Need help with map

[Balor01]

This is a world map I made (lower half consists of rainforest), but I have no idea where to place rivers in order to make them look realistic. Could anyone, familiar with maps please draw a few rivers where it would be logical for them to flow? As said, lower 50% of the map are covered in jungle and subject to lots of rain ...

tnx



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[hamishspence]

This article by The Giant:

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/xO3...JPlKxmVoG.html

has a few recommendations- rivers should flow from the mountains to the sea- and multiple minor rivers should lead into one big river.

[Balor01]

Awesome. Just what I need. tnx

[Yora]

Look back in here in about 10 minutes. I'll make you a few suggestions.

I made them red for better visibility.
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8861/riverss.png

As a rule of thub, rivers start in the mountains and head down to the next ocean, while finding a path that takes them as far away from any other mountains as possible. Your map only shows three levels of elevation (flar, low mountain, high mountain), but obviously, a river alway only flows down and never up.

[Balor01]

@Yora
Lovely. I will use your map, I am just wondering regarding lower half of the map. There is suppose to be lots of rain there. Should that not mean a lot of rivers/lakes, even if these are flatlands?

[Yora]

Probably. But without any indication for mountains or hills they could run anywhere. When the terrain is relatively flat, the water isn't channeled in a particular direction, so it's common that rivers make lots of changes in direction.
Like this:

Spoiler

Show

[Crow]

I think there are far too many rivers indicated in red on that map. You may want to remove some to free up space so it doesn't look cluttered.

A good rule of thumb is to only draw the navigable rivers. That is, ones that you can sail a ship up.

[Yora]

That depends entirely on the scale of the map. If the map covers an area the size of Asia, there should actually be much more.

[Crow]

That depends entirely on the scale of the map. If the map covers an area the size of Asia, there should actually be much more.

Not entirely. What I was saying is that it looks cluttered in some places. What I suggested was just a general rule which helps in avoiding that.

[Balor01]

Cool?


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Crow]

Very nice!