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Fantasy Mapmaking Do's and Don'ts from Westeros

The Red Quills Mapmaking

6,245 views

I'll be honest in this description -- this video is my opinion on the map of Westeros. Not a specific map in a specific style, but the foundational geography and layout of that fantasy world. What it has, and what it lacks: and how we can use it as a yardstick to develop and improve our own fantasy worlds and maps. Join me to talk about mapmaking do's and don't's.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Start
02:36 - Sketching like a Pro
04:26 - The Most Important Part of a Map
05:23 - The Road Network!
06:10 - Mountains and Rivers
07:54 - Rivers and Coastlines
09:46 - What Doesn't This Map Have?
16:06 - Let's Bring It Together

MATERIALS:
The materials and tools that Ryan uses to create his maps are available to him in Australia. If you are in a different part of the world, these may not be available to you. Be aware that the types of material or tool is more important than the specific brand.

Fineliner Pens - UniPin (black, beige) 1.0mm, 0.2mm, 0.1mm, 0.05mm
Staedtler (mixed) 0.4mm
Thick Felt Tip - UniPosca (black) 2.0mm
Paper - Montmartre A2 180gsm Spiral-Bound Artbook

LINKS:

WEBSITE | Commissions, Tutorials, and the Mailing List | https://www.redquills.com.au/
PATREON | Free downloadables and more! | Patreon: RedQuills
DISCORD | Join the Community | Discord: discord
BECOME A YT MEMBER | Early access to videos and special member-only events and videos | @redquills

20 Comments

@joseph_alonzo 2 months ago

Channels like yours have been what’s driven me to work on a 6 year world building project again. I love your stuff

@chaseknueven8844 2 months ago

I've watched all of the show and its subsequent spin-offs, but am reading them for the first time! They're much easier to read than I expected! And the maps are a huge boon to track where everyone is! Love seeing it in the Red Quills Fashion! Adding the colored fine liners just makes it pop even more!

@douglasschirmer8046 2 months ago

I am so grateful to you and the Red Quills for helping me rediscover and level up a passion for mapmaking! I hadn't really tried it for nearly 20 years, and your channel inspired me to start worldbuilding again. Now I'm 8 months into a homebrew campaign in my own setting, and the tips and tricks learned from this channel consistently get "ooo's" and "aaah's" from my players. Keep up the good work!

@EldonPinkham 2 months ago

Another great map video Ryan. All of these videos push me to work on my world and create stories and campaigns from those maps. I think I have watched your 7 hour world map between fifteen and twenty times. Thanks for doing what you do.

@alexianthedragon 2 months ago

Your videos are always so encouraging and make me feel that I too could make such a lovely map. I just have to remember that practice is also needed.

@cooj2084 2 months ago

Your version of the map looks so good! I like how its more legible than the ones you normally see.

@robgoldman690 2 months ago

Found your page a few weeks ago and have learned a lot. Thanks for all the great content!

@jowizardhealey9285 2 months ago (edited)

Fantastic discussion! I've never read or watched much of Martin's works, but your analysis of the details of his maps is excellent! I'd love to see more analysis of maps from popular books or series like this in future videos!

@welfmattern1200 2 months ago

I just discovered this channel, unsure about why on earth it took me so long. Take my subscription! What a great video!

@jonhaynie1987 2 months ago

Never read the books or watched the show, but I think I might at some point. Mostly, I just wanted to comment that I love the map!

@kevinstanley9321 2 months ago

Love your videos, love the overall think about realistic

@capcrow420 2 months ago

Beautiful beautiful map!

@Ijimisan 2 months ago

Always enjoy your creativity and skill! Keep up the great work!

@andreaswendt3813 2 months ago

Many thanks for this content and structure which I will try to adopt. I was alwyys surprised how ugly a map can become when I do it, so watching you doing it in a specific way might help.

@emmajohnson7114 2 months ago

I've never heard that bit about Westeros being the size of South America, and that is just insane to me! I always figured it was about the size of England, especially with it being based on English history.
Also I'm going to head straight over to join the mailing list now, that sounds fun.

@eyebeepirate 2 months ago

awesome work ,may have to give this a try

@raff3486 2 months ago

Great video!

@twistedgamer4834 2 months ago

I love the map!

@VictorDiGiovanni 2 months ago

Watching tons of videos before I dive in to my world's grand map. I love this style.

@uandubh5087 2 months ago

Beautiful map! Thinking about the actual scale makes the travelling speed in the last two seasons of Game of Thrones even more outrageously ridiculous than it seemed already.