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Fantasy Map TutorialxResources
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Published: 2011-09-15 22:01:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 178042; Favourites: 3685; Downloads: 12357
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2018 Edit: Too lazy to make your own map? Want yours cleaned up? I take commissions, see Fantasy Map Cartography Portfolio I'm MUCH better at making maps now but I haven't gotten around to creating a new tutorial and this one is still serviceable.
Other versions of brushes:
Converted to Photoshop 7 by here. ithilwenia.deviantart.com/art/…
Converted to Photoshop 6 by here piratelotus-stock.deviantart.c…
Edit: YAY! The obscene amount of work put into this tutorial has paid off with my first DD. THANK YOU!
I'm working on my next ridiculously obscenely over the top resource pack: "Color Me Terrified: Creating the Ambiance of Horror", just in time for Halloween, containing everything you need to make creepy art. It should be live some time in October, so remember to watch.
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Everything you could ever need to make your own fantasy map: the tutorial (should work with any digital program that supports layers), and all the resources you'll require to follow the tutorial available in a .zip folder. Just hit the download button, and view fullsize for the tutorial.
Please consider giving a fave if you download. I do not require any link/credit or alert rules for use of my resources: though all of this is appreciated, I like a favorite so others can find the resources.
I must give a nod to Jezelf, who made the tutorial from which I leaned to make maps. It's no longer online, and so I've made my own tutorial based on the method of "render clouds" for the jagged coastlines.
Resources in resource pack are not free to DISTRIBUTE, but can be used for any commercial, non-commercial, on/off DeviantArt use you can think of, which will probably be fantasy maps, but hey, if you have some other use for these, by all means.
While everything is free, if you appreciate my resources, please consider tossing a donation through my StayClassy page to NaNoWriMo , the crazed month of November Noveling that keeps me going. Your donation gives me a shot at going to their Night of Writing Dangerously, and keeps the fantasy coming!
DOWNLOAD FOR:
One Tolkien inspired font containing as many European characters as I could fit! It's a crappy font, but you get what you pay for.
One dingbat font containing most of the map icons. I hope you like exploring because they're mapped to both uppercase, lowercase, and symbols with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. The only interesting bit is, the sea serpent pair is on the two "smart" quotes, so if your program doesn't support smart quotes, you'll get the tree or mountain that's on the regular quote, and you'll have to access the sea serpent via alt codes.
Three Photoshop CS2+ brush sets, which contain all the map icons. All of them are new sketch-style brushes, but can be used with my previous map brush sets.
(The images are included for those without Photoshop. As always, feel free to convert to whatever brush format you would like, upload to DeviantArt with a linkback, and link me to it... I'll add it to the list.)
BRUSHES FOR PHOTOSHOP 7,
15 parchment-style textures for use as backgrounds.
Two different sets of prefabricated maps, in black and white, lineart, and color for the lazy who just want to get going with the stamps.
Three files of "render clouds" jagged lines for you to assemble into your own continents.
Check out my free fantasy webcomic, Between Places .
Related content
Comments: 314
Cool, you're the first person to use them! Thanks!
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HOLY CRAP! I love you!!!
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I'm glad it was illuminating.
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That is really, really handy and helpful
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Well, thank you, and you are welcome.
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Thank you!! Going to have fun making maps now! c:
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You mean you weren't before?
I hope you have eons of fun.
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Nope not really...they lack 'life'! But now I have more stuff to play around with and unleash the terror of my imagination! 
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UNLEASH THE TERROR UPON THE UNIVERSE! DO IT! DO IT NOWWWWW!
(rubs hands together and cackles)
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As you wish my master!!!
*shuffles out of the dingy dungeon and out into the night*
(XD)
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Excellent... EXXXXXXXXXXXCELLLENNTTT... WAIT NOW WHO IS GOING TO CLEAN THIS DUNGEON, HUH?
(falls to knees and flails)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
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This is an amazing resource! 
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And now it does have a DD!
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I agree! It abs--oh, right, I can't do that, self pimping is frowned upon. D: But I'll take the fact that two people have raved about how I ought to have a DD in mere days as a pretty good compliment! I was definitely trying to make a kick-ass package.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you get good use of it. ^_^
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This is awesome! I love making maps, and this method seems like a good route to go. I can't wait to try it!
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It's a good lazy route to get the nice jagged coastlines if you have too steady of a hand. 
Have fun!
