Getting back into sketching has been fun. I’ve been wanting to create hand drawn maps, but didn’t really have a lot of guidance on method or cartography standards. I found a review on the book How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps and was excited by the step-by-step imagery. The book was just what I wanted!
Amazon Link to How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps by Jared Blando
I started by playing around with the basic castle designs, because, really, it was just fun. I posted it on Facebook and was informed by my mother that it need a moat and by my friend Molly that it need a moat dragon.
The original effort didn’t really have a lot of room for moats and the like, so on my lunch break, I pulled out my little sketchbook and sketched out a castle with a moat and a dragon just for those two.
Once I posted the requested castle, another friend wanted to know how the castle stayed afloat on the water. So when I got home from work, I cleaned up some of the messier bits on the sketch, added an island and worked in some minor shading. Ha! That’ll show em, I thought as I posted the newer reversion!
And then I’m staring at this little sketch thinking, “It needs a border!” I didn’t really have space for the full on borders like the ones the author demonstrated in the book, but on the sides I could work something.
And so the final version has a fancy-smancy border … and I think that’s a rat on the drawbridge …
Mostly it was a delight to pull out my old pencil sets and erasers and other drawing goodies and play around. But now I’m moving onto an actual map … whoohoo!
Designer Geek 