Making Fantasy Maps: Book reviews part 1

“I’ve always been fascinated by maps and geography…” Peter Greenaway

I recently posted a picture of some map creating books that I have. I was asked if I would do a review of them, so here we go…

How do you feel about maps? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Meh? I love them! Hand drawn, computer drawn, fantasy, sci fi, battle maps, real maps, isometric, 2-D, 3-D, all of them have fascinated me since I was a child. I loved it when a book had a map drawn inside the front few pages of a book. I would refer back to it often to follow the travels and adventures of the main characters. While playing my own RPG games, I almost always make my own maps. (My players are very visual oriented) Sometimes I’ll copy a map onto one inch squared paper, or create one from my imagination. While traveling IRL, I will find a small map of my travels to glue in my journal, or draw my own. On a recent trip up north to the PNW in the USA, I drew a map of Oregon and her active volcanos. I also drew a map of the glaciers on Mt. Hood in Oregon. I find if I look at a paper map of a state or country that I am visiting, I have a much better sense of direction of where cities are located. Google maps just doesn’t do it for me when I want a large overview.

While I find maps of dungeons, ships, and rooms easy to make, I wanted to find something to help me with a larger map, say, a small country fantasy map. For that, I turned to JP Coovert’s Flik Silverpen’s Guide to Making Maps. If you haven’t heard of JP Coovert, you are truly missing out. He has a YouTube channel (YouTube.com/jpcoovert)and a Patreon, and both are chock full of cool stuff. He designs games, characters, writes books, draws, invents and makes maps. He’s clever, upbeat and enthusiastic in his videos. (Website: jpcoovert.com)

The book is very thin, about 13-14 pages. (I’m only going to share the cover of the book, no pages, because all artists and writers deserve to be paid for their work unless they choose to freely share it.) Some may look at this book and think, too basic, but isn’t that where you should start? The basics. He breaks it down so simple! First he talks about his influences, then goes into tools that you will need, making a list of locations on your map, and learning to draw simple icons. The rest of the book is the actual steps to drawing said icons, such as the coastline, bridges, roads, mountains, cliffs, canyons, cities, castles, ships, dragons, even how to draw a border for your map. The last few pages is sketching out the map, and how to label the locations. This book is simple and easy to follow, and it’s perfect for a child but still written so that an adult doesn’t feel patronized. As a side note, included with my package was a cute sticker, a signed receipt by JP, and some free hex paper and squared paper. Such a nice surprise that I wasn’t expecting! He also has a second volume out now, which I was able to download by becoming a patron on his Patreon.

So, if you are looking to get started drawing whimsical, easy and playful maps, pick up JP’s book! You won’t regret it.