THE LEARNING ARCHIVES
Whether you're creating maps for a novel, rpg, or just for fun, this collection of tutorials and map tips will help you create more professional and believable maps for your story!
What Scale Should You Draw Trees & Forests?
Have you ever been tripped up by what size to draw the trees on your fantasy maps? Most of us have a desire for our maps to feel realistic, but sometimes this can be more of a hindrance than a help. In this Map Tip, I want to give you a little insight into what scale most map makers draw their trees, what is realistic, and then how much artistic license you have when drawing your maps.
Meandering Rivers - Why Rivers Curve in Flat Terrain?
Have you ever wondered whyy rivers meander all over the place on flat terrain? It makes sense for the terrain in the mountains to be diverting the river, but why does it do the same thing on a flat landscape?
Mastering Value for Pencil Shading
When it comes to art I feel like shading is one of those magical things. There’s just something about transforming a drawing on a flat piece of paper, to something that feels like it’s popping off the page. Just about every aspiring artist and cartographer I know wants to learn how to shade, but it also feels like one of the most intimidating things to learn. While there is certainly room for complexity, I think you can easily achieve more than satisfactory results with just some basic principles. Those simple principles are what I hope to equip you with today, so you can master value and can adding shading to your fantasy maps with ease.
A Beginner Guide to Simple Shading on Your Fantasy Maps
Adding shading to your fantasy map brings a whole new level of depth and texture that can help your readers or players visualize the landscape you've created. But if you don’t consider yourself an “artist”, then the idea of shading might feel very overwhelming. Between what colors to use, light direction, and form, it can be difficult to know where to begin.
7 Ways to Create Depth on Your Fantasy Maps
Do all the features on your fantasy map look a bit…flat? If you want to quickly step up the quality of your maps for the book you’re writing, or your next rpg campaign, then learning how to add some depth to can go a long way.
Population Size for a Village, Town, or City - What’s Believable?
What is a realistic population size for a medieval or ancient fantasy setting? Should a city have a couple of million people? How about 500,000 or 20,000? Let’s delve in and give you some simple guidelines as well as a cheat sheet you can easily reference as you are writing your story and drawing your map!
How to Draw Better Dead Trees
Have you ever tried to draw some dead trees on your fantasy map and realized it just looked like a tree without any leaves? How can you convey that it’s actually dead and not just defoliated? In this Map Tip, we’ll look at some simple tricks you can use on your maps to make sure your trees are appropriately deceased.
River Sins to Avoid on Your Fantasy Maps
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.
Forests - Where to Place Them on Your Maps
Have you ever wondered if you’re placing forests in the right spot on your fantasy maps? How does a forest even form, and why do trees grow in one area and not another? In this Map Tip I will walk you through how a forest grows to fill a landscape so you can have confidence when placing them on your maps!
Sea Monsters - What Scale Should You Draw Them?
Do you want to draw some awesome sea monsters on your fantasy map, but aren’t sure what scale they should be? Should you go with a more realistic scale, or will they be too hard to see? Can you make them larger or will that throw off your whole map? But, is striving for “realism” negatively affecting the impact of your maps? Lets get into it!
How to Draw Cliffs on a Coastline
If you want the coastlines to look like they’re popping off the page, then adding some cliffs is a great way to do it. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to do and it will instantly make your map look much more professional. In this Map Tip, you will learn some simple techniques to help your maps stand out from the crowd, so let's start mapping!
How to Measure Distance on Curving Paths
How much time will it take for your characters to travel the wandering path they’re on? Well, how long is it? Not sure? In this Map Tip you'll learn a simple trick to quickly determine distance on even the most crooked paths.
How to Draw a Floating Island
The idea of having a floating island that is mysteriously positioned in mid-air is something that has become increasingly popular in the fantasy genre. But, how do you draw one on your map? In this Map Tip, I will break down for you my method for drawing the underside of a floating island for your fantasy worlds!
Varying the Size of Mountains
What's the trick to making your mountain ranges look more realistic on your fantasy map? One thing often overlooked is that not all mountains should be the same height. Having some variation helps them feel a part of the surrounding landscape and not just sitting on top of it. Let's look at some simple principles you can apply to your maps.
A Simple Way to Create Depth on Your Maps
Most fantasy maps you see have a relatively flat landscape, with a few mountains, forests, and settlements placed on top. But, occasionally you’ll find a cartographer who makes the entire landscape look like it is popping off the page. In this guest tutorial, Gerralt Landman will share with you his secret to iconic maps with their amazing depth and dimension.
How to Draw 7 Fantasy Map Borders
Want to draw a border on your map but don’t know where to even start? Borders are a creative and fun way to put some lore and style into your maps. Making these borders requires some skill but once you get the hang of it things get fun really quickly. In this guest tutorial, Gerralt (DimensionDoor_Maps) will share 7 beautiful borders you can begin using today on your maps!
How to Add Depth with Stippling On Your Dungeon Maps
Stippling is a powerful and yet simple technique you can use to give your dungeon maps a lot of depth. If you enjoy the classic pen & ink look, then this technique is for you. In this guest tutorial, Fred (Whiskey_n_Ink) will walk you through how you can use stippling to add dimension to your dungeon maps!
Where to Draw Marshes on Fantasy Maps?
There are so many ways you can utilize marshes in your worldbuilding and storytelling. They can be a place of great abundance and biodiversity, or they can be somewhere filled with foreboding and danger. Either way, it’s important to understand how they actually form in order to place them on your map.
Using Shape Language to Give Your Maps Character
Did you know that the shapes you use when drawing features on your fantasy maps can actually cause certain emotional triggers in the viewer? In this guest tutorial, Gerralt (DimensionDoor_Maps) will walk you through how you can use the power of shape language to give your maps more character!
Where to Place Rivers on Your Fantasy Maps
Rivers are likely an essential feature for the fantasy world you’re creating. Water is vital for life as we know it, not only for survival but transportation or trade. Understanding where to place them on a map is challenging if you don't want it to appear arbitrary. But if you grasp how water moves through a landscape, it will go a long way toward creating a sense of realism for your maps and worldbuilding.