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Fantasy Map Drawing Ideas

One piece of an invented map per press: a coast, a landform, a town mark or a whole map.

Fantasy Map Drawing Ideas

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  1. A coastline of bays and headlandsA bay is water set back into the coast. A headland is high land pushing out into the sea. Take turns.

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Coasts and water 14

  • A barrier island with a lagoon behind it A lagoon is shallow water cut off from the sea by a narrow strip, such as a barrier island or a reef.
  • A braided river crossing a plain A braided river is a net of channels separated by small islands, many of them temporary.
  • A chain of small islands trailing off a cape An archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands. Shrink them as they get farther from the mainland.
  • A coastline of bays and headlands A bay is water set back into the coast. A headland is high land pushing out into the sea. Take turns.
  • A fjord coast of long narrow inlets A fjord is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides, lying in a valley that a glacier once made.
  • A lake with one river in and one river out A lake sits in a basin with dry land all around it. Make the shore wobble and keep the water blank.
  • A ring-shaped island around a lagoon An atoll is a ring-shaped island whose rim encircles a lagoon. Break the ring in one place for ships.
  • A river delta fanning into the sea A delta is usually a triangle built from the sediment a river drops at its mouth. Split the channel here.
  • A river that gathers tributaries on its way to the sea Tributaries flow into the larger stream. So going downstream the branches join; they do not fan out.
  • A slow river with an oxbow lake beside it An oxbow lake is a U-shaped pool left behind when a wide bend of a river is cut off.
  • A strait with a headland on each side A strait is a stretch of water that connects two seas. Draw the two shores nearly touching.
  • A whirlpool between two islands A whirlpool forms where opposing currents meet. Draw one spiral and a small warning beside it.
  • Sea stacks off a cliff coast A stack is a steep column of rock left standing in the sea by the waves. Draw each as a tiny tower.
  • Two lands joined by a narrow neck An isthmus is a narrow piece of land that connects two larger ones across water. Put a town on it.

Mountains, forests and land 14

  • A canyon cut by a river A canyon is a deep cleft between cliffs, worn by a river. Draw two cliff lines and hatch down from each.
  • A crater lake with an island in it A crater lake fills the crater of a volcano. Draw a ring of cliffs, flat water and one small island.
  • A desert of dunes with one oasis An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert. Dot the sand, curve the dunes and give the oasis the only trees.
  • A forest made of one tree mark, repeated Pick one mark, a cloud on a stick or a small triangle. Crowd it in the middle and thin it at the edge.
  • A marsh of grass tufts and short water lines A marsh is a wetland of grasses and reeds. A swamp is the forested kind, so leave the trees out.
  • A mountain pass with a road squeezing through A pass is a route through a mountain range. Break the row of peaks and thread the road into the gap.
  • A mountain range as a line of side-on peaks A range is a line of mountains joined by high ground. Shade the same side of every peak.
  • A mountain range with a wet side and a dry side A rain shadow: the side that faces away from the wind gets far less rain. Forest on one side, scrub on the other.
  • A salt lake that no river leaves Some basins let no water out. Rivers run in, the water dries off and what stays turns salty.
  • A volcano with a thread of smoke A volcano is a vent in the crust. On a map it is one cone with its top cut flat and a wisp above.
  • Flat-topped mesas and one lone butte A mesa has a flat top and steep sides all around. A butte is the same shape, only smaller.
  • Foothills as rows of low humps Foothills are the gradual rise at the base of a range. Draw low humps before the first true peak.
  • Hills shown by hachures Hachures are short strokes drawn down the steepest slope. Thicker, denser strokes mean steeper ground.
  • One hill drawn in contour lines A contour line joins points of equal height. Nest closed loops inside each other up to the top.

Towns, roads and ruins 14

  • A border wall from coast to coast, with gates Run it along the high ground. Add a tower at every bend and a gate wherever a road arrives.
  • A bridge where the road meets the river Two short lines across the river with the road running between them. Put a toll house at one end.
  • A capital marked unlike every other town Give it a star, a crown or a double ring, and letter its name largest of all.
  • A causeway out to an island fortress A causeway is a road on a raised bank across water or wet ground. Rule it dead straight.
  • A city where two rivers meet A confluence is where two streams join into one. Fit the city into the wedge, with a bridge each way.
  • A dotted road between two towns Dots for a track, a solid line for a paved road. Bend it around the hills and aim it at the pass.
  • A harbor town with a lighthouse on the point Roofs around a curved quay, two piers, and a tower on the headland that shelters them.
  • A lone tower on a hill One tall rectangle with a notched top. Leave open ground all around it so that it reads as alone.
  • A mountain monastery at the end of a zigzag path Draw the path as a tight zigzag up one slope and set the building on a ledge just below the peak.
  • A road that fords a river A ford is a shallow place where a river can be crossed by wading. Stop the road line at each bank.
  • A ruin drawn as a broken ring of wall Draw the city mark, then rub out a third of it and scatter loose blocks. Letter its name smaller.
  • A town plan seen from above A wall, four gates, a market square where the gate roads cross, and lanes filling the quarters.
  • A village as three small roofs Three roofs and a dot. The dot marks the exact spot; the roofs only say that it is a village.
  • A walled city mark A ring of wall with square towers, a few roofs inside and one gate. Keep it the size of a thumbnail.

