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Backstory

I've had a passion for maps ever since I was little. Seeing how to get from one place to another; where a trail meanders, or a river flows. And what kind of landscape will I see as I make that journey.

Mike of Mike's Maps

I've been supporting The Character Consultancy for some time, mostly providing tech-support. An opportunity arose in late-2021 to get involved with drawing maps that some of her clients were requesting. So that's where Mike's Maps began in March 2022.

I was also impressed after bumping into Jeff Murray's market stall in Bath (England), selling incredible 'country and continent' hand-drawn maps. I didn't realise at the time I would start to pursue a similar line of work. Oh, to be that good!

In November 2022 I was unexpectedly offered a job doing something different (although less interesting & more stressful!). So I had a break from the maps for a while. I returned to the maps in July 2023.

Map making process

Until July 2023, all my maps were digitally hand-drawn using a computer and drawing tablet, often down to pixel level for fine details. It's something a little different from the way most fantasy maps are produced online. While entirely hand-drawn maps have my unique style, they are naturally more expensive to draw.

Therefore, from August 2023, I'm also offering maps that are drawn with fantasy map drawing software, thus providing a lower cost alternative for my customers. Composite maps will likely feature too (part hand-drawn, part software assisted).

For my hand drawn maps I use the light-weight painting program, FireAlpaca, which has worked really well. I use Wonderdraft for drawing my software assisted maps, which is quite wonderful! Please let me know if you have any queries about this.

As an example of using fantasy map drawing platforms, I took my first (very basic) map and reimagined it in Inkarnate. The results are below, and what a difference.

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