Hexagonal based map critique

[Boy_Wonder]

So this is my first time working on a hexagonal basis Map, and I'd love some critique - and shading advice (especially around the plains area!)



So a quick key - blue means sea or river or lake, the areas with a lighter colour are waterfalls
Grey is expansion space pretty much
Light green with rocky outcrops and coniferous trees is the plains area
Darker green with deciduous trees is the forest area
White is tundra
Light green with brown edges is mountain areas

[Kami]

The colour of the mountain area and the plains area are really similar. Would it be possible to make a bigger colour difference to them? Right now it's just a lot of green green green, you know?

The black landmark/mountain indicators are fantastic in the white area and the light yellow-green area on the left, but they're hard to see in the two green areas on the right (especially the dark green area). I can't really make out what some of the symbols are supposed to be.

The shading honestly seems fine to me? Though that's under the assumption that darker areas are valleys or low points, and lighter areas are higher.

[Boy_Wonder]

Thanks Kami - if I was being a bit more indepth I'd have brought brown more into the mountain areas and made the highest points very light and yes that is its intention - I just worry that especially in the plains its too.. angular and not natural enough.

[Kami]

May 14, 2015 2:19:31 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

Thanks Kami - if I was being a bit more indepth I'd have brought brown more into the mountain areas and made the highest points very light and yes that is its intention - I just worry that especially in the plains its too.. angular and not natural enough.

Well, plains are typically very flat expanses with not much topographical variation, so I don't think there's really much call to have a lot of high/low points, if any at all. I think what you've got is fine if you want to keep it.

That said I think personally I'd put more shading on the mountainous area as there will be more fluctuation in the topography with valleys and such, especially if those rivers are flowing down from the mountains into the ocean.

[Boy_Wonder]

I'll work on it, even if it might take me some time

[Kami]

May 14, 2015 2:24:42 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

I'll work on it, even if it might take me some time

*nodnod* Map making is hard haha. Another suggestion, to keep things consistent: if you're going to use dark/light shading to indicate topographical variation, use it in the areas where you indicate there are mountains or other rises via the little black icons, you know? So if you have an area where you have little mountain icons, to be consistent that area should be a lighter colour than the surrounding low areas.

[Boy_Wonder]

That's the problem I have with the tundra xD that and most the raised areas are somewhat rocky (Need to work on rocky texture underlay as there's some other places where that is true)

[Kami]

May 14, 2015 2:29:43 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

That's the problem I have with the tundra xD that and most the raised areas are somewhat rocky (Need to work on rocky texture underlay as there's some other places where that is true)

For what it's worth, when I do illustrations I never use pure white because there's no room for highlights. I generally use a grey, or a very light, desaturated version of a surrounding colour. That way if I need to put in highlights, I can.

[Boy_Wonder]

May 14, 2015 2:31:32 GMT -8 Kami said:

May 14, 2015 2:29:43 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

That's the problem I have with the tundra xD that and most the raised areas are somewhat rocky (Need to work on rocky texture underlay as there's some other places where that is true)

For what it's worth, when I do illustrations I never use pure white because there's no room for highlights. I generally use a grey, or a very light, desaturated version of a surrounding colour. That way if I need to put in highlights, I can.

I've never used white white... just a very light colour

[Kami]

May 14, 2015 2:43:44 GMT -8 Boy_Wonder said:

May 14, 2015 2:31:32 GMT -8 Kami said:

For what it's worth, when I do illustrations I never use pure white because there's no room for highlights. I generally use a grey, or a very light, desaturated version of a surrounding colour. That way if I need to put in highlights, I can.

I've never used white white... just a very light colour

If you make it slightly darker still it will still appear white because the surrounding colours are much darker. Then you could use pure white to highlight the areas with a greater elevation.