# Fantasy Maps



## popsprocket (May 11, 2015)

Anyone else like to draw maps?

Can't draw my way out of a wet paper bag, but map making is fun, and fantasy maps make me happy. I was just going back through the pile of paper on my desk looking for lost inspiration and these were in there. I was actually hoping to find a different map that I was really proud of because I did a whole bunch of world building to go with it, but it wasn't in there  It involved an island chain covered in permanent cloud and airships and wind spirits and a whole bunch of stuff.

I'm bad at place names. Most of my maps are a bit... un-filled-out...







This one is well loved because I did it in a whole bunch of little sittings. Don't draw city maps, kids. It's a pain in the butt to colour in every little house.





Going to have to go through my backups and see if I can find any of my digital efforts. I suspect most of them were lost in the great hard drive crash of '14.


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## Greimour (May 11, 2015)

I've tried to draw maps, epic failz though... for example,  I did this one in paint:




It's pretty close to the one I drew... but mountains and all that stuff, I am useless at it ^^


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## popsprocket (May 11, 2015)

I never did find a better tutorial for drawing mountains and forests than this image:


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## Greimour (May 11, 2015)

No idea why, but that mage nstantly made me think of the indeed advert about "how animation works"

[video=youtube;a5abtmwuo1s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5abtmwuo1s[/video]


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## TJ Shortt (May 25, 2015)

I'm not so great at drawing maps, but with a series a map really helps with consistency.


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## kilroy214 (May 27, 2015)

I love drawing maps, especially fantasy maps. I have a problem in that I can't draw forests to save my life. Or, I should explain, I can only draw one type of forest symbol, that basically looks like a pine tree, and each tree is drawn individually. This is usually where the time suck comes from during my map drawing process, and I really hate drawing what looks like evergreen forests to depict, say, jungle, or even deciduous forests.


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## popsprocket (Jun 7, 2015)

TJ Shortt said:


> I'm not so great at drawing maps, but with a series a map really helps with consistency.



You know I don't really reference the included map when reading fantasy books... not sure why. I just love to draw them.


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## bdcharles (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi. Does anyone know if there is a quick and dirty way to "generate" fantasy maps. I've looked online but the examples I found were all a bit lacking. Is there some natural-world way (plopping tea bags on paper, or something) that uses natural processes to just spread out stains that magically look like far-away continents?

Failing that, any mathematical models that are idiot-proof might serve?

T.I.A.


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## Mesafalcon (Aug 5, 2015)

I like that town map, popsprocket.

It has an authentic feel - like someone drew it. Or that is to say, like a character drew it.

If a map for the fantasy genre looks to clean, like its obviously CG, it loses something.


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## popsprocket (Aug 5, 2015)

bdcharles said:


> Hi. Does anyone know if there is a quick and dirty way to "generate" fantasy maps. I've looked online but the examples I found were all a bit lacking. Is there some natural-world way (plopping tea bags on paper, or something) that uses natural processes to just spread out stains that magically look like far-away continents?
> 
> Failing that, any mathematical models that are idiot-proof might serve?
> 
> T.I.A.



Actually the tea bag thing is something I've heard of. Just trace around the outside of the stains to get a coast line or drop the tea bag from a height to get a splash of islands.

If you're looking for digital solutions then there are ways to get a random coast line with each of the most popular image editors. Mostly it involves using an automatic cloud rendering function, doing the right blur filters and then taking the best looking piece of the picture to use. Just have a google for a map making tutorial for whichever program you use.

Otherwise my go-to method is really simple. I just draw a few big shapes to get the general size of a land mass. Then I add in smaller shapes to give it some definition and add coastal features, then I just trace right around the outside and rough it up to make it look like a coastline.


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## kilroy214 (Aug 23, 2015)

I've found a lot of inspiration for land masses in clouds.
A couple others I draw inspiration from is to look at familiar land masses from another point of view, or hidden land masses (look up what the Antarctic Archipelago looks like some time) or maps of the Moon,or Mars, etc.


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## Justine (Sep 1, 2015)

Your maps are really good! Thank gods i'm not the only one who has some issues with finding names. It either looks too weird or too similar to things that already exists. haha
I also think that paper versions are better, it's fantasy! Although of course I guess it's easier on a computer...


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