The land of Ea

[Keraz]

I have a world that I would like mapped out, I would do it myself but I am not very good at map making, so could anyone draw it?
Comment and I'll give you the pictures that I sketched.
If you do accept then your name will go in the credits in the book it belongs too, thanks?
### Latest WIP ###

[Gidde]

Hi Keraz, I wish you luck in finding an artist to help you.

In the meantime, give the tutorials on the forum a try. Many of us started with little to no skill in map making and have learned as we practiced. You may be surprised at what you are able to create!

[waldronate]

Many of us started with little to no skill in map making and have learned as we practiced.

And then there are some others:


Practice is the important part!

[Gidde]

Hahaha so very true

[Tiana]

Not true at all. Talent is really just an inclination to practice the skill for "fun". What we perceive as artistic talent may be existing skill in both seeing and hand-eye control, plus patience.

Anyway, I started with 0 skill in mapmaking and learned via tutorials on this site and others! My first couple of maps were hand-drawn maps of my own story worlds in a style I copied from fantasy books I owned and honestly, the lettering was bad and I didn't know much about geography, but the outcome didn't look too bad. I bet most people are much too hard on themselves.

I don't have time to do free maps but I am happy to give advice for someone trying to do one themselves!

[Kellerica]

I bet most people are much too hard on themselves.

Being hard on oneself is the only way to improve. Whenever I complete a work, I scan the thing for all the weak points and think "next time I'll do even better." I still can't say I'm a great artist, but I can say that most of the maps and other works I complete are usually better than the previous ones.

And for the record, I think some people absolutely have more artistic inclinations than others. You can train your hand to be steady, but you can't conjure artistic eye out of thin air if you have none.


To get back on the subject at hand, Keraz: as others have said, take a stroll down the tutorials section should you feel like it - you might be surprised how much fun it can be making a map yourself. The people on this forum are always super helpful and friendly, and you'll have plenty of chances to get advice and help along the way. And you could post the sketches you have as well - who knows, maybe someone will have some extra time on their hands and feel like helping you out.

[Keraz]

Yeah you're right, but this for a book and i need it to be very good.

[ScottDA]

You are unlikely to get anyone to do a great map for you for free. That's a lot of work. That's why people are suggesting the tutorials -- to give you a way to work around it without costing any money.

[Kellerica]

Yeah, I'm afraid Scott is right - even a small, decent looking B/W map takes easily +30 hours to make, and that is a lot of hours out of someone's week for no compensation at all. While some of us do maps just for fun, it is very different when the only person you are making the work for is yourself. You have the freedom to make all the creative choices, take all the massive several-month-long breaks you need when you are busy with other stuff, or just completely drop the project half-way if you're not feeling it. If you want someone to actually commit and put hard work into making something for you, it's more than fair to expect the artist get something for their hard work too.

[MapMappingMapped]

If you really need a map, why not use a free map-making software such as Inkarnate? It makes decent stuff.