Rivers have to be the most common thing for new map makers to get wrong; and even seasoned cartographers may have some of these mistakes sneak up on them if they’re not careful. But, having an awareness of some of the most common issues that come up when it comes to river placement will go a long way in making your maps and worlds more believable.

What’s Wrong with this Map?

No matter how nicely your map is drawn, if there are problems with your rivers it will undermine the believability of your map.

Let’s go over each of these and show how to fix them!

Rivers Don’t Split - They Join Together

Having a major river that splits has to be the most common mistake. While river bifurcation or splitting can happen with an influx of water, it’s the exception not the rule.

Gravity pulls water from a high point in a landscape to a low point, always choosing the path of least resistance.

Rivers do seemingly split in areas like deltas or marshes because of a high water table and a relatively flat surface akin to a very shallow lake.

Rivers Don’t Flow From Coastline to Coastline

Rivers cannot flow from one side of a landmass to the other at sea level. Something like that may be considered a narrow channel, but not a river.

Water will always flow downhill from a high point until it reaches the sea.

Lakes & Ponds Only Have One Outlet

Lakes are commonly fed by several streams and surface run-off. So a lake is basically just a valley that is able to fill and retain water.

Flooding may temporarily cause several outlets to form, but will return to one outlet as water chooses the path of least resistance.

More Tutorials You May Enjoy

Rivers Do Not Flow Uphill

This may seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how easily this one can creep into your maps. It often occurs when you want to draw a river flowing through a mountain range.

While there are many mountain streams, they always flow downhill as water journeys to the ocean.

For a river to flow toward a mountain range like the example shows, it would have to defy gravity. Feel free to create a fantasy solution to this issue, but don’t make the mistake by accident.

Thinking in 3D

Finally, I think one of the most helpful skills to avoid these mistakes is to begin imagining the three-dimensional shape of the landscape you’re mapping.

Once you do that, imagine pouring some water over the surface of the landscape and visualize the route the water would naturally flow downhill.

Learn How to Draw Rivers on Your Maps

If you want to learn how to put pen to paper and draw some rivers on your fantasy maps, check out this tutorial!

PIN FOR LATER