{"id":1787185,"date":"2019-03-19T10:28:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787185"},"modified":"2019-03-19T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:28:54","slug":"what-does-a-fantasy-map-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/03\/what-does-a-fantasy-map-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New from me on Tor.com this morning: \u201cWhat Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?<\/strong><\/a>\u201d This is the first of several planned pieces that will take a deep dive into the look and feel of fantasy maps:\u00a0their design and aesthetic, their origins and inspirations, and where they may be going in the future. In this piece, I start by trying to describe a baseline fantasy map style\u2014which, though it\u2019s well recognized and often imitated, has not often been spelled out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New from me on Tor.com this morning: \u201cWhat Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?\u201d This is the first of several planned pieces that will take a deep dive into the look and feel of fantasy… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,960],"tags":[87,31],"class_list":["post-1787185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-maps-and-literature","category-my-stuff","tag-fantasy-map-design","tag-fantasy-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4697,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/08\/in-defence-of-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":0},"title":"In Defence of Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 August 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Paul Weimer offers up a defence of fantasy maps, at least the good ones. It might be facile to hashtag #notallmaps, but, really, not every map is a geologic mess, not every map is a Eurocentric western ocean oriented map, with an eastern blend into problematic oriental racial types. Not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/one-night-in-sixes-724x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/one-night-in-sixes-724x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/one-night-in-sixes-724x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/one-night-in-sixes-724x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4860,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/09\/the-territory-is-not-the-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":1},"title":"The Territory Is Not the Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Critiques of fantasy maps have more to do with the shortcomings of fantasy worlds than the maps that depict them.","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"From Jared Blando, How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps (Impact, 2015).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1831085,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/05\/a-library-of-17th-century-map-elements-useful-for-fantasy-and-game-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":2},"title":"A Library of 17th-Century Map Elements, Useful for Fantasy and Game Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 May 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"David Stark extracted elements from a 1688 map of part of Germany to create a library of tree, hill and town signs that he thought entirely appropriate for use as map assets for a role-playing game. I look at them and see fantasy map design elements. In 2019 I noted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stark-1688-elements.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stark-1688-elements.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stark-1688-elements.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5989,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/05\/mapping-an-ember-in-the-ashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":3},"title":"Mapping An Ember in the Ashes","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 May 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"The fantasy cartographer Jonathan Roberts has a blog post, reprinted at Tor.com, that shows some of the steps involved in creating the map for Sabaa Tahir's novel An Ember in the Ashes. I sometimes get asked how to do a fantasy map. I'm the wrong person to ask, because I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/book-riot-on-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":4},"title":"Book Riot on Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"This\u00a0Book Riot piece on fantasy maps from last September touches on a number of subjects I can never get enough information on:\u00a0the editorial decision on whether to include a map, how\u00a0one becomes a fantasy map maker, what information\u00a0from the author does the map maker have to work with, how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5940,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2014\/10\/fantasy-maps-of-us-cities\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787185,"position":5},"title":"Fantasy Maps of U.S. Cities","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 October 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"For another example of using fantasy map design language to create real-world maps, here's the work of geography professor Stentor Danielson, who draws maps of U.S. cities in the style of fantasy maps and sells them on Etsy. Boston, Cleveland (above), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington are available. His Tumblr. Via\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fantasy map of Cleveland (Stentor Danielson)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787186,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787185\/revisions\/1787186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}