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This is a really nice tutorial. Not sure if I ever make a map, but I'll fav this just in case.
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Well, you never know when you're going to suddenly have this NEED to make a map.
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Totally cool sett. While I know how to make a map in general, the tutorial help add dome effects and thebrushes and fonts are a must have. Thanks so much.
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Thanks! I figure most people have a general idea of how to draw a map, but this one is specifically for how to make the map look awesome on a computer, if you know what I mean... I have dozens of hand-sketched maps from my crazed writer days (not that those ever stopped) but those were no good to anyone but me.
I hope to make an expanded tutorial, on geography and more complicated effects at some time. This one is really just a kickstarter into the world of digital map making. Everything you need, but maybe not everything you WANT.
You're welcome, and enjoy!
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God !! That's an amazing tutorial . plus the helpful collection
You should get a DD for this !!
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Thanks!
As for DDs, well. I've never got one before so it's kind of my personal goal to make mind-numbingly amazing deviations from this point on to try amend this, even if I have to suggest them myself. But yes, it is amazing!
It's what I would have wanted, when I started making maps.
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It's really awesome .
I just need some idea to make my own map
I suggested it for a DD once I saw it
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Well played! Thank you very much for suggesting it. Here are a dozen cookies for you. ^_^
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Haha, thanks. 
As for your own map, well, if you don't write fantasy/science fiction/cyberpunk/etc or anything like that, which could require a map, you can always try alternate history. What if a major world event would have happened differently?
But I heartily suggest cracking out the novelling machine and writing a story set in an original world. That's the best reason to make a map.
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Sorry for the late reply
Thanks for the advice .
I already had a novel in mind and one of the scenes requires using a map ..I can make use of this then .
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I hope it is useful, yep! No problem.
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Woot thank you for all the resources!
.... But we should do another one, about using geographical rules to create plausible maps 
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Hee, frankly I just didn't have time to go into geology. I have a vague idea of how rivers work and I was even sort of keeping in mind a "the desert and jungle brushes will be used on the bottom, there's a rain shadow effect to start off the deserts, more poky trees closer to the top, no trees up in the northiest north of all"... though really, I was just trying to show off the diversity of the brushes in the pack, not make an amazing map.
Sides, fantasy worlds are MAGIC! If I want amazing mystical mysterious rivers that flow uphill from the ocean god as prophets to bring forth the good, uh, liquidy goodness from the ocean, I WILL HAVE THEM.
It's true, though, it doesn't take too much to sum up "how to geology" for fantasy maps.
Rivers: flow downhill from high places, always looking for the lowest ground, never split for too long because they wear at the ground in between/one route will eventually win out as lower, can flow into lakes but multiple won't flow out of lakes. I figure they're either glacially fed, rainwater caught from a high location flowing down, or spring-fed.
Mountains: one word, fantasy writers: ranges. And Mordor is just impossible at finest. Rain shadow effect causes deserts. More north, it just causes BC (jungly province) versus Alberta (the hilllls are alive with the sound of unpredictable weather and farmers bitching about it).
Trees: The more north you go, the more sparse and small the trees. More pokey trees up north, more puffy trees in the moderate zones, palm trees only south and in temperate jungly areas.
Zones: Gradiate, not change suddenly a la fantasy games.
If you have more thoughts, jot them down, maybe I will make a part two.
It's not so hard to figure out by looking at some real maps, but there's always the Cartographer's Guild for the true map buffs.
Then, though, in a world where trees walk, is it so bad to forgive a weird bit of geography or three?
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Well, more like, if you have volcanos in your mountain ranges, there has to be a subduction plate nearby kicking up problems and if you want to have a lone mountain (they do exist) it can't be just a mountain, it has to be a volcano.
Basically, what you said about the deserts and grasslands and rivers. There's more. I have to find my geography notes. I kept them, because the day he was ranting on the topic was really funny.
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Haha. Yeah, I was thinking a bit about the Lonely Mountain too. Mmm, volcanos.
Do find the notes, it would make a good tutorial. Mostly I just notice the weird ranges... like, you'll play a Final Fantasy game and walk into the ice area and then out into the volcano area and then into the grasslands area and then into the water area... etc... that bugs me. Almost as much as the "single ecosystem" planet stereotype of some science fiction.
I could always combine the notes on how to geography with a tutorial on how to make nicer looking geographical textures, instead of just stamps.
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