How to make a fantasy map sketch look professional?

[Wingshaw]

Imitation is definitely a valid approach to developing your eye for technique, but you should also actively investigate the principles and theory of design.

I'm curious: to what extent do the professional artists on this forum apply their school-acquired or professional abilities when making maps? I would love to hear from some professionals/experienced members/anybody about this (maybe this question deserves its own thread). I regard the maps we make here as a form of art, but they are also about conveying specific, and usually fictional, information.

THW

[Falconius]

I regard the maps we make here as a form of art, but they are also about conveying specific, and usually fictional, information.

THW

All art (dare I say good art? heh) is about conveying specific information I would say. Even if it perhaps sometimes more nebulous than the hard information one can convey in maps. But a sculpture of a person or a portrait of a person is certainly conveying specific information in the same way of a map.

"School acquired" or perhaps a better term "study acquired" abilities even if not specifically used provide an underlying understanding and foundation of how things work. It allows one the basis to transfer that knowledge to new areas and explore them effectively. I often hear stories and indeed experienced it first hand of really super talented kids in art school who in the first year simply amaze their classmates and other poor shlubs who are amateur and more often than not it is the "shculbs" who surpass the "talent" by the end of school or in the professional field, because they've had to work hard at acquiring the skills that the "talent" already had, but more importantly they've developed the discipline and the foundation that it takes to improve and to extend their understanding into new areas. In other words it gets easier and easier to climb hills the more you climb, and eventually you can get to the top of the mountain, but for a guy standing on top of a hill he's not quite as good as getting up them as the guy who was standing at the bottom. That is hopefully what school is around to encourage and provide, not necessarily the technical skills one acquires but the ability to improve oneself more effectively.