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· 361 ratings · 32 reviews

Start your review of How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps: Step by Step Cartography for Gamers and Fans

I learned a lot from this! ^_^ Now I'm excited to work on my own (official and detailed) fantasy maps very soon! :O I learned a lot from this! ^_^ Now I'm excited to work on my own (official and detailed) fantasy maps very soon! :O ...more

Feb 13, 2016 Sam rated it really liked it

This was a good step by step guide for creating a nice and detailed map, whether for a fantasy book series or an rpg. It was also a quick read because it is around 80% images.

I would have loved to have this book back when I was in art school, for some of the pen, ink, and techniques. This is very much for beginners, though, so it doesn't go into anything in-depth. I do like how it suggests experimenting to find what works best for you.

As for the maps themselves, while lovely, they are of the standard western European medieval fantasy type. The elves live in forests, barbarian raiders from the north (always the north) are based on vikings, the ancient civilizations are based on Greek and Roman designs, and green-skinned orcs are out for your blood. I understand that is bog-standard fantasy material, but it would have been nice if it gave visual alternatives to tired tropes.

Because it is based on western Europe, there aren't sections for how to make interesting deserts, or steppes, or canyons, it basically sticks to mountains, hills, forests, marshes, farmland and seas. There is a nice (though basic) section on heraldry and making shields, banners, and icons for your various cities, holdfasts, and castles. And it covers some interesting border techniques from the 16th century.

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You don't even need to be an artist to create amazing fantasy maps. This book will take you through the process, step-by-step. I use it to create maps for the fantasy stories I write. You don't even need to be an artist to create amazing fantasy maps. This book will take you through the process, step-by-step. I use it to create maps for the fantasy stories I write. ...more

Great and detailed instructions about creating an amazing fantasy map! It gave me a lot of ideas and I'll try to implement them on my own map. Great and detailed instructions about creating an amazing fantasy map! It gave me a lot of ideas and I'll try to implement them on my own map. ...more

Oct 12, 2015 Shaun Hately rated it really liked it

An excellent resource, but perhaps assumes a little more natural talent than most people have.

3.5/5

Compared to previous art books I have read (and reviewed here) this book is far superior. The instructions are simple to follow and the steps are laid out clearly with helpful visuals accompanying them.

Jared Blando does a good job laying out the basics of geography as well as the aesthetics of cartography. A lot of what you read in this book can be easily gleaned elsewhere, but its a nice tool to pull together ideas and look at them all together. Another valuable example of what Blando ha

3.5/5

One criticism I will make about the book is that the maps appear to be in a common style. Blando doesn't really flesh out alternatives, more like variations on a core style. It's more complicated than this, but basically the style looks quite reminiscent of the maps in the Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire with greater visual flourish.

I think the book may be a useful guide, especially for those who want a solid starting point for their maps and help in how to draw certain features. It would be ideal for perhaps younger artists that need a tool to get started. However, I think anyone who has watched tutorial videos and done a lot of practice will not get very much new here except a convenient resources and source of inspiration.

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Aug 29, 2019 Seth rated it really liked it

This is a surprisingly readable book about creating maps. The book is pretty dry and procedural, but easy to follow. There is a lot of information, and actually appears to offer advice that just about anyone could execute. There is one problem, the author glosses over details such as shading visual elements. To people who aren't really experienced with drawing, it might seem a bit intimidating to start adding nuance like shading into a drawing/illustration. Regardless, if you're into the fantasy This is a surprisingly readable book about creating maps. The book is pretty dry and procedural, but easy to follow. There is a lot of information, and actually appears to offer advice that just about anyone could execute. There is one problem, the author glosses over details such as shading visual elements. To people who aren't really experienced with drawing, it might seem a bit intimidating to start adding nuance like shading into a drawing/illustration. Regardless, if you're into the fantasy genre, and/or tabletop rpgs, you'll probably going to want this book in your collection. ...more

Mar 25, 2019 Nicholas rated it really liked it

Clear, easy to follow and when you add all of the little pieces together you get absolutely incredible results that you can refine and personalise over time to get what you want.

Absolutely invaluable!

Feb 14, 2020 Nathan rated it really liked it

Great primer for simple map making that is easy to understand and implement. There are references to shading that assume a level of knowledge that is beyond me, but the book still contains a lot of valuable tools even for an untalented artist like me!

Oct 03, 2020 Pris rated it it was amazing

Good detail

One book and the two painting techniques - each step has details with visual example. Drawing a map encompasses not only a lot of "how tos" but also knowing geological aspects of your map, Jared Blanco has done a great job walking you through these details.

