The first thing I do when beginning to read an epic fantasy is to familiarize myself with the map of this new world I’m about to enter. If none is offered, not only will I struggle to follow the characters’ journeys, I’ll also grapple with the geo-political, climatologic, and socio-culture nuances that should flavor the unfolding story.
To help me write my first novel, I penciled a crude drawing of land, seas, mountains, rivers, and towns. This provided me with a sense of distance and direction. It also forced me to understand and define the cultures of realms and city-states and sparsely or non-populated areas.
For a better presentation of my first novel, I swapped the pencil for a pen and tried to mimic an old version of Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth. My reward was an adequate but obvious hand-drawn image.
Such hand-drawn maps can be turned into assets in your novel. They can be what the character uses. They can be personalized by the character who uses them, with scribbled notes pointing out especial locations or danger areas. Though maybe a trope, they can be piece-meal, providing suspense or sub-plots.
However, I wanted maps that had a touch of formality, that looked ‘finished.’ Not all of us would-be fantasy novelists have cartography and calligraphy skill sets nor a fat wallet to hire someone who does.
I cast about online for an affordable, easy to use, ‘finished-results’ producing application and chose Inkarnate. Review my Inkarnate maps here.
What follows is NOT a ‘how-to’ but a personal review of the application based on affordability, ease of use, shortcomings, support, and recommendations.
Affordability
- The Standard (SD/1x) version is free. It provides you the capability of producing a simple map with limited surface palettes, structures, and topographical images (see map titled ‘Brehm’).
- The Pro (HD/2x) version will cost you a one-time payment of $25. It provides more palettes, structures, and topographical images to create finely detailed maps of realms, cities, towns, estates, and castles as well as simple maps (see map titled ‘Kent’). PLUS, you are licensed to publish your maps in your eBook, Paperback, or Case Bound work. (You don’t want bad people to steal your work; don’t steal the work of the good people at Inkarnate).
Ease of Use
- Learning how to use the tools is quick. Of the 11 tool buttons, 5 (sculpt, brush, object, pattern, and text) are needed to create your map. The other 6 are ‘admin’ type tools for downloading, saving, scaling, note-making, zooming, and titling.
- Perfecting your ability begins immediately after your first use of a tool and proceeds exponentially. You simply select, point, and click or drag.
- At last count, there were 281 objects from which to choose from bridges to guard house gates, from elven cities to docks, from craters to graveyards, and more.
- Also, at last count, there were 27 pattern objects (topographic items) including trees, mountains, dwellings, and hills, all seasonally or climate-specific.
- The ability to impose a grid enables you to scale and calculate distance.
- You can be as detailed or as simple as you wish. You can build a castle, a town, a vast continent, or an entire world.
Shortcomings
- You cannot copy and paste localized sections to create another more detailed map. You must redraw. (Though, there is an ingenious method using Photoshop).
- Once placed, some objects cannot be altered (sized, rotated, or moved) only deleted and redraw
- Some placed objects (such as farm houses or market shops) have a random ‘stable’ of images that appear. So, if you have a favorite image, it may take several tries to acquire it. On the hand, you can make good use of this bitter-sweet shortcoming, especially for creating variety in a village, as an example.
- Potential obsessive detail quickly becomes tempting. It’s easy to go beyond overboard, especially with trees.
- There is no ‘undo’ button.
- There is no ability to download a B&W image, required to hold down publishing costs. You’ll have to learn how to manipulate saturation and color intensity.
Support
- During business hours, a click on the conversation icon gets you near immediate contact with support staff. I have found they are courteous and eager to help.
- They say they are constantly looking to improve their product and they do. So, as you read this, some of my comments may have become invalid.
Recommendations
- Log in and try out the Standard version. Learn how to use it. If you’re as satisfied as I was and want to create more detail and publish your maps, upgrade to the Pro version.
- Save often. Without an ‘undo’ button, this will save you tons of rework.
- Reverse engineering is better. Rather than start with the vast ocean and outline your coast, begin with a solid block of land and cut away your shorelines.
- Mountains go first. Rivers and lakes next. Towns and cities follow.
- If something is out of place – a single mountain, a vast crater, a lake with no feeding rivers – make sure there is an explanation in your story (who put it there and why).
- Follow common sense when placing communities, unless your story gives a specific reason why the first settlers abandoned theirs.
- Roads go last, and common sense dictates they are usually as straight as reasonable unless there is something to avoid
- Stay consistent with your sizing percentages (even from map to map when appropriate).
- Learn topical and geological rules. Deserts don’t exist at the poles; rivers don’t flow up-hill; etc.
- Geography affects culture. We wear flip-flops and shorts in San Antonio nearly year-round for a reason.
How-to-use links
These are the links I visited and found useful. There are a host more, some specifically created to help with drawing coastlines, rivers, towns, castles, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVDmrujnSag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOzRImMOv3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_iRhv5W1d4
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