Inspiration for art is everywhere... Drawing of a Game Map .. sort of..

When its come to art people often ask me "Where do you get your inspiration from?". And I think about that question alot. There is no simple answer to this question for me. I quit my job couple of weeks ago to focus on more personal projects. Today I went outside and walk exactly the same path I walk when I go to work. When I was going to work everyday, I realized how fast I was walking and not paying attention to my surroundings. With that rush we often miss opportunities. You can find inspiration from the least expected places.

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For some time I've been working on a fantasy story , writing character description, places , towns, castles, mountains , mythologies about creation, gods , dragons etc. And I draw maps of the world that I am creating. Maps are great. Maps helps alot in the creative process of a story whether its a game or a novel. You can see towns, roads, forests, mountains, how long does it take to go from someplace to another. So today I am gonna share with you how I got inspired from pavement stone and draw a map out of it.

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• This pile of pavement stones were there for months , everyday I walk passed them. I chose this one because it includes so many different stones and together they form a shape. I took a photo and open it with Adobe Photoshop. I pick the lighter colors to be land and darker ones to be the sea. You can chose anything, any shape or any orientation. İts up to you and your imagination and your rock of course ^^

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• After I draw the shapes I like , I put a old paper background I found online to give it a little bit more ancient feeling. In this step you can change any shape you like or add new lands , islands , coves. Its your wold and you are the creator, be free. After you outline your map and happy with it, its now time to add some mountains and trees and other good stuff.

I posted tutorials on how to draw mountains and forests. You can check them out to learn how to draw the next steps.

• how to draw fantasy map mountains
• how to draw fantasy map forests

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• I added some color to the see and some shadows on the land lines to give them a little bit depth. There are two roads you can take in this step, you can consider the natural formation of mountains according to science and try to place the mountains as correctly as possible or you can go " this is my map my world and I make the rules" and place them whereever you want. I pick the second road and place them as I like. In my world mountains appear where I put them. Lets add some mountains and pine forest to finish up the map.

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• This map isn't complately finished, but its a start for a story or a game. There are lots of things you can add to this map, towns , important roads, mountain passes, castles, magical forest or dangerous areas, some ports for the trade ships perhaps. I leave them to your imagination.

My advise to you is this. If you are struggling in your creative works and search for inspiration. Look around you, inspiration comes from the places we least expect.