How to Draw Mountains, Forests, Swamps and Cities for a Fantasy World Map!

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[UrsaFrank]

J.R.R.Tolkien didn't draw the middle earth map's (or rather, the ones he did draw were rubbish apparently). All the famous/published middle earth maps were actually drawn by his son Christopher Tolkien, after listening to his fathers stories growing up.

[robin.roundcap]

I love this guy, he's really enthusiastic, yet doesn't shout and has a really nice soothing voice, paired with great videos

[mitchgchrist]

Hi, I am a grade 4 teacher is Alberta, Canada. I am using a lot of RPG elements this year to spice up my Language Arts and Social Studies. I am currently gearing up to start a cartography unit dispersed throughout Art and SS. The aim is to start out in fantasy so we can add a level of depth to the RPG adventure stories we are currently working through. The end game though, is to teach them mapping skills and have them create their own maps of the Regions of Alberta.

I just stumbled onto this video and wanted to thank you. It is such a great guide and I already feel more confident in teaching this to my students. I can’t wait to spend time working my way through the rest of your material!

[zacharywood]

Icon Map 2:49
Icon guide 6:26
Tolkien-style Map 10:07
Tolkien-style Guide 17:28

[pesto]

The mark of an "artist".... every one of the icons looks identical to the next/last... THIS is so very hard for those of us with limited artistic ability and what truly makes the maps look so damn good!

[davidwhite]

Best line: "If you know how to draw the alphabet..." LOL. love it.

[MrGiselbart]

Holy cow I wish I had come across this video sooner. One day I'm hoping to write my own novel, but I've always struggled with the world-building part, and I feel like having a map is also very nice for your audience to give them an idea of how your world looks. I've sadly never been too good at drawing, but the icon style at the start is something that even I can do!

[stevenseufert]

A tip for drawing rivers: rivers can converge (come together) but they won't diverge (split apart). When making rivers, make sure not to diverge your rivers. Most people looking at the map will realize that something about the rivers seems a bit off even if they don't know why it seems off.

Also, because water is governed by gravity, they usually start somewhere at high elevation (mountains, hills) and move toward low areas (marshes, lakes, ocean).

[lorenzoneri]

I've a bit of problems with the "Tolkien Style" map. I don't know how to make the change between mountains and hills...in my mind they're supposed to be neighbouring. Can you give me an advice?

[vikingshaman]

Great video, I'm gonna start developing a map key for future project right

[Random_]

Thank you by the way I'm not making a fantasy map I'm making of USSR 🇷🇺

[yourseatatthetable]

As a teen I became enamored in how the maps were drawn for Lord of the Rings and later, the Middle-earth RPG. They were detailed yet easy to read and understand. I've been using those patterns ever since. Awesome stuff, sir.

[flokalenda]

Loved the video 🙌🏻 i‘m such a huge tolkien fan!

[tylerwilliams]

Thanks this will really help for my D&D campaign

[MZRJK]

I just knew about you today and I am really happy about it I have zero knowledge in drawing and sketching but I love making fantasy maps and your channel helps me a lot❤

[DavidWilsonJr]

That magical moment where the end of map outline just hit perfectly with the origin point... nice

[ivaburkovicova]

I spend the whole day searching for some cool map maker and ended her. I am really glad I haven't found a good site for making maps because this is going to be fun! It's the most helpful thing I found about creation of fantasy maps today. Thanks a lot! I've already tried some Tolkien icons and even though I can't draw they looked sooo cool! So tomorrow I'll make a whole map. Thanks a lot again! This really helped me ^-^

[sophiedevon]

This video is awesome! I had no idea where to even start with making a fun map like this, and this makes it so approachable. Really well done. I’m delighted I found it.

[fahadalikhan]

I like your videos my map came out good i love you

[ticonofruger]

I just want to say, that you have wonderful content. I may not watch all you videos, but as an artist I would like to say that I am glad there us someone out there who dedicates time to showing people who are not artists, how to make his like this. You really do deserve more views.