A Cartographer's Journey - How did you start drawing maps?

[DanielHasenbos]

I have been drawing since long before my first memories. Especially as a kid I remember drawing anytime I got the chance and then more. When I was about 6 or 7 years old I was actually behind in school because I was constantly drawing and doodling in my textbooks instead of doing my homework. I always said I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, but, perhaps some other here relate to that, people told me that there was no work in that and it was no way to make a living. I didn't stop drawing though and always continued to draw small illustrations, scribbles and doodles. When I was about 13 or 14 I kind of left drawing and started pursuing other passions like theatre and music.

I got back to drawing after reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy and being intrigued by Tolkien's maps. I examine his maps and draw maps of my own, though I was still oblivious to the world that is Fantasy Cartography! I tried to come up with some background story for those maps, but quickly left it for what is was. I never shared my newfound interest with anyone because I thought people would find it weird or stupid. I was hooked however and kept scribbling quick and small maps until March/April 2015. I found those first maps that I had drawn and wanted to finish and expand them.

I searched the web for inspiration and quickly found that there was many more people with and interest in fantasy cartography. I looked up tutorials and guides. Many maps that I found came from a certain website called 'cartographers' guild'. I signed up and looked around, but it was the first time I tried to use a forum and couldn't manage to make sense of it. That's where I almost left.

I'm happy I decided to come back to the guild and give it a second try. I have found so many helpful tutorials, guides and WIP's and also a helpful and kind community of people that are always willing to help you push your limits and give compliments, feedback and critique. I've been around for 18 months now and I have learned and improved so much. The guild and its awesome people have actually inspired me so much that I decided to take my chances and start a business as a freelance cartographer which is going pretty well now. In a way they are the ones that have helped me realize a childhood dream; to become a professional artist.

So I'll take this chance to say thank you and give a shoutout to this great community!

-Dan

[Aixelsyd]

I started playing D&D almost 20 years ago, though I've since moved on to a plethora of other RP systems and settings. At first I was too nervous to deviate much from whatever maps were provided in the materials I used, but as I got more confident and read more fantasy and sci-fi literature I got the urge to start making my own worlds and storylines. I remember the World Builder's Guidebook from 2nd ed D&D being a big influence. There's something about defining the boundaries of your world on paper that makes the stories you set there seem more solid.

Up until now, I've only ever drawn my maps by hand. I'm a new member here and came to learn what I can about digital cartography, which I hope to use both in creating new maps and augmenting existing work.

[IrishBandit]

I think maps are just something I've always liked to draw, although DnD gives me an actual purpose to draw them for.

[Diamond]

...but it was the first time I tried to use a forum and couldn't manage to make sense of it. That's where I almost left.

Man, I'm glad you didn't, cause your maps rock!

[ladiestorm]

My story into mapmaking has a slightly different flavor.

You see, I'm NOT an artist, at least not in the visual sense. I am a writer and professional poet. I've always had a very vivid imagination, and even before I print my name, I used to create places and worlds in my head, and make up stories about them. I was a very awkward child growing up, and didn't have many friends during my younger years...so I had imaginary friends, and I would sit in my room for hours outing these made up friends in fairytale lands and imagined them doing amazing things. In essence I was role-playing, before I even knew what that was!!!

I was introduced to D&D by my 7th grade math teacher. This was back in the mid to late 70's. He would set aside Friday's class for gaming, and as long as you turned in your homework, and passed the weekly exam with a C or better, you could take part in the game. Believe me when I tell you, within 3 weeks, he had even the slackers passing his class with A's and B's!!! Well, that got me hooked, and I've been gaming off and on ever since.

I started GM'ing my own games about 15-20 years ago, and that creative imagination of mine had a whole new outlet. I was still writing, you see, and now I had real friends that I could put in my make believe worlds! I still wasn't mapping at this point (mapping my worlds hadn't occurred to me, yet), but I could describe a place to the point that if you closed your eyes you could see it in your head.

It was about that time I joined a gaming group with a GM that also created his own world and campaigns. He had worked on this particular campaign for years. The world was Kargesh. It was a very high stakes, epic type of campaign, and I was introduced to fantasy maps for the first time. This GM had mapped the world, and almost every city, town and village that we could go to. And he had hand drawn them all. I was blown away by the level of commitment he had given to his campaign. I wanted to do the same for my own games.

One problem here....I can't draw! Well, that's not quite true.... I mean, as a kid, I was like every other kid in school that would draw their homes with their families. I can draw a basic house with a slanted roof, windows and a door. I can draw a basic tree, and a sun, and puffy clouds, and basic trees, and maybe a flower here and there.... I've been known to sketch ball gowns and evening dresses. But my visually artistic talent is what you would see from most fourth or fifth graders. The internet was still relatively new, and finding maps online was unheard of. So I struggled with what I call rudimentary placement maps, so my players could see where things were in a town or village they came too...but that was about it. My maps were laughable at best, and it didn't take me long to give up that aspect of gaming.

I continued gaming and GMing over the years...but few of my GMs used maps, and I didn't either. One thing I began to notice, was that without maps, campaign worlds tend to get confusing. You describe a place, but even with detailed notes, you can forget things. Distances between places are nebulous. You describe an area, and your players miss a detail and get confused about where they are, and what's going on.

So, my story now fasts forward to last December. One of my long time gaming friends approached me, and asked it I would be willing to run a new, 5th edition D&D game for him and his fiancée (now his wife). D&D has always been my favorite genre, so I agreed, and started working on my Larysia campaign. The first thing I do when creating a campaign is to create the world it takes place in. But this campaign needed to be different from my previous games, because I knew from the beginning, that I was going to have a few players that are new to the gaming experience. I knew I had to do something to make their transition into role-playing easier. Plus, I admit, I was having a hard time coming up for a hook in my game. So I started with creating the world, and it's history...and once again toyed with the idea of using maps. So I started looking online for fantasy maps...and that's the first time I came across the Cartographer's Guild. I think one of J.Edward's maps was on the homepage and I was blown away. I started roaming through the galleries looking for maps that matched my criteria, but unfortunately for me, I couldn't find anything that fit the descriptions in my head. I already had the 2nd edition world builders book...and during my search, I found a few free map making programs. I started with Auto realm, and tried making a few maps...but I didn't like what I saw. I just couldn't get the feel I wanted. Then I tried some of those random map generators... problem was, they never created anything that fit world I was building. And the few products I had found that could produce the type of maps I wanted...were more expensive than I could justify for a game.

And then last Feb, I was in an internet café with my son's laptop, still looking for maps that would fit my campaign. I had come to realize that if I wanted to make the maps I needed, I was going to have to purchase a mapping program. That's when I came across the profantasy website. I took a look at the maps made by cc3+, cd3, and dd3, and I knew I had found what I was looking for. I saved up for two weeks to buy those three programs, spent hours downloading and installing them. I read through the first tutorial and made Andelar, my first map.

And for me...the rest is history. :-D