Map furniture 14

  • A border of two ruled lines with a square in each corner Rule the outer line heavy and the inner one fine. Fill each corner square with one small emblem.
  • A compass rose for a land where north is not at the top Four cardinal points and four more halfway between them. Turn the whole rose so north points off to one side.
  • A corner that says here be dragons The Latin phrase is known from a single globe of about 1508. Write yours where the map runs out.
  • A legend of ten symbols The key that says what each mark means. Draw the symbol, then the word: town, ruin, mine, ford, pass.
  • A patterned border with the scale worked into it Repeat one small motif all the way around and let one side of the border double as the scale bar.
  • A river's name curved along the river Let names follow the thing they name: bend a river's name with its course, spread a range's along the peaks.
  • A scale bar marked in days of travel A scale bar is a line marked off in distances. For an invented land, mark it in days on foot.
  • A sea monster in the margin Old mapmakers drew dragons and sea monsters on the parts of a map nobody had charted. Loop yours through the waves.
  • A small ship in an empty stretch of sea Side on, sails full, heading somewhere. A ship gives blank water a reason to be on the map.
  • A title cartouche A cartouche is the decorative emblem on a map that holds its title. Frame the name in a scroll or shield.
  • A web of straight sailing lines across the sea Portolan charts carried a network of straight lines running out in many directions from fixed points.
  • An inset map of the capital in one corner An inset is a small map inside the large one. Box it and draw the city at a bigger size.
  • One sheet with a rose, a scale, a cartouche and a key Draw all four in a single style, with the same line weight and the same corner flourish.
  • Unknown land: the map fading out at one edge Terra incognita is Latin for unknown land. Turn the coastline to dots, then to nothing.

Whole maps to plan 14

  • A coastal kingdom between mountains and sea Mountains along one edge, sea along the other, and rivers running from the first to the second.
  • A continent with a mountain spine and rivers running both ways The high ground that separates one river basin from the next is a divide. Run it down the middle.
  • A desert land with one road and three wells Leave most of the paper empty. The road runs from well to well and nowhere else.
  • A forest realm with clearings for its villages Fill the sheet with tree marks, then leave round gaps. Join the gaps with paths that never run straight.
  • A kingdom drawn as a picture from high above A pictorial map shows the land as a view from the air, with the hills and buildings standing up.
  • A lake country with towns along the shore One big lake fills the middle of the sheet. Roads run around it and boats run across it.
  • A single valley with one river and two villages Hills down both sides, the river down the middle, one village high up and one where the valley opens.
  • A small island with five named places Name them for what happened there: Lost Boot Marsh, First Camp, Lookout Rock. Keep the island tiny.
  • A world on two round hemispheres Two circles side by side, each with one large land and scattered islands. Share one compass rose.
  • An archipelago of seven islands with one thing on each A tower, a volcano, a forest, a ruin, a village, a lighthouse and one with nothing at all.
  • An island kingdom with three towns Coast first, then one mountain, one river from it to the sea, and the biggest town at the river mouth.
  • One land in two ages: before the city and after Trace the same coast twice. On the second sheet add walls, a harbor and roads, and let the forest shrink.
  • One river's whole journey, from the mountains to the delta A river begins at its source and ends at its mouth. Mark five stops for a traveler along the way.
  • Two rival cities facing each other across a strait Mirror them: a harbor each, a tower each, and one ferry line dotted between.

How it works

An invented map is built from a few dozen small marks: a wobbling coast, a row of peaks, three roofs for a village. These fantasy map drawing ideas give the marks one at a time, then whole maps to plan.

Read the full guide

Draw the land in this order

Coast first: one closed, wobbling line. Then mountains, as a line of peaks or two. Then rivers, each starting in high ground, gathering branches and reaching the sea. Then forests in the wet places. Towns come last, at river mouths, bridges and harbors, with roads between them. Finish with a compass rose, a scale and a title.

  • Draw every symbol side on and small, as if the mountains and towns were standing up on a flat map.

Questions and answers

How do you start drawing a fantasy map?

With the coastline. Draw one closed line and let your hand shake: bays, headlands, a few islands off one corner. Everything else hangs on it. Easy, under More filters, holds 25 small pieces to practice first.

Where do rivers go on a fantasy map?

From high ground to the sea, by the lowest route. Tributaries flow into the larger stream, so going downstream the branches join. The usual place for a river to divide is its delta.

How do you draw mountains on a map?

The old way is a line of small peaks seen from the side, each shaded on the same face. For gentler ground use hachures: short strokes drawn down the slope, thicker and closer where it is steeper.

What is a cartouche on a map?

The decorative emblem that holds the title. On an invented map it is a scroll, a shield or a frame in one corner with the name of the land lettered inside.

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