How to draw a world map

[Steerpike]

A short tutorial that gives a few considerations for those making their own maps:

Worldbuilding By Map - Fantastic Maps

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, Jonathan Roberts is awesome, he did official maps for Westerose and that world. I was chatting with him a couple years ago trying to get him to do some projects for me, but he said he was too busy at the time on a project he couldn't name... turns out he was working on the Game of Thrones stuff at the time, LOL.

The dude knows his stuff, you can find more of his work at the Cartographer's Guild. Most of its probably on his website, but might be a couple things not there.

 

[claramcalister]

Personally I don't like making my maps using that method. I really wish I could do it that way sometimes, though. But it just never seems to work for me; I can never really get a good "image" of what I want my landmass to look like. So I tend to use Generators like this one. I'll generate about 3 to 4 maps I kinda like (sans regions and boundaries, etc), then throw them together into an interesting mass in photoshop and redraw the borders for the new mass on a new layer.

As a side note, has anyone used the Macarroni method? I always thought it was kind of cute.

 

[traumallama]

I find natural shapes found in everyday life to be my inspiration for maps. It was on a cold winter's day (no really) that I saw on a fog covered window an outline for what looked like the perfect map! I took a picture of it, drew it out, and it was exactly what I wanted. I have since put ink and pen to it and added more details. It is beautiful. Also I find the texture on sheet rock walls to be intriguing.

 

[Thoras]

I try to create my maps in photoshop from the start instead, it feels like drawing your map makes it a lot more difficult to edit and fix things if you need to change them as the story progresses. The problem though might be that it may not be as good looking as a well drawn map. But I suppose if your book becomes good enough to sell you could hire an artist to draw based out of the map you made in photoshop?

 

[TheKillerBs]

I try to create my maps in photoshop from the start instead, it feels like drawing your map makes it a lot more difficult to edit and fix things if you need to change them as the story progresses. The problem though might be that it may not be as good looking as a well drawn map. But I suppose if your book becomes good enough to sell you could hire an artist to draw based out of the map you made in photoshop?

I don't understand. Pencil and paper makes for the easiest way to change something, literally a few hand movements and voilà. The biggest issue with a pencil-and-paper map is that scaling is pretty hard to do (unless you use graph paper)

 

[Thoras]

I don't understand. Pencil and paper makes for the easiest way to change something, literally a few hand movements and voilà. The biggest issue with a pencil-and-paper map is that scaling is pretty hard to do (unless you use graph paper)

Well it kind of depends how good you draw, and what tools/brushes you can use in photoshop. As you work with layers you can simply delete, add or move say a mountain, a lake or a forest - I'd say that's quicker than erasing what you already done and then remodeling it? Especially if you are working with colors later on as well.

 

[elemtilas]

Well it kind of depends how good you draw, and what tools/brushes you can use in photoshop. As you work with layers you can simply delete, add or move say a mountain, a lake or a forest - I'd say that's quicker than erasing what you already done and then remodeling it? Especially if you are working with colors later on as well.

Also depends on what kind of map you want to make.

If you're after some kind of slick History Channel map with satellite accuracy and perfectly spaced lettering with standard fonts, then starting out with Photoshop might be the way to go. If you're after something that looks old and hand drawn, well, drawing it by hand is the way to go! Also, if you're just doodling & planning without a clear vision of the world's shape, then drawing on paper might be easiest until you've got a clear enough idea to commit to electrons.