Drawing Cliffs in Different Perspectives
When you sit down to draw a fantasy map for your story, one of the first things to decide is the perspective you’ll use. The most common tend to be isometric and top down, but which should you use? Here we will look at some of the benefits of each using something like cliffs to show some of the differences.
Reference Simple Shapes
If you want the features on your map to have a consistent perspective, it is helpful to think about them using a simple shape like a cube. This is especially true with isometric perspective since it’s very easy for your features to start to drift toward a side or top down perspective as you go.
Side Perspective - Advantages
A side perspective is not traditionally used for maps because of it’s limitations for the purpose of navigation. But, I have included it because it has some real benefits if you incorporate this perspective with some kind of icon or border illustration.
The major advantage to this perspective is it feels immersive; like you are standing in the midst of the landscape. This gives you a lot of control to guide the eye of the viewer and highlight a particular feature on your map.
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Isometric Perspective - Advantages
If you want to show more of the terrain but while retaining a sense of depth, then isometric perspective may be your best choice. With this perspective you can still give a real sense of the landscape while still having a functional map. This tend to be the most popular choice for fantasy maps because of the dynamic style.
Because of the nature of this perspective however, it naturally overlaps and hides features, which means it’s not the most practical choice if you want exact distances. For that, you’re better off with the last perspective.
Top-Down Perspective - Advantages
If you want a map where accurate distances is essential, or seeing exactly where a road weaves between some mountains, then this perspective is probably going to be your best choice. This is the perfect birds eye view perspective and great for navigating a complex landscape.
The main disadvantage to this perspective is it can be a real challenge to give a sense of depth and dimension to things like cliffs or mountains. You can see that the mountain is there, but it’s difficult to tell how tall it is relative to the surrounding mountains.
I hope you found this little Map Tip helpful in your journey to map your story. If you want to support Map Effects and help other map makers, be sure to share this with someone who will find it helpful and pin it to save for later!
Happy Mapping!
- Josh
