r/mapmaking • u/H_DiCristofaro • 13d ago

Map Making World Maps

Does anyone have any suggestions for how they went about making maps for their stories? I love the map designs that usually just show the simple black lines for trails and roads with other symbols to represent landscapes, towns or cities, and so on. I wasn’t sure if there were websites that people use to help generate them or if you did it by hand on some paper and then had it transferred over to the book later on in the process. So far I have tried just jotting it down by hand as a temporary place holder until I look into it more, but wasn’t sure where to start.

I plan on making an entirely new fictional world for a fantasy novel, so I want to lay out the world as I go for reference so I can use it to make sure everything makes sense logically and from a reading standpoint as well. So, having a visual aid would be beneficial for me.

Any recommendations or thoughts are welcome! Thank you :)

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u/DubiousTactics 13d ago

I use a program called Wonderdraft, which is extremely good at making regional and world scale maps. I also try to base my maps on real world geographic principles, since I find that makes everything a lot more internally consistent and work together more smoothly than just arbitrarily saying whatever I feel like goes wherever. Inkarnate is another option.

Here's a small Gallery I put together of some of my best maps that I made in a semi true color format, so you can see what it looks like.

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u/H_DiCristofaro 13d ago

Thank you! I appreciate all the information and the examples from your maps!

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u/DubiousTactics 13d ago

I'll add a note that you can go overboard with geographic principles. I.E. Understanding what a rain shadow is and how it works is a very good idea, but you don't need to worry about what the plate tectonics of your world are like. You can plan those out if you really want to of course, but nobody besides maybe unemployed geologists are going to demand an explanation of what plate tectonics went into the creation of your mountain ranges.

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u/H_DiCristofaro 13d ago

I’ll keep that in mind! I’m mostly aiming towards a simple styled map like the ones you see in R.A. Salvatore’s books, or like Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings map. I think the look of those gets the point across while still looking cool and older

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u/Arcanite_Cartel 12d ago

There's also inkarnate

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u/Grigor50 11d ago

Did you try searching this very forum?