How to make fantasy maps

Learning how to draw banners is an essential part of creating an immersive fantasy map. You can use them to share the name of the region you’re mapping, or for individual cities, locations, and territories. In this tutorial I want to walk you through how to draw a relatively simple banner anyone can draw, that still looks interesting and professional.

Draw Your Own Fantasy Maps: One of my favorite things about playing tabletop RPGs is that it inspires me to create art that fits into that world. Whenever I play a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, I always feel compelled to create a very detailed world map to help me envision th…

One of the first things you'll need to do when writing a fantasy novel is make a map of your world. Here are some tips for how to start drawing a map (even if you're not an artist), how your map influences your story, and how to make your map realistic and pretty!

If you enjoy finding inspiration for your stories from real-world locations, then look no further than the stone pillars of Wulingyuan, China. But the real question is, how do you draw something like that on your fantasy map? In this tutorial, I’ll break down the process so you can add these iconic

How to Draw an Isometric Fortress on Your Fantasy Maps — Map Effects

There are many storytelling possibilities for your RPG adventure by including something like a mysterious chasm. Is it a natural feature? Was it created by someone in the ancient past with the power to make fissures in the rock itself? The question is…how do you draw a chasm? In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the process so you can easily add a crack in the earth for your party to explore on your fantasy map.

Hannah on Instagram: "Making my own fantasy map 🧜‍♀️🧚‍♀️🏰 #fantasymap #mapmaking #fantasymapmaking"

I’ve realised I have a particular workflow for drawing coastlines in my maps. Here’s a quick walkthrough. Each step is done on a new layer in photoshop, and I use a 5px hard round brush in each case with size set to pressure. However, all of these steps can be done in Gimp – or … Continue reading "How to Draw Coastlines on a Fantasy Map"

Volcanoes are one of the most dramatic features you could include on your fantasy maps. Adding a volcano to your maps can open up a lot of storytelling possibilities, but how do you go about drawing one? Check out this tutorial which will break down the process so you can draw a volcano on your maps. #mapeffects #rpg #dnd #fantasy #dungeonsanddragons #worldbuilding

One of the biggest challenges with fantasy maps in a top down perspective is they tend to look a bit flat. Fortunately, there are some simple tricks you can use to build up the layers of the landscape to give a sense of depth. In this Map Tip we’ll be looking at how to draw cliffs on a coastline in this perspective and make them really stand out in your map. #mapeffects #fantasy #rpg #drawing #maps

Maps on the web, maps from the web, charts and infographics.

Mountains are perhaps the most important natural feature you can draw on a map. They impact weather patterns, where rivers flow, and ultimately where cities and nations arise. In this tutorial, I will walk through one of my favorite methods to draw mountains on your fantasy maps for your rpg, or boo

I'm a fairly good artist, but I know not everyone is like me. Even I'm not that good at one of the most important parts of writin...

There is nothing more iconic in cartography than the compass rose. There are nearly limitless ways to draw a compass, but in this tutorial I want to set a foundation for you to build upon later. You will learn everything you need to draw a simple compass on your fantasy maps. #mapeffects #cartography #rpg #fantasy #maps #compass

It’s one thing to draw a lake in a nice open region, but how can you realistically draw it tucked into the mountains? In this map tip we’ll look into how a lake forms, and then help you to learn how to draw one on your fantasy maps! #mapeffects #rpg #fantasy #drawing #maps #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #dnd

Today we are going to look at the top free D&D map builders around and let you know what makes each of them unique. Hopefully after this you will have all the tools you need to try making maps for your campaign yourself.

Ready to enter the dense canopy of a tropical jungle where the air is so thick you can feel it, and there is a new danger under every leaf? In this tutorial I will walk you through some steps so you can learn how to draw a dense jungle on your fantasy maps!

How do you draw a floating island on your fantasy map? In this Map Tip I will break down for you my method for drawing the underside of a floating island for your fantasy rpg or book. #mapeffects #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #rpg #fantasy #maps