I’ve always been terrible at art. Really. I can’t even draw convincing stick people. It never really mattered much, though, because I never needed to. I left all that painting, drawing and generally arty stuff to those with a talent for it.
But now I’m writing fantasy, and really, a little drawing skill might be a rather useful thing to have, because – maps. Every fantasy world has to have a map, right? I’ve had people ask about maps for my stories. Oh, but you’ll have one when the book is published, won’t you? Well, no, because: see above. And I really can’t afford professional artwork for a map.
Now, I know there is already software out there that supposedly allows anyone to draw maps, and I’ve even tried some of them, without any success. My hand-drawn back-of-the-envelope efforts are better, frankly. But I keep hoping for something simple enough that even I can use it.
And here’s something that just may work for someone like me: mapping software that really does look simple yet effective. It’s called Other World Mapper and there’s Kickstarter for it which runs until November 7th 2014.
Check it out at: http://kck.st/1rTYfBZ.
Here’s a sample of what the software can do:
That looks like a great endeavor. I, too, am not great at art, and have often wanted to draw a map.
Interestingly enough, this made me think of a post I read today on Sarah’s blog. It talks about how maps can limit imagination. What do you think?