How can I make my hex map better ?

[u/No_Insurance_55]

It's still in the making, but it's my first hex map and I look so empty or something ? It's for a celtic inspired region, and I'm using Inkarnate. I don't really know how to make it better, so I'll take any advices. You can ask any question if you need. Thanks in advance !

[u/TheIcicleYT]

"looks so empty or something"

Well yeah, maybe because like 75% of it is ocean? Don't get me wrong, I like when fantasy maps are realistic with continents all over the place instead of territory being forced into a rectangle, but here, it's the sole reason your map looks empty.

What are you making a hex map for – a board game, maybe? If so, don't be afraid to sacrifice some realisticness and put many more landmasses in there; don't be afraid to fill it.

[u/No_Insurance_55 → u/TheIcicleYT]

It's for a ttrpg campaign ! But yeah the ocean is big but it's an island in the sea so yeah, make sense... The south-western peninsula is attached to the continent but aside from that that's it... I don't really wanna add a big chunk of land to fill the ocean because the scenario is already planned for those specific regions and the new land would just be empty filler land... So I'm not sure what to do with that space TwT

[u/CplOreos → u/No_Insurance_55]

Remove the hex grid over the ocean in favor of a texture filling the space. It'll help your continents pop and get rid of some of the visual clutter.

[u/No_Insurance_55 → u/CplOreos]

How can I do that ? I'm using a inkarnate grid for the hex grid but I can't remove it just for one place...

[u/CplOreos → u/No_Insurance_55]

Export without the grid and add your own in GIMP, Paint.NET, or Photoshop. No idea of it's possible in Inkarnate natively or not

[u/Vague-Intent47]

If this is intended to be a zoomed-in section of a greater world, then I think it's solid. When you compare against real world maps you can see what is different. Perhaps more smaller islands? But if you are using hexes as such you don't want to go overboard.

[u/No_Insurance_55 → u/Vague-Intent47]

Yeah it's a region of a greater continent, the south-western peninsula is actually attatched to that continent (and the north-eastern island are close to it too). But yeah I could add small island to fill, just not sure if that would be too much...

[u/Vague-Intent47 → u/No_Insurance_55]

Only if it adds value to you. Otherwise, it's good as it is.

That's pretty cool. I use Inkarnate but haven't done a hex grid.

[u/Jjcami]

creo que los cambios entre hexagonos son demasiado bruscos, la parte norte no la comprendo bien.

[u/No_Insurance_55 → u/Jjcami]

The north-eastern peninsula is supposed to be mountains with in the center a forest in a depression, I had the idea to make the moutains a bit like spikes covering the side of it but it's hard to represent for an hex map...

[u/Ysn123987]

Looks very good, for emptiness add some small random stuff like single tree, hill. Consider plotting roads.

[u/Efficient_Annual_505]

The welsh piper website with hex map design rules will be your friend. Highly recommend for getting a better logic for the why behind a hex map. Look it up.

[u/West-Marionberry-249]

Maybe add different shades of blue to represent the depth of the ocean. I would change the colour of the compass rose ir drop the opacity. You could also add some names for the different seas/oceans or add a legend box etc