Fantasy map mountains how to draw

Drawing tall majestic mountains on a top down map can be daunting. It's actually quite easy, you just need to be methodical.

Are you tired of your forests on your fantasy maps looking a little too…flat? This is a common issue and one I know I struggled with for a long time as I was learning. In this Map Tip I’ll give you a couple of simple things you can do to overcome this issue, and draw forests that look like they’re p

Mountains are an important feature of a map as they impact weather patterns, where rivers flow, and ultimately where cities and nations arise. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw mountains for your fantasy maps using the ridge-line method. If you love fantasy style mountains but want to pus

Bristol, UK based cartographer creating hand-drawn fantasy and RPG maps

This is definitely the week of mountain ranges. I had a question on reddit on how to draw mountain ranges that go east-to-west rather than north to south. Here’s a very quick tutorial on the difference. If you want to go deeper into the north-south version, check out this earlier tutorial on mountain ranges. The hotizontal … Continue reading "How to draw a horizontal mountain range"

I’ve written up a couple of tutorials before on drawing isometric mountain ranges for fantasy maps – but never more than the pen and ink stage. I’ve had a few requests for how to take this to the next step and colour the mountain ranges. Note that I use a graphics tablet. You can do this with … Continue reading "How to draw, shade, and colour a mountain range"

Mountains are perhaps the most important natural feature you can draw on a map. They impact weather patterns, where rivers flow, and ultimately where cities and nations arise. In this tutorial, I will walk through one of my favorite methods to draw mountains on your fantasy maps for your rpg, or boo

Canyons are a striking feature of any landscape and can really be a focal point in the story you're telling. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw canyons that bring a sense of depth to the landscape and make your fantasy map really stand out.

One way to make your fantasy map more believable is to vary the size of the mountain ranges. Not all mountains in our world are the same height, and they shouldn’t be in your story either. If you are using the Ridgeline Mountain Method, then how you draw the initial ridgeline will play a large role in how your mountains look when they’re finished.