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.
Realistic or Not?
Here is a common scale for a tree drawn on a fantasy map. But, notice how tall that would make this tree relative to the height of the mountain! Keep in mind, that the tallest redwoods in Northern California are only around 300-400 ft.
What is Realistic?
You may be wondering, what would a realistic-sized tree look like next to this mountain we’ve drawn? As you can see in the sample image, I had to circle the tree just so you know where to look. Even this tree would be 100 ft. tall, and at this scale, it’s barely visible let alone recognizable as a tree.
To be fair, there are techniques for using trees at this scale, utilizing almost a stippling technique to imply the texture of a forest. However, this isn’t what most of us usually want to do on our maps. So let’s look at how much wiggle room you have when it comes to drawing forests.
Artistic License
The good news is, that you have a lot of artistic license when it comes to how large you draw the trees on your fantasy maps. As long as you make sure the forests are clearly smaller than the mountains. You can see in these three examples that while the styles range quite a bit in size, all of them read clearly as trees on your map.
Ultimately just relax when it comes to “realism” on your maps. It’s your job to convey an artistic representation of a landscape, not a scientific scan of an environment. As I said above, as long as the trees are scaled relative to the other features around them, you’ll do just fine.
Happy Mapping!
- Josh