Good detail

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Oct 04, 2017 Andrea rated it it was amazing

Excellent guide for making fantasy map. I am ugly at drawing but with this book I got wonderful works

One of the better art books I've read; it actually lives up to the title. After reading it, I think my game maps and so forth will indeed be higher quality than before. One of the better art books I've read; it actually lives up to the title. After reading it, I think my game maps and so forth will indeed be higher quality than before. ...more

Good instructive guide

A nice step by step exploration of fantasy map design. I'm looking forward to re-drawing a few of my maps with the help of some of the techniques here.

A great instruction and introduction into map making. All you need now is the art supplies, patience and either talent or practice. It's a nice niche hobby I picked up very recently. A great instruction and introduction into map making. All you need now is the art supplies, patience and either talent or practice. It's a nice niche hobby I picked up very recently. ...more

Dec 22, 2018 Dave rated it really liked it

Very comprehensive. I was surprised at how much work goes into making generic fantasy maps.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. nice

A nice step-by-step how-to for new mapmakers.

Bottom Line Up Front
A great introductory how-to for drawing overland maps. It's just the basics, but that's all you need to get started. Sadly, it's just overland maps.

The Review
This book is a basic introductory how-to for drawing overland maps of a traditional fantasy flavour. The tutorials in the book are organized into chapters, ostensibly in the order you'd draw them on a map.

The book is a nicely presented softcover with every page in full colour. There are many excellent illustrations throu

Bottom Line Up Front
A great introductory how-to for drawing overland maps. It's just the basics, but that's all you need to get started. Sadly, it's just overland maps.

The book is a nicely presented softcover with every page in full colour. There are many excellent illustrations throughout. The layout, while nice, is a bit expansive. The use of space isn't very good and there's relatively little actual instruction on most pages (though there are lots of illustrations). There just wasn't as much actual writing or content as I expected.

I can't say I wholly approve of the title; it's misleading (or, at best, too encompassing). This book covers how to draw overland maps and that's it. No dungeons. No cities. No castles. I was quite disappointed by that.

Anyway, here's a chapter-by-chapter summary and review of the book:

Introduction
The introduction can go f**k itself. It's a photographic list of things you need to draw maps. Some people genuinely appreciate them, but these types of "here's what you need to do this" lists have always come across to me as somewhat pretentious. I only draw on canvas made from the stretched skin of an albino wombat that was hit by a road train with 10 trailers of pink diamonds and then passed through the digestive tract of a wedge-tailed eagle. Oh, and use this $500 pencil with a special core made of ground unicorn shit or you might as well not bother drawing. Rubbish. Grab a freaking pencil and a sheet of paper and draw. (Fortunately, this is limited to only two pages, and is by no means as egregious as others I've seen.)

Chapter 1: Building Your World
Could be summed up with "draw a shape for the main area you're mapping". This is probably the one chapter where there are too many steps; felt like it was padded to get another couple pages.

Chapter 2: Mountains, Forests, Rivers and Water
(Yes, the lack of Oxford comma annoys the sh!t out of me.) To me, this chapter was just about right. Shows ways of drawing the various features without overwhelming you with different styles. Perfect for beginning fantasy cartographers.

Chapter 3: Town and City Icons
Not a terribly detailed chapter, but as the intent is only to draw icons or representations of cities/towns/castles on a map, it's perfectly fine.

Chapter 4: Typography
Hoooo, boy. Typographers everywhere are cringing. Well, f**k them. This isn't a comprehensive treatise on use-cases for fonts in cartography; it's just to throw some ideas out there for putting text on the map -- font and style, placement, etc. There's some good (if perhaps obvious) tips, but it only scratches the surface of the topic and doesn't really get into font design or even provide a full sample alphabet.

Chapter 5: Landmarks
Roads, caves, ruins, towers... this chapter is really a continuation of Chapter 3. The tutorials are a bit less detailed here. They all consist of three steps: draw the thing, add details, final details. I shit you not. It's basically eight pages of this.

Chapter 6: Iconography
Map symbols. There are some ideas for alternative visuals for those items covered in Chapters 3 and 5.

Chapter 7: Heraldry and Shields
Nothing in-depth, but some potential inspiration for political designations on a map. I can see putting this information to good use on a battlefield type of map.

Chapter 8: Political Boundaries
Nutshell: Use different types of dashed lines and different colours. Why did this take more than one page?

Chapter 9: Backgrounds
Weird title for this chapter. It covers adding decorative borders, corners, compasses, legends, and other flourishes to make it prettier. This and Chapter 2 are my favourites.

