Fantasy Mapmaker: How to Draw RPG Cities for Gamers and Fans

by Jared Blando

Create authentic-looking maps of fantasy cities, hamlets, fortifications and more in a popular tabletop, RPG style.

   • 30+ step-by-step demonstrations show you how to create your own unique RPG maps
   • Learn how to draw fantasy cities, medieval settlements and more from a professional gaming illustrator
   • Tips and techniques for drawing fences, stone walls, forests, fields, bridges, footpaths, mountains, harbors, shields, coats of arms and other cartography elements
Put your design and drawing skills on the map!

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Reference, Role Playing Games, Writing, Gaming, Games

128 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2019

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great detailed introduction to map making. Likely this book is most useful for fantasy or medieval maps.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to draw a town map for a fantasy campaign? This book provides step by step instructions on how to draw buildings, map features, and how to put them all together to make an attractive looking town. It even covers things such as how to draw coats of arms. It is well worth picking up for those who are running fantasy RPGs.

It is not a perfect book, however. It suffers from poor editing. There are several instances where the wrong image is attached to the text. To give a few examples, the text mentions the name of an inn, but the inn has a different name in the image. In another case, the text shows an example of a completed fountain, but the image is that of a statue with no water around it. Hopefully, a second edition will be published in the future that fixes these types of issues.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+.

Fantasy Mapmaker is an absolutely excellent art making guide to creating western/medieval style fantasy art style maps. The book is broken down into a logical substructure, and I think it's done so well that anybody could create a good looking map from it, even somebody who wasn't used to creating art! This book is great, and I will definitely be ordering a classroom set to use in my high school illustration classes. I am also definitely looking into other publications by this author!

[whataslacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set up like a typical "How to Draw" book this volume will take you step by step through the process of making your own fantasy map. Perfect for role-playing games, video games, and story telling. A great resource.

Although, I had an issue with the authors choice early on to use the word oblong to describe a square (it is either oblong or a square not both), overall it is filled with helpful techniques and tips or what is needed to create a nice looking map, so I tried to ignore that slight.

[Melanie Neubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Himmel! Ich LIEBE es!!! Die detaillierten Bilder und Anleitungen! Und obwohl mein englisch schlecht ist, verstehe ich (das meiste) was an Text dabei steht.
Es steckt so viel Liebe in diesem Buch - und gibt so viel Motivation für eigene Stadt- und Landkarten mit ❤️
ICH LIEBE ES!

[Kathleen Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful resource for a beginning fantasy map maker. The beginning spends time logically going through the phases of settlements from your most basic to most complex, which I didn't realize was going to be so helpful in thinking about what would make sense for your fantasy city's design and layout. From there, the book is a breeze through explaining different facets of civilization you might want to depict: from houses, to roads and bridges, aqueducts and titan manufactorum, temples and castles, to statues and fountains. Step-by-step illustrations accompany these brief descriptions of placement and function within civilization. I learned a lot about what some of these structures might look like, as well as broadened my horizons as to what is available when creating fantasy maps.

[Fred Tyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this was a quick read because I enjoyed the content or because of all of the pictures. Also, note that I did not try drawing the things shown in the book yet. Some day I plan to and I think it will be a lot of fun. I could see that as a great way to create new worlds and/or story ideas to write about. I think it could be a fun way to spend an afternoon.
I also really liked the idea of adding a coat of arms and may even add something similar to the beginning of each of my chapters in my novel. I never know where I will get inspiration from. Thanks to the author for that.
I liked the comment about where to put a dock for ships as well. Little tidbits like that will keep me from making silly mistakes.
The author's art looks great, and I am very happy with my purchase.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blando has a way of breaking things down to their simplist and working up from there, making everything so much more in reach for those of us without natural artistic gifting who want to expand. Blando's book on regional maps is really what jump-started my map making for my D&D game, rather than relying on software or other artists. There is something incredibly satisfying about making the perfect map for your own concepts, rather than having to adapt to another person's work.

I recommend reading this book in it's entirety before going back and starting a settlement, as it really all comes together at the end.

[Isabella Amelia Paloma Ossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and very helpful book!

[K.C. Riley-Gyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

I’m a newbie in wanting to create fantasy maps and this was recommended by others. It’s certainly a lot to take in but it is a good starting point to get one creating.