How to Design a Fantasy Map from Scratch (Even If You Can’t Draw)
What if the best fantasy map starts with one shaky line?
You don’t need clean art. You don’t need fancy tools. You don’t even need to be a graphic designer. You need a plan, a few real rules, and five quiet minutes.
Picture your coast. A crooked bay. Two islands like teeth. Now the page is not empty. It’s alive. But there’s a catch.
Most maps fail in the same three places. Rivers that split the wrong way. Mountains that sit like dots. Biomes that ignore wind and rain. Fix those, and your map of a fantasy world will feel real. Even as a sketch. Even in pencil.
In a moment, I’ll show you the quick tricks. A coastline move you can learn in seconds. A river rule that saves every route. A simple way to place cities so trade, war, and story make sense. You’ll go from a blank corner to a rough world map before your tea cools.
We’ll keep shapes simple. We’ll keep steps short. And we’ll use Summon Worlds to store your places, people, and lore in one home.
If you’ve ever thought, “I can’t draw,” this is for you. Stay with me. By the end, you’ll have a clean start, a working path, and a fantasy map that begs for adventure.
Table of Contents
Choose Your Map Size and Purpose (Region or World Map)
📊Pick the scope
Are you drawing a town, a region, or a world map? Pick one. Smaller scope means faster wins. A region is great for most games and books.
🥅Set the goal
What should the map help the reader do? Plan a route? Track a war? Place a city? Your goal guides every choice.
📏Choose a scale
Add a simple scale bar. Decide how far one finger on the page goes. Ten miles? Fifty? Keep it consistent across your map of fantasy world notes, too.
Core Rules for a Realistic Fantasy Map
🌾Coasts first
Sketch the coastline as a loose, wavy line. Avoid perfect circles and smooth arcs. Bays, peninsulas, and island chains feel natural when they vary in size and spacing. Short, sharp wiggles near cliffs. Long, gentle curves near sandy shores.
⛰️Mountains go in ranges
Mountains form in long chains, not random dots. Draw jagged spines that roughly follow your plate lines or ancient collisions. Leave gaps for passes. Passes explain trade routes and wars. 🌊Rivers flow one way and join
Rivers start high and go low. They join as they go, like tree branches flipping direction. They rarely split in the middle, except in deltas near the sea. Lakes need an inlet and usually an outlet. Place big cities on river bends, confluences, and mouths.
🌬️Wind and rain shape your biomes
Warm, wet near the equator. Dry belts around 30°. Temperate rains in mid-latitudes. Cold and dry near the poles. Mountains cast rain shadows: wet windward sides, dry leeward sides. Use these patterns to place deserts, forests, and grasslands.
👉 Read our article about: The 12 Best Fantasy Map Makers and Map Generators For 2025
Step-by-Step: Build a Map of Fantasy World
1) Block the land
Draw a few big “blobs” for continents and islands. Keep the pen moving. Vary sizes. Leave some wide seas and narrow straits. Imperfect lines look more natural.
2) Lay the ranges
Add two to four main mountain chains. Angle them so they shape weather and travel. Add a few smaller spurs. Leave realistic gaps for passes.
3) Add the major rivers
Place 3–6 long rivers. Start them near mountains. Make them meander as they reach flatter ground. Feed them with tributaries that join, not split. Near the sea, show a delta if the river is huge.
4) Mark biomes with light notes
Write “temperate forest,” “dry steppe,” “desert,” or “rainforest” in pencil. Place deserts on leeward sides and around the subtropical belt. Put lush forests where warm winds drop rain.
5) Place cities and roads
Cities love edges: coasts, river mouths, and crossroads. Add ports on safe bays. Put towns at bridges and passes. Draw roads that follow rivers and valleys, not straight lines over peaks.
6) Sketch borders last
Borders follow terrain. Rivers, ridges, and deserts make strong lines. Let politics respect geography. It reads as real.
Simple Style Tips a Graphic Designer Would Use
Think like a graphic designer (just a little)
Use three things: contrast, alignment, and hierarchy. Make the main map face stand out. Keep the legend and compass smaller. Balance empty space so the page can breathe.
Keep symbols consistent
Pick one icon style for mountains, trees, towns, and ruins. Same line weight. Same level of detail. Too many styles = visual noise.
Limit your palette
Use a small set of colors. Pale blue for water. Soft tan or green for land. Darker tones for mountains and shadows. Consistent colors help readers scan fast.
Add coast glow and relief hints
A thin shoreline halo makes coasts pop. Short hatches on the lee side of ridges suggest height without painting.
Build It Faster in Summon Worlds (No Art Skills Needed)
Summon Worlds helps you build and share the places your story needs.
- Plan your world structure: Use Worlds → Locations → Entities to organize regions, cities, and landmarks. It’s tidy and searchable. Worlds also supports tags and contributor roles, so you can grow with friends when collaboration rolls out. (Worlds features and roles coming online as part of the platform roadmap.)
- Give each place a face: Use AI Art Generation to create location images, landmarks, or regional emblems. Choose styles like Epic Fantasy, Steampunk, Anime, or Photorealistic. Save multiple images per location and keep drafts private until they’re ready.
- Keep lore tight: Add character and faction notes to the locations they belong to. Your map of fantasy world ideas stay linked to the people who live there.
- Stay in flow: Chat with your characters to sanity-check routes, climates, and settlement logic. Use memory controls and instructions to keep answers in-world.
- Share and get feedback: Publish to your profile when ready. Collect likes and comments. Build collections for regions and travel arcs.
You don’t need to sketch mountains by hand to start. Icons, short notes, and AI visuals are enough to plan a whole campaign or novel region. When you want polish, hand it to an artist or a friend who loves linework. You’ve already done the hard part: clear structure and sound geography.
🧭 Ready to Finish Your First Fantasy Map?
Here’s the truth: your world is closer than you think. You don’t need art school. You need a plan, a few rules, and one place to keep it all tidy.
Start small. Sketch a coast. Drop a ridge. Let rivers choose the roads. Let winds set the biomes. The rest follows. Your fantasy map will take shape fast—clean, readable, and ready for play.
Now lock it in. Open Summon Worlds. Pick a region. Add locations. Generate simple visuals. Link your cities, factions, and notes. Share it with your group and build together.
This is your moment. Turn loose notes into places your players can visit and your readers can feel. Make the first mark. Open Summon Worlds today. Build the map. Tell the story.
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