Sunday and the weather was very much for staying indoors. I probably should have finished some 28mm WW2 German Afrika Korps infantry miniatures commission (finished on Monday, thats today) and would have except a box of Rexel Derwent Studio pencils on my desk distracted me and I decided to quickly sketch a village map for use in one, (or more), of my solo fantasy games instead.
My biggest problem when drawing maps is that I get overwhelmed by a blank piece of paper. I find it almost impossible to know where to start, add to that a fear that my creation may go badly wrong, that it will just look terrible and I often end up searching online for a map instead. Thats a big shame as I really enjoy sketching out maps once I get going.
This map was no exception. I had drawn the lines that marked the size of the map several months ago, yes months, and whilst I knew I wanted a village with a small fortified manor house, I did not know where to start. I had though, penciled in the river.
On Sunday I sat down with my pencils and initially coloured in the river and then the grass and trees on the far bank of the river. As soon as I had added just that small amount of colour to my map any inhibitions disappeared and I found it easy to add the houses, tracks through the village, the manor and colour in the blanks. I got into full flow and I now have the map you see here.
I have yet to decide what I am going to do with this map, (though I think it would make a great location for a Beyond the Wall adventure), I have not given it a name, it is not populated but that doesn’t matter, I had great fun making it and that’s a reward in itself. So,if like me you enjoy map making but are intimidated by a blank page, sketch a river, colour it in, add a few trees and a bit of green and see where that takes you.
Happy map making.
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