# Easy way to make a fictional world map using Photoshop



## Topper88 (Jan 9, 2013)

It's a really great way to get organic-looking continents, and even  though the process is random it can give you some good references for  creating your own maps from scratch, if nothing else. It's a really  simple process that only takes a few minutes to do. 

First, start with a new image the size you want your map to be (the larger your map, the more "chaos" there will be on the edges of your continents), then on the toolbar click on Filter>Render>Clouds







You should get some clouds. The dark parts (or light parts, if you prefer) will be your landmasses, so  you can manipulate them a bit by adjusting the contract settings






Next, on the toolbar go to Filter>Artistic>Cutout. You'll get something like this. If you don't like the shapes you got,  you can always add the clouds filter again to repeat the process.






Erase all bodies of water and excess landmasses, particularly the ones that clip the edges of your map






From there, use the transform tool to rotate and resize the landmasses  as you see fit (do not resize them too large or else they will  pixellate) 






Lastly, decorate your results however you want. If you have Adobe Illustrator you can further render the image so you can zoom in really far and make regional maps.


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## Abbey08 (Jan 9, 2013)

Topster,
What a clever idea! I never would have thought of this. And thank you for walking us through the steps.

Lorraine


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## dolphinlee (Jan 10, 2013)

Topster

Thank you for posting this. For someone like me who believes the only good line is a straight one, it is very difficult to even begin drawing a map.


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## Trilby (Jan 10, 2013)

Great idea, thank you for sharing, Trilby.


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## OWenDavis (Jan 24, 2013)

This is a really clever method to use!


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## jedellion (Jan 24, 2013)

I use a similar technique using a cloud brush and paint blobs, I try to follow the rules of continental drift though so I would make the shapes look like they might have once interlocked.


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## dolphinlee (Jan 25, 2013)

I thought I  would give this a go. It took less than five minutes (including the time to open photoshop)


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## Staff Deployment (Feb 8, 2013)

I was reading through this, wondering what you were doing with the cloud filter, and then BAM suddenly landmasses AWWW SNAP. Very nicely done.

By how easy this is, and how good of a result it produces, I'm surprised this technique hasn't popped up before.

_(also, 555 wooo)_


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## Morkonan (Feb 8, 2013)

On maps:

IMO, a map should reflect what is necessary for the story. That being said, just any old random map will not do. That is, if you already have a story in mind. However, a random map can help serve to inspire a story. You can look over the continents, archipelagos, islands and huge oceans and dream up a story, pretty easily. Well, an epic, really. Maps like that are suited to dreaming up epics.

I've used map generators for inspiration. There are quite a few out there, mostly for role-playing and board games. 

Here's one: Fractal Mapper v8.0

And another: http://www.hexographer.com/

But, I do like your photoshop idea!


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## Topper88 (Feb 13, 2013)

dolphinlee said:


> I thought I  would give this a go. It took  less than five minutes (including the time to open photoshop)
> 
> View attachment 4050



That's awesome. You might want to use a bigger image document so you get more chaos along your shorelines.



Morkonan said:


> On maps:
> 
> IMO, a map should reflect what is necessary for the story. That being said, just any old random map will not do. That is, if you already have a story in mind. However, a random map can help serve to inspire a story. You can look over the continents, archipelagos, islands and huge oceans and dream up a story, pretty easily. Well, an epic, really. Maps like that are suited to dreaming up epics.
> 
> ...



Oh of course. Your map should work around your story, not the other way around. Though I'm not sure it would be necessary to map out _every _part of a map for a specific purpose, I don't think there's much harm in leaving the majority of your map up to random chance.


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## dolphinlee (Feb 13, 2013)

I had fun trying it out. There certainly needs to be much more chaos along the shore lines. At the moment they look like someone with regular teeth has nibbled them. 

Thanks for the idea.


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## Angelicpersona (Feb 14, 2013)

That's awesome! I wish I still had PS. Alas, Gimp is close, but it doesn't have everything


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## Narnia (Mar 2, 2013)

Thank you so much for this!  I have been trying to figure out how to create a map of my novel realm and will be giving this a try.


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## BreakingMyself (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm going to have fun with this thanks.

I won't need it for my current book but I'll still be making an epic treasure map, for no apparent reason!


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## WechtleinUns (Aug 4, 2013)

This is excellent trilby. May I add something? If you apply the laplace and threshold filters to the final image, you'll get pixel perfect outlines, which is useful for adding stuff on the interior of the continents.


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## huntsman (Aug 29, 2013)

Photoshop is a great software.....you can do any thing with it....


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## David K. Thomasson (Apr 11, 2014)

Topster said:


> Lastly, decorate your results however you want.



Very clever technique! For decorations, play around with layer styles.


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## Bard_Daniel (Apr 18, 2014)

Cool map!


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## Topper88 (Sep 2, 2014)

Ha David that is awesome


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## JamieJabbourIllustration (Apr 27, 2015)

Oh wow this is a fantastic idea.
I'm going to bookmark this, it will surely come in handy.


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## Justine (Sep 1, 2015)

This is a really clever idea! I've got photoshop CS6 so I might try this, since I am trying to write a fantasy fiction. Thank you for this little tutorial!


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## madjac74 (Sep 6, 2015)

Morkonan said:


> However, a random map can help serve to inspire a story. You can look over the continents, archipelagos, islands and huge oceans and dream up a story, pretty easily. Well, an epic, really. Maps like that are suited to dreaming up epics.



This is exactly what I was thinking when I read this post. I've always wanted to do some sort of fictitious history book of a totally random world. Things like this are great inspiration for that. Now I just need some sort of random generator for the dominant species of the world


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## Evocraft RPG (Nov 28, 2015)

Cool idea! This could be useful for RPG games like my game, Evocraft. Also, for the people who are unhappy with the total randomization, you could do this effect on multiple layers, then cut and paste different parts of landmasses together to get the general shape you want. Like making a collage, but with different pieces of random maps.


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## Red Sonja (Nov 28, 2015)

Clever, fun idea. I have no use for it presently but it may certainly come in handy later on. Thanks for posting!


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## denmark423 (Dec 1, 2015)

What a great idea! Would definitely try this!


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## denmark423 (Jan 13, 2016)

I saw a video of this and it's really cool.


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## Book Cook (Jan 24, 2016)

dolphinlee said:


> I thought I  would give this a go. It took less than five minutes (including the time to open photoshop)
> 
> View attachment 4050



The continent in the lower right part of the map is giving a thumbs up.


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