Luckily there are professional artists for these sorts of things...
It's all about the journey: How a fantasy world-map comes to life
I thought it might be interesting to take you through the process of creating a world-map for a fantasy novel. Working with a professional cartographer has been enlightening thus far, so I will continue to post her progress as it comes. The talented Cornelia Yoder is tackling this work for me. Check out more of her work at: http://www.corneliayoder.com/
First I started with my own haphazardly drawn world sketch seen below:
I thought it might be interesting to take you through the process of creating a world-map for a fantasy novel. Working with a professional cartographer has been enlightening thus far, so I will continue to post her progress as it comes. The talented Cornelia Yoder is tackling this work for me. Check out more of her work at: http://www.corneliayoder.com/
First I started with my own haphazardly drawn world sketch seen below:
The cartographer points out inconsistencies in the geography such as the Treyari river connecting in multiple locations--a rare occurrence in nature, I'm told--and the Virgin Sea having two outflows, another inconsistency that rarely if ever happens in nature.
Next, she added in the mountainous regions and added color overlays for where the forests, desert, rivers, and marshlands will eventually go.
Interior Artwork
Thanks to the steady hands of John Stevenson (sirinkman.deviantart.com), The Age of Ash will have some custom artwork that will ship with the book. John is designing for me several elements, including unique chapter ornaments with images that relate directly to the content within each chapter. He also drafted four versions of the Perithian symbols, as referenced in the book (and shown below), and will be designing some cover art for me when the time comes.
Thanks to the steady hands of John Stevenson (sirinkman.deviantart.com), The Age of Ash will have some custom artwork that will ship with the book. John is designing for me several elements, including unique chapter ornaments with images that relate directly to the content within each chapter. He also drafted four versions of the Perithian symbols, as referenced in the book (and shown below), and will be designing some cover art for me when the time comes.
Chapter art by John Stevenson