I am mapped out!

[Nimatzo]

So not so recently I decided to finally start a massive challenge I had always dreamed of, to create an entire world for a future writing project. Now I was aware that I am not there yet on the writing part, but I am so there on the creative part! Maps have always been key for me in fantasy fiction, well maps in general have always been something I loved drawing since the age of 5-6. So naturally it started off with a map, then it grew and grew and now it is a freaking planet. Maps have been revised over and over the mythology and history (so far) of the world as well. Now with 6 continents 2 major archipelagos and a planets slightly larger than earth I am stuck, I am essentially all mapped out. Random coast lines in Photoshop or else where is not my cup of tea, while I do draw realistic continents they must have an aesthetic appeal and they need to look good on the big map, things needs to be in harmony. So right now I am missing a Europe sized continent on the eastern end of my map. So I come here regularly for inspiration, but nothing yet.

Any tips and tricks?

[RobA]

A while back there was a reference to using real world maps as inspiration..... just change things up:

- Use a small island outline as a continent
- Use and area with lakes and flip lakes and land
- Rotate and flip land masses
- Take a few samples and overlap them to get a larger land mass

-Rob A>

[Korash]

Just as support for RobA's first suggestion I offer this little something that I did up using a tut a while back. Try to think of what you can do with it and then try for where it is. A hint is that it is in the southern hemisphere.

The real world is filled with soooo much inspiration it boggles the mind.

[Ascension]

That's some interesting Falking Land there

[Eilathen]

How about you show us what you have so far? First, i am always interested in maps and worlds, and second, it might spark someones creativity and you get what you are looking for

[Nimatzo]

Thanks for the tips guys. As for showing the work, I am not quite there yet, it is really the shell of a world so far, only 1 continent is finished so far, another was totally revised and enlarged, I have a pretty good picture in my head of where it all will go. The finished map is entirely hand drawn and written btw and so far I do not see myself going over to a total digital drawing. I had to take a crash course in Photo shop because I very soon realized that I needed to have everything in an atlas type format so I knew the relative position of everything. Of course at that point I began to realize that I had to be careful now where I placed things because of climate zones and take those things into consideration with what I had had in mind from earlier. So I took picture of my maps with my iPhone and then drew them in photoshop, started experimenting with custom brushes (mountains) and rivers etc. Still however I think I will stick with hand drawn maps for my own sake and will probably eventually put them up here. Right now they are in such a state that they are solely for my sanities sake over creating the world.

I have tried using real world islands, mainly been looking at Indonesia and Phillipines, but I had not looked into lakes, so thanks for that one! Quickly, to google earth!