Fantasy Map Podcast

John is a full-time cartographer and an academic historian who, as the name suggest, not-so-surprisingly devoted his career to eels and their influence on the old world. This time we take a bit on a scholarly coat to discuss John’s career as a cartographer-of-choice for the publishing house at the university gnawing through 50+ maps per year.Where to find John: WebsitePatreonXMaps & Shared Artwork from this episode: Download link

In this episode with Arturo we talk through his overnight leap to the forefront of Instagram fantasy cartography scene, growing his map business from a side hustle to full-time job as well as forever unfinished, garanguatan, personal projects. We mention some business side of cartography and pricing, Filip's and Leander's big projects in the making and of course the ever-present, risinf influences of AI on our niche field of fantasy cartography.​Fil's castle map​Leander's logo pitch for a client​Arturo's new logo​Arturo's old vs. new maps

In this battle of the timezones, Leander and Dominique dive directly into project pricing, client work, dragons and compass roses and work through Dominique's history and current set up as an artist, her process, cartographic journey and recommendations on drawing maps on MS Paint using decommissioned trackpad.Follow Dominique: Instagram | X | Patreon

In this episode we discuss the plans for 2025 as well as our personal projects and a bit of some behind-the-scenes of our mundane existences. Enjoy!

Our unplanned Christmas special featuring Tom — cartographer well-known for his distinct style featuring magic mushroom villages and googly-eyed seamonsters. He supports the community greatly and we’ve all stumbled across as well as learned from his mountain tutorial (or any other) on YouTube. Besides map-making, Owen is also a YouTuber, talented photographer, father and an overall life balance superhero and we were incredibly happy he accepted our invite to join our show as the last guest of 2024.

A GMT-based artist-slash-physicist with incredible portfolio of art styles. We talk dark client-works, thickening lines in Photoshop, wordlbuilding robot gnomes and making money as a DM for online TTRPGs.   Follow Chloe 🔗 Instagram | ⁠🔗 Web

This episode we dive in to the realms of dragons and mythical beasts and how they can be used in the not-so-fantastical contemporary world entangled by processes. Karin is a long-time cartographer who managed to sneak a great deal of her mapping creativity into her professional career. Chapters EP! Guest intro Karin's first steps in maps Her very first map (Tir) How do you start a map - thought process Karin's childhood maps Worldbuilding and map talk Karin's wondrous map of make believe Karin's monsters and creatures Karin's dragons and scary maps Leander's Volksgaard Book Making a map - color more enjoyable? Filip's Magnum Opus Filip shares his map thoughts What matters most to you on a map? Karin's amazing bachelor thesis guide map Talking map frames More of Karin's maps for students What makes a map great? Tips for aspiring map makers Guest recommendations Final words

When you read a story, you’re taking the reader by the hand and showing them your world. Give them a map and they are free to go wherever they want. To quote our fourth guest, Rodney Elliot of @wyrmwoodmaps — a master storyteller, who spent over 30 years building his fantastic world of Ithia. We dive into his creative process and explore the ways to tell stories through maps. Leander & Filip get inaugurated into the Guild of Free Cartographers and talk about the life devoted to storytelling through the art of a map. Where to find Rodney 🔗 Rodney’s Instagram Chapters EP! Guest introduction and a bit of back story Wyrmwood’s lifetime worldbuilding project — World of Ithia & its lore Stories for your map and how a map tells a story A good map guides your imagination without putting blinders on it (Finding stories in a map by looking) Fantasy Map as a blueprint for your own story/imagination The map as an artefact/lore-piece of the world it represents Taking a look at the map from the Hobbit Prydain Chronicles Bookseries Map Illustrating landmarks with details and insights Looking at Treepainter’s current map serpentus (ouroboros) Rodney’s map borders w/ meaning, more on the world of Ithia and the story of Wyrmwood A lot more talk about Ithia and Rodneys life long worldbuilding efforts Rodney’s city commissions map Circle City Way of steel game of the guy Rodney’s commission work for (you can find it on Reddit) Rodney’s gigantic city map and talking story hooks Rodney’s Guild of Free Cartographers Tips for aspiring map makers on commission work Our guest’s favorite cartographers and guest wishes Ending words Resources & Highlights From This Episode Lloyd Alexander - The Chronicles of Prydain The Chronicles of Prydain Map Warlock of Firetop Mountain World of Ithia DriveThrough RPG Ouroboros Way of Steel RPG Map Leander’s Collab Map 1 | Map 2 Huge map of the city with icon story seeds Circle city map in Black’n White | Color Map of New Lands Maps for the Vista McDowal series (The Lantern Lit City and The Fading Glow)

In this episode we bring back the good ol’ Micron pens and share the story of inktober-to-master-cartographer Paul. We talk all about the classic top-down dungeon maps, doodley cities as well as Leander’s favourite isometrics and working with unusual perspectives. Our guest also gives us, the TTRPG rookies, a walkthrough of the classic gaming systems and solo dungeon crawlers which he also talks about on his ever growing YouTube channel.Where to find [email protected] on 🔗 Instagram | 🔗 Patreon | 🔗 Itch.ioResources & highlights from this episode Facebook link to a post w/ all the map resources Tolkien’s A Secret Vice book Craig Thompson’s Carnet de Voyage book Paul’s Arboria tree map Pauls’ Dragon mini map Leander’s Town square background Colouring colab → Leander’s map | Filip’s mapWhere to find Leander Leander’s Instagram ⁠Leander's Ko-Fi Page⁠Where to find Filip Filip’s Instagram Filip’s Website---Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and feel free to reach out to us via our Instagram pages or via e-mail at [email protected]

In this episode we chat with veteran cartographer & world-builder Scott Mayfield about his work with Atlassian & Valiantys, using Inkarnate as well as diving deeper in personal artistic expressions. We briefly touch on specifics of drawing and developing personal style, creative process, inspirations for our works as well as some practical advice for working with clients on commission. Last but not least we do some name dropping of other industry icons like Map Effects and discuss Scott’s big project show — Kram! Where to find Scott's work: 🔗 Scott’s Buymeacoffee Chapters EP! Scott’s Introduction & His Work Background Story & First Map Inkarnate & Map Software Combining Map Software & Drawing Scotts Approach To Fantasy Maps Portrayal Of Landmarks In Maps Worldbuilding & Fantasy Maps Tips On Getting Commissions and Client Work As A Fantasy Cartographer Coats of Arms in Fantasy Maps Discussing Kingdom Come: Deliverance & Its In-Game Maps Inspiration For Our Maps Talking Historical City Maps Scott’s Advice For Beginner Map Artists & Motivating Others Our Experience With Map Effects & Using Brushes Scott’s Cartoon Show Kram! Resources & highlights from this episode Scott’s Remnant map Cog’Seere map of God’s brain Map of Myrtana from Gothic 3 Map of the Phoenician Coast Map of Rattay from Kingdom Come: Deliverance Interactive map of Kingdom Come: Deliverance Old aerial maps of Paris — Map 1 | Map 2 Coats of Arms Book The Phantom Atlas Book Where to find Leander Leander’s Instagram ⁠Leander's Ko-Fi Page⁠ Where to find Filip Filip’s Instagram Filip’s Website Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and feel free to reach out to us via our Instagram pages or via e-mail at [email protected]