How to create a realistic map for your world

Oh, what a wonderful feeling it is when you buy a new fantasy book, open it, and a map greets you right at the beginning. It's even better when that map is realistic, logical, and beautifully drawn.

At least that's my opinion. Anyway, in this article, we'll look at how to create such a realistic map, whether on paper or digitally.

You can find a wide selection of fantasy maps for inspiration or for purchase here at imago.

Size

First, you need to realize how big a map you want to create. Will it be a map of an entire planet with all its continents and oceans? Do you want a smaller map that fits only one continent or kingdom? Or will a city map suffice? Of course, you can even make a “map” of a single building. That's up to you. Here, you'll learn mainly about larger maps. About maps of kingdoms, continents, and entire worlds.

Peninsulas, islands, and islets

Now that we know how extensive the map will be, we can start thinking about the shape of the lands and seas.

Islands can have almost any shape, but the coastline shouldn't consist of just a few straight, slightly rounded lines. To create a realistic impression, you need to alternate straight and jagged lines. You can get inspired by the coastlines of this planet, but don't look at Puerto Rico too much. It looks like a rectangle drawn by a deranged macaque.

Tectonics and mountain ranges

You'll only use this tip if you're making a map of a world or a continent. You can certainly use mountains in a kingdom map too, but tectonics aren't as important there. Figuring out where tectonic plates are located and how they move might sound scary and complicated. But it's not complicated at all, because it doesn't actually matter that much.

Lightly mark a few lines on your map that symbolize the boundaries of tectonic plates. Draw mountain ranges approximately along these lines. Four plates shouldn't meet at a single point.

Rivers

Rivers are very simple to draw. It's just a line that keeps twisting from left to right and right to left. River sources are usually in the mountains, so the rivers of your world should also start somewhere near mountains.

It's good to know where they start. But where do they end? There's a very easy answer to that. They either flow into the sea, into a lake, or they merge into another river. Careful: in the real world, rivers almost never split into two; instead, they flow together into one.

Forests

On the map, you can draw several types of trees in the forests: Palms for warm climates, conifers for cold and temperate ones, and deciduous trees for temperate ones. It's a kind of lifeline for fantasy cartographers. They can be, essentially, everywhere, but be careful not to overdo it.

First, I say they can't be absolutely everywhere, because you won't find vast forests near large cities, as the city's inhabitants harvest wood from them.

Second, don't overdo it, because if the whole map contained a few mountain ranges, several cities, and the rest just forests, it wouldn't be realistic.

You don't have to follow the first rule one hundred percent.

Deserts, tundras, and more

Some of the last natural elements your maps can contain are deserts, tundras, swamps, marshes, steppes, forest-steppes, and polar barrens.

Polar barrens and tundras have one very simple rule. They are located near the North and South Poles.

Forest-steppes and steppes have it a bit more complicated, but looking at it very generally, they are found in vast, dry areas of temperate to subtropical climates.

Swamps and marshes, on the other hand, are in places where it is rather humid and are found almost everywhere except perhaps in polar climates.

Deserts are found primarily in tropical and subtropical climates. However, there are exceptions. For example, one tiny desert is located in Poland, and as far as I know, that is not a tropical climate.

Cities

Cities don't have strictly defined rules. Although the largest of them are usually built near water, they can also be in the middle of a desert or in the mountains. Nevertheless, I would recommend placing most cities near rivers, seas, and lakes, and away from extreme environments. They can also be in the middle of plains or near a forest. You can incorporate words from your conlang into city names.

You can learn more about creating a conlang (constructed language) in the article How to create your own language.

Magic

If magic exists in your world, it is also one of the important factors. It is a way to justify anything unrealistic. A river splits into three in one place? Magic! Mountains form a circle in the middle of the map? Magic! Bizarre continent shapes? Magic!

Points of interest

You can further improve your map by adding interesting, unique, and magical places. At the same time, the map will look as if it truly has a history, inhabitants, and cultures. These interesting places include, for example, volcanoes, ruins, castles, watchtowers, caves, wizards' dwellings, and as an interesting element to fill the emptiness of the seas, you can also add a sea monster or a ship. Furthermore, you can add craters, chasms, or cliffs.

Geopolitics

This step is best left for last. That is, if you decide to do it at all, but it's not necessary. It concerns state borders.

Since ancient times, people have used natural features as borders. These were mainly bodies of water and mountains. That will probably be the best choice for your maps too. Later, artificial borders began to emerge. This is beautifully visible on the border between the USA and Canada. Artificial borders are often straight lines, but that doesn't always apply. Let's look at Namibia, for example. That strip sticking out of it towards the east was artificially created so that Namibia would have access to the Zambezi River. If you feel like it, you can use this type of border too. If your world is larger and more advanced, feel free to create colonies as well.

How to do it?

You still need to know how to draw the individual elements. In the image below are the basic map elements that you can follow. You can find more amazing tutorials by Josh Stolarz on the page www.mapeffects.co

However, you can also create your own style or get inspired by other maps.

Good luck, cartographer!

Creating realistic fantasy maps is complex but very fulfilling. The key is a combination of creativity and a logical approach to the natural world. Thanks to careful planning, you can create a map that will be not only beautiful but also believable and functional for your stories or games.

P. S.: Don't draw maps like a macaque.

author Jan Konečný