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# How to Make Fantasy Maps for your Original Character’s World
- URL: https://blog.unvale.io/how-to-make-fantasy-maps-for-your-original-characters-world/
- Published: 2026-11-02T17:05:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-02T17:05:00.000Z
- Description: This article will cover everything a good map needs, and how to come up with inspiration for your fictional world.
- Author: Solar
- Tags: Worldbuilding, Creative Resources

This article will cover everything a good map needs, and how to come up with inspiration for your fictional world.

## Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic 

The most important thing to decide when making a map for your setting is whether the map was made by a character in the world or not. Diegetic means ‘something that exists in the story’, so a diegetic map is governed by what your characters know about the world they live in. It would be limited by how far the people in your world can travel; the tallest mountains and the deepest ocean might not be accessible, so any locations you secretly have in those places wouldn’t appear on the map. You don’t need to have the map maker be a part of your story, of course; but if you want to show your audience a bit of your character’s personalities, you can create a version of the map with markings made by one of your OCs.

While having limited locations and a view of your world may be a con, it can also be a pro since your audience won’t know about any of the secret places you have planned either. A diegetic map can also show the values and beliefs of the people in your world if you play your cards right. I’d recommend looking at old maps of the world; sea monsters were used to fill space and decorate maps, and the map lines weren’t as accurate as they are today. You can also visually age your map to make it look like a physical piece of paper! I like to do this in Procreate by:

- Making a solid layer of a yellow brown colour and making the background transparent
- Using a sponge brush to add texture
- Using an ink pen textured brush to mimic ink
- Using a rough textured eraser to erase the edges of the background layer to make rough paper edges

A non-diegetic map is useful for you as the creator (and for any collaborators you might have) to know where everything is located. While it doesn’t hide anything from your audience, it’s also a useful way to come up with new locations and lore about your world.

![A fantasy map belonging to user Vallendrael. It mimics a hand-made style.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6125.png)

Commission for @vallendrael on Unvale

## Map Basics

The average map includes a few basic things; a compass rose, lines of longitude and latitude, and a legend for map icons. While you probably never need to use lines of longitude and latitude unless you want to create in-universe coordinates for locations, a compass rose to orient the viewer and a legend to explain what everything means are incredibly useful. (A compass rose implies the existence of compasses and the concept of north in your world, so keep that in mind if your fantasy world doesn’t have those things.)

Besides that, maps usually have icons for specific kinds of locations such as forests, mountains, deserts, marshes, and hills. You may or may not want to add these icons to your legend, but if you use colour in your map you might be able to communicate what a location is easily. The key is to pick consistent symbols and clear colours for your map, even if it’s a diegetic map. Unless the goal is to create a map that’s difficult to read, the goal should be to make the map as easy to understand as possible. Making multiple versions of your map might be necessary if you want to show different concepts like land borders through colouring countries flat colours.

Below is an example of clear legends on a map, commissioned by user [vallendrael](https://unvale.io/vallendrael?ref=blog.unvale.io) on Unvale for their setting [Sowa](https://unvale.io/world/8945e35f-e35a-4db6-b1bf-e5d37b61c2fa?view=Creations&ref=blog.unvale.io). The map was designed with geographic regions in mind to show the climate and environment across the continent. The map in the previous section was the first version of the map vallendrael and I made. Making new versions of your map as your story develops is useful, especially as you grow as an artist and writer. If you compare the two maps, the second has a much more interesting shape and a wider variety of environments and locations.

![A map of vallendrael’s Sowa, and an example of proper labeling and legend use.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6124.png)

The below map was commissioned by Unvale user [TheKrystalSakura](https://unvale.io/TheKrystalSakura?ref=blog.unvale.io) for their debut novel, [Ode to Aurora](https://unvale.io/community/ode-to-aurora?ref=blog.unvale.io). Land borders between areas are shown through mountain ranges and other visual cues, and each area has its own unique environment. Since it’s a map of Hell, we decided on a dark palette. Like when designing OCs, the colour palette sets the mood and tone of a location. If you’re designing a map for an apocalyptic world, I’d recommend using darker and muted colours. If your world is more fantastical and magical, having a bright palette and unusually coloured locations will set a more positive tone. The key is to make sure the colours harmonize and don’t get muddy or look too strange next to each other.

![A map of Hell commissioned by TheKrystalSakura. The colour palette is dark and moody.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6126.png)

## Designing the Land

When I design maps I want to keep real life phenomena in mind such as [rain shadows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain%5Fshadow?ref=blog.unvale.io) and other interesting geographical features. I’d always recommend looking up unique locations and features in the world to add to your maps, fantasy or not. Beaches with pink and black sand, blue holes and calderas are all real life environments that you can use and exaggerate.

