Not all maps represent real things on the surface of the earth. Fantasy maps are a type of map design that is a visual representation of an imaginary of fictional geography. Think about maps for games, novels and posters, but also historical maps. Fantasy maps can be drafted by hand, computer assisted or even coded. But how do you make a map of an imaginary world that fires up someone's imagination? How much does cartography and fantasy map drawing have in common?
Daniel Hasenbos is a freelance cartographer specialized in hand-drawn fantasy maps. He makes maps for authors, publishers, game developers and any other projects that require artistic cartography.
"I want to share my creativity, to bring life to ideas and create a world that wasn’t there before. "
He will come show us his work and tell us all about how to make a fantasy map. After that we will work on our own fantasy map, based on a real editors story!
Winifred Broeder will tell us about the maps she made for the Bommel Reisgids. Her company is called Landkaartje, founded in 1990. Winifred studied Geography with Cartography as specialism. Landkaartje stands for content based, functional maps and info graphics in a clear, readable and pleasant form.
19:00-19:30 De Bommel reisgids
19:30-20:00 Daniels Maps
20:00- 20:45 Hands on! Draw your own Fantasy Map!
20:45-21:00 Interactive Fantasy Maps
21:00-21:45 Hands on! Make your map interactive
Maptime is Hands on! So bring your pencils, markers and laptop to this meetup!!
Maptime is all about learning and sharing! Do you make your own Fantasy Maps? Do you use some cool tools or have great skills that could contribute to this topic? Let us know! You can send a message to one of our organizers if you have something you think we can add to the program! Feel free to bring your work to the Maptime evening! We would love to see what you are working on!
To get you started and interested, we already collected some links on the theme!
This article: The most incredible fantasy maps, gives an overview of some of the best and prominent fantasy maps.
For example the map of the Land of Oz, which was one of the first maps to be included with a fantasy novel. Note the directions east and west have been switched. Because — Oz!
These links will help you learn about cartographic tips and tricks for drawing your own fantasy world!
The website Fantastic Maps provides you with all kinds of tips, tricks and tutorials. It is made by Jonathan Roberts who designed the official maps of Game of Thrones for the book The Lands of Ice and Fire. For example start with how to draw a map.
Some other step by step tutorials can be found on Fantasy Maps.com by Herwin Wielink.
And have a look at these 10 tips for making a fantasy map.
More and more fantasy maps go beyond a static representation on paper as well as online. On the internet we can find various interactive fantasy maps, have a look at this map about Game of Thrones (Spoiler control!) and the GoT viewer guide. Or the one about Lord of the Rings which even has its own reference system for route planning!
After looking at some interactive maps online we will explain some tools and tricks for making one ourselves! A workshop is provided on how to transform your hand-drawn map (or historical map) to a interactive web map.