Dire need of leanring how to map

[Chiefstah]

I don't know if i'm posing in the right place, but i saw some other topics that asked somewhat similar question and got moved here. So i posted here. anyway.
I need pointers, tips, all that jazz. I want to be decent at making maps and right now, it's not goin' great.

that is, unfortunately, my map I came up with.
I've seen some tutorials on here...but they just seem to tell you what to do rather than point out what looks good, and how everything would "mesh" together I guess. I made my map this small because I wasn't pleased how it came out. Anything that will help me will be appreciated! =D

[epson777341]

I have a few pointers, if you don't mind.

1) Use the Tall grass Tile, it adds depth,

2) You might want to make your buildings bigger, but that's just me.

3)As much as I don't like doing it, try adding more random objects around what appears to be your abandoned town. Nothing abandoned is that clean looking.

Hope that helps.

[Sirius]

Leventhan has a good one here.

Shadow made one geared more toward what you're looking for. (I'm sure you've seen both of these)

If you want my ten cents, though, I'd cram everything in that map together a bunch and fill the empty space with tall grass, rocks, and other shrubbery. It's not so much about "I'm not doing this! It's not going to look good!" with making good maps. You really have to trust your instincts and throw out what looks bad, and keep what looks good. People can tell you to put stuff everywhere, but that doesn't mean anything to a lot of fledgelings around here.

My main suggestion: Take a good, hard look at the awesome VX maps laying around (and there are a lot). Find something (perhaps a river, or a particular cluster of houses) that catches your eye, and try replicating it on your own. Don't copy it tile for tile, because that's cheating; rather make your own version of it. And when you think that looks good, throw it away and do it again- only this time, do it without using that map as a model. Then do that again five more times, and when you feel you've mastered making that beautiful river, move on to the next thing that catches your eye.

The bottom line is that mapping takes practice. You can't expect to churn out a beautiful map unless you've done it before, and the more maps you make, the better your chances are that you've made that awesome map.

[spoiler]Of course, that might be overkill. I'm just constantly afraid that I'll stop halfway through my project and say "Wow, I churned out that piece of (profanity) two weeks ago?" Do what you're comfortable with, and if that's not good enough, then extend your boundaries and practice.[/spoiler]

[maia]

I don't know if i'm posing in the right place, but i saw some other topics that asked somewhat similar question and got moved here. So i posted here. anyway.
I need pointers, tips, all that jazz. I want to be decent at making maps and right now, it's not goin' great.

that is, unfortunately, my map I came up with.
I've seen some tutorials on here...but they just seem to tell you what to do rather than point out what looks good, and how everything would "mesh" together I guess. I made my map this small because I wasn't pleased how it came out. Anything that will help me will be appreciated! =D

Your buildings need to be consistant. The buildings on the bottom right need an extra row of roof tiles. Your church looks very wide compared to how long the building is.

Make a path that connects all of the building or add some tall grass and use the short grass for the path. Like it is trampled grass.