Overwhelmed by Information? What is "really" necessary to start?

[Nightdragon]

Hallo Guild

I created that account some years ago, because I wanted to draw a map for "my" fantasy world. But it was not that easy as I thaught so I had a (long ._.) break. Now I want to start again and read diffrent topics and tutorials and browse through finished maps (I startet last week with reading...). And there is sooooooo much information!

It starts with "what medium you want to use?" and ends at "the climate conditions and tectonics of your world" (and maybe it doesn't end there because there are threads about changing townnames because of time and changing inhabitants...). And its so complicated. In my naive mind I thaught "I only want a simple map!" *sigh*
Is all this really necessary? Tectonics? Climate conditions (like anticyclone and depressions in diffrent seasons)?

Is it possible to create a world without all these sciences?
Or is a whole world maybe to much to start with? And I should start with one region of my world? (But wouldn't it be difficult to place that region later in the world?)

~ Nightdragon

PS.: I know I have to chose a medium to draw with, and I know I have to place mountains to have reasonable rivers and lakes

[ChickPea]

I'm a newbie to map making too, and this is my take: use common sense for your geography and enjoy the creative process.

Beyond high school geography classes, I know little about tectonic plates or climates. I think if you get the basics right (like water runs downhill, and tundras aren't next to jungles) you're already halfway there. Some folks really enjoy creating as accurate a world as they can with great attention to climactic regions and how land masses formed, and that's cool. Others want to have features that defy the laws of physics and that's cool too. It's really all about what you want to achieve.

It's very easy to get bogged down to the point where things stop being fun, so just ask yourself what you want from your map. Are you trying to show a scientifically accurate alternate world, or a place for gaming, or do you simply want to make a map for the fun of it? Decide what your goal is and take from there. If you want a map for wizards on a quest, tectonic plate movements don't matter a jot. If magic is involved, you can create whatever type of landscape you like, so long as it's explainable within the laws of your universe.

My suggestion would be to draft out something, even a very rough sketch or digital layout, and ask for comments on the geography. If something is glaringly out of place, someone will tell you.

Most of all, enjoy the process!!

[Nightdragon]

Thank you chickPea, that sounds encouraging.

I love all the great maps here but I think I'm more on the creative site then the sience (I love to draw and paint) so I thought maybe my thoughts about the maps would not be enough.

And yeah, there is magic in my fantasy world but I dont like the idea of water flowing uphill with the explanation "There are 3 wizzards working in shifts, doing that - because they can." (ok maybe it would be funny to have a river like this.... or a fountain like this in a big palace...) So I love your Idea about doing a rough sketch and ask if there is something totally wrong.

[Sarithus]

I'd say it's definitely possible to create a map without looking at all this stuff. I did it, and apart from a few things people seemed to like my first proper map. I took geography in high school but I can't remember most of it. I think the only thing I remember are the words 'precipitation' and 'meander'. Honestly I'd say just go for it. The only things that will really stick out are if your rivers are wrong and your mountains form in a weird way. If you focus on getting them right, there's not a lot else you can get wrong.

I don't mind sharing this as it's pretty funny to see my first attempt at rivers. Has some good information there.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29724

[Chick]

There is a really good place to start right here: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=10655

That tutorial will get you going in just about any media. It's written for GIMP, I converted the brushes to Photoshop, but the concepts will work even with pen and paper.

[Midgardsormr]

There's a phenomenon often called Analysis Paralysis. Sometimes we think we have to learn just a little bit more before we start because we don't want to make mistakes. The trouble is that the more you learn the more you uncover other things you need to learn. At that rate, you never get started. Eventually you have to take what you know right now and get started with that. Yes, you'll make mistakes. People may even call you on the mistakes, but you'll have done something, and you can fix the errors on the next draft, or on the next project.

My advice is to stop preparing and start creating. If you get something wrong, we'll help you to fix it. For the most part, we're very gentle with critique here.

[El_Phantasmo]

I look at it this way, because I was the same until a few weeks ago;

I'm wanting to create maps for a few of my worlds - one is an exploded world where everyone lives on the remaining clumps of planet and continents floating around a planetary core and it's all held together by two Gods who sacrificed themselves to save everyone..... mountain ranges, plate tectonics, erosion, oceanic drift etc be damned ... because even if I put the science stuff into a fantasy map there's magic and Gods and weirdness to just change things to how they want anyway.

Same for the more "grounded" stuff I want to do, like a map for a new city in our current world for a game in Onyx Paths Vampire game ... I'll learn the basics of some local geography and roughly how cities form and stuff, but I won't worry about expertly placing everything and making sure rivers/terrain follows certain rules or observed behaviours over centuries. I'll just dive in use my lay level of knowledge and expand on that as I go if needed.

Some research and analysis is good. Too much and as Midgardsormr says above, it's paralysing.