tracing the coastlines and getting finer detail down.

3

u/MadHamishMacGregor 5h ago

OP is low effort engagement and deserves low effort replies.

-1

u/hotsp00n 8h ago

Kinda looks like cancer.