The shape of your continent, lakes, or other natural spaces that appear on your map are also ways to draw interest to your world. If you struggle with creating landmasses, I’d recommend drawing freely on a piece of paper, looking at real life maps, or even designing the land to look like a giant dragon! As mentioned before, it’s natural to update your maps as you keep writing or drawing, so don’t worry about perfection the first time around. 

The map below was conceptualized as I drew. I knew I wanted four big countries in the four cardinal directions with a big inland sea in the center, and I thought it’d be interesting to have a mountain range divide it down the middle. I also wanted two pieces of land on either side of the sea; one an island nation that fought the monsters that lived in the sea, and the other a place where dead monsters washed up. Starting with those basic concepts I started with the oval in the center, divided it in half, and added four rectangles to roughly place the land I wanted. After that, I started sketching out a rough outline of how I wanted the land to be shaped.

![An unfinished work in progress map. The land is in the shape of a ring with an ocean in the center.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6127.png)

After I roughly decided how I wanted to divide the land between regions and how many regions I wanted to make (I hadn’t decided anything outside of 3 locations by the point I started the map!) I moved on to outlining it in an ink brush. After that, I started to fill in the land with interesting things; mountains, forests, deserts, and rivers and lakes. The result was an unfinished map with no labels… yet.

![A colourful ring shaped map with a coloured in ocean. Each country is a different colour of the rainbow.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_5659.png)

## Points of Interest

Once you’ve finished designing the land and features of your map, you can move on to what I call ‘points of interest’. If you’re like me and like to spontaneously create new lore, adding random interesting locations to your map to flesh out later is one of the most fun parts of making a map. Whether it’s uniquely coloured forests or mysterious structures, adding a strange eye-catching map feature can capture the imagination. Once you’ve added these features, take the time to flesh them out and add a story to them. This can just be for fun or an exercise in world building.

This method is especially great for collab worlds that want to allow their members a wide amount of creativity. Try giving your collaborators a portion of the map to fill out, maybe even in a grid system to divide up parts. What they add might surprise you!

Below is another map I made for a personal collaborative project, Sanctuary Stellaris. I tried to make it as visually interesting as possible to spark the imagination of everyone involved. I chose a celestial theme to shape the land and islands, and added a variety of locations like a large circular desert, mysterious towers, and a massive ruined and burnt plain; all of them have explanations I added later. Is there anything in this map that stands out to or inspires you?

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9e/77/9e77eff6-9e9e-48a2-812e-412acf50b1c8/content/images/2026/10/IMG_9353.png)

## Community Examples

Here are a few map examples made by members of the Unvale community:

- [Dartailte map](https://unvale.io/world/455ba5c1-679f-4857-bfb3-849b39ce6974?view=Creations&image=b848394c-dce8-495b-9032-8f102aad1099&via=4g7ln8iv&ref=sh%5Far) by [rozequartzish](https://unvale.io/rosequartzish%20https://unvale.io/rosequartzish?ref=blog.unvale.io)
- [City map](https://unvale.io/world/2b9312a1-dac6-4114-9662-ac805465f5d4?image=83dadbdf-2515-4347-8298-ba64722714ed&ref=blog.unvale.io) by [callingtheartangel](https://unvale.io/callingtheartangel?ref=blog.unvale.io)
- [Minsk'Natona](https://unvale.io/world/c0c9c826-490e-4d44-8700-e436d985b09e?view=Creations&ref=blog.unvale.io) map by [lizdoestheart](https://unvale.io/lizdoestheart?ref=blog.unvale.io)

[Wasobs](https://unvale.io/Wasobs?ref=blog.unvale.io) also provided a variety of maps: [Keschib Concept 2](https://unvale.io/world/64dde895-f817-4ce3-a2f5-ebabe596a087?view=Creations&image=38b34d07-fd36-47d1-a501-836c814f143e&ref=blog.unvale.io), [Emeros Map](https://unvale.io/world/64dde895-f817-4ce3-a2f5-ebabe596a087?view=Creations&image=bc02c17c-8b04-4543-a68f-3244138ee6dd&ref=blog.unvale.io), [Reminiscence Map (scrapped)](https://unvale.io/world/1cf305ac-b055-4f7b-ad10-cafc106b82d8?view=Creations&image=94ca46a9-ef2a-4f74-90a0-8ae0ef350f58&ref=blog.unvale.io), [Parable Cabin](https://unvale.io/world/1cf305ac-b055-4f7b-ad10-cafc106b82d8?view=Creations&image=b9bca70f-62d6-4367-8dbf-1be7c4a374d4&ref=blog.unvale.io), and [Prop: Journal Map](https://unvale.io/world/64dde895-f817-4ce3-a2f5-ebabe596a087?view=Creations&image=25f85d9a-f56c-476f-86c9-8de9dc087215&ref=blog.unvale.io).

If you have a map you’d like to share or show off, you’re welcome to post it in the [Unvale blog community](https://unvale.io/community/unvale-blog?ref=blog.unvale.io).