If you really want a classic hand-inked look for your fantasy map, then adding hatching lines along the coastlines is a great way to do it. Unfortunately, it is very time-consuming to draw each individual line, and keeping them equally spaced can cause no shortage of frustration. But now with the Ocean Hatching Brush included in the Map Effects Fantasy Map Builder, you can instantly add hand-drawn hatching lines with just a click.

All the brushes and the building in this tutorial are available in The Map Effects Fantasy Map Builder

Add Mountains

Use the mountain and hill stamps to create a couple of ranges for your map. You can also begin with the coastline and then add mountains, the choice is yours.

Draw the Coastline

Use the single stroke coastline brush to draw the landmass of your map. I would recommend creating a temporary layer for this step so that you can easily draw the coastline and erase away anywhere it overlaps with the mountains.

Having a few mountains overlap sections of the coastline is a simple but effective way to give your map a little more depth.

Flatten & Select the Ocean

You can now flatten your line art and switch to the Magic Wand tool (Photoshop) or the Automatic Selection Tool (Procreate), and select the ocean area of your map.

I have colored the selection area in teal to make it a little easier to show what I’m doing.

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Create a Layer

With the ocean still selected, create a new layer where you’ll add your hatching lines. Placing them on their own layer just makes it easier if you need to make small adjustments after the fact.

Paint in Hatching

With the ocean still selected, use the Ocean Hatching Brush included in the Fantasy Map Builder to paint around the coastline of your map.

The nice this about doing this is your hatching lines will stay within the selection area and not bleed into the wave line surrounding the coastline. This saves you a lot of time from having to erase later on.

The City Map Builder

$34 | For Procreate, Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, & Affinity

Want to create your own hand-drawn city map with a few clicks and a little imagination? With the City Map Builder, you will get over 300 features, including the Water Wheel in this tutorial, as well as the brushes I have throughout. Click the button below to check it out!

Bring it Together!

You can now finish adding forests, rivers, settlements, and everything else you need to map your story!

If you found this tutorial helpful be sure to follow MapEffects on Instagram and tag me with the map you create following this tutorial and I may feature your work! Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you map your story!

Happy Mapping!
- Josh

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