Chapter 10: Painting Techniques
Provides very brief tips for inking, shading, painting, and using digital media (PhotoShop, GIMP, etc). I suspect few people will find much of value in this chapter.

Chapter 11: Putting It All Together
An entire chapter of unnecessary fluff. Steps through all (well, most) of the previous tutorials to create a map. It's of practically zero value. A better idea would have been to include a sampling of completed maps showcasing various of the previously-discussed techniques.

So, what's my opinion of this book? I like it. I have a lot of issues with it that are more personal taste than anything, but my map drawing has significantly improved thanks to this book. I even intend to try my hand at drawing a full-on properly decorated map. Inked, painted, the whole bit. Might take me a while to work up to that.

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May 16, 2016 Luke rated it liked it

This exquisitely beautiful book was lacking in substance to me when it came to its utility as an educational tool. Like many "how-to" books, it showcases both the unique talents and style of a gifted artist, but comes up short when it comes to breadth of technique.

I was looking for a more advanced fantasy cartography tutorial that communicated a wider variety of techniques and cartographic options, and situated this kind of art a little more closely with the history of the art. The author's maps are quite beautiful and the book is full of lovely work, but it works best as an extremely basic guide that essentially teaches the basics of the author's own preferred methods in very broad detail.

Anyone who's already working as a professional cartographer might be better off scouring the DeviantArt and YouTube artist communities for free cartography pointers from a variety of artists. The ideal market for this book is young fans of fantasy, YA gamers, and people who are just starting out. I would have LOVED to get this book when I was 11 or 12 years old -- so I guess I'll bump my review from 2 stars up to 3, depending on who the target audience is. It's classier and more attractive than most of the endless how-to-draw books for kids, and more basic & accessible (and cheaper!) than many art textbooks. For better or worse, it's just about the only book in the sub-sub-genre of RPG mapmaking, and so if you are starting from scratch with zero technique at any age, it's pretty indispensable.

It just wasn't really for me, and didn't give me much that I wasn't already able to find online from places like the cartogerphersguild.com community; If you absolutely want to have some solid beginner tutorials in an attractive bound volume, you're very likelier to get more use out of this book than I was, and so I can recommend it even if it didn't work for me personally.

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Excellent and complete guide about to make maps!

Very illustrative, what I ome the most is that contains a lot of steps and details about each stage process of create a fantasy map.

Feb 05, 2017 Darren rated it it was ok

Less "how to draw fantasy and rpg maps" and more "how to draw two fantasy rpg maps exactly as I drew them." In other words, less of a tutorial than a walkthrough. Less "how to draw fantasy and rpg maps" and more "how to draw two fantasy rpg maps exactly as I drew them." In other words, less of a tutorial than a walkthrough. ...more

Looks fantastic and gives some solid "how to draw " advice. It is nearly worthless in terms of real cartography, though, so you'll learn how to draw pretty maps but you won't really learn anything about how/where/why in terms of locating topographical features (there are reasons that swamps, prairies, and so on form where they do.

But to be fair, the title is "How to draw..." and it does deliver on that.

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Feb 07, 2016 Jessica rated it it was amazing

K says only 4 stars, but he's happily making a new map now, so it's a 5 in my book. ;) K says only 4 stars, but he's happily making a new map now, so it's a 5 in my book. ;) ...more

Apr 09, 2016 Jeff rated it really liked it

Fun little diversion at the intersection of fantasy and design.

Very cool step by step, whether you're a pirate or just play one on tv, or just a mad gamer, this book is cool Very cool step by step, whether you're a pirate or just play one on tv, or just a mad gamer, this book is cool ...more

Great guide to map making for fantasy writers

Apr 07, 2017 Jenny Baker rated it really liked it

I love reading fantasy fiction and every time I read one that has a detailed map at the beginning, I'm in awe of the details and creativity. I always wondered how these maps are created. I had read somewhere that Tolkien started developing the concept for Lord of the Rings by creating his own map. I'm an aspiring fantasy fiction writer, so a book about How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps appeals to me.

This is a great introduction to drawing fantasy art maps. I love the step-by-step instruction

This is a great introduction to drawing fantasy art maps. I love the step-by-step instructions and the general organization of the book. It starts with the basic structure of your land, followed by mountains, forests, and rivers, followed by cities and landmarks. I think one of the hardest parts of fantasy map-making is coming up with the weird names, but he does suggest resources on this. The other challenge is the typography if you're not the greatest at calligraphy, but he covers this as well.

I'm glad this is available on Kindle Unlimited, because I think the book is overpriced considering its length of 128 pages. The eBook is $11.99 and the print book is $15.63.

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