Adventure MAPril 2025

A random Map (or so I thought)

The process of creating a fantasy map can be quite the adventure in and of itself. In this article, I will attempt to keep track of the progress of me creating a completely new, hand-drawn fantasy map throughout the month of April. I'll see how far I can get in thirty days. As someone who isn't particularly good at drawing and who tends to struggle with naming things, this will be an interesting challenge for me personally.

This article will document the steps in my process from blank paper to map over the course of this challenge. The images in here will reflect the progress from April 1st to May 3rd. If you want to see the most recent progress, both maps in WA are linked on the bottom of this article, right below the final paper versions.

Date	Progress
April
1.	Initial outline (spilled some seeds on my paper and traced the shapes) Stained paper with black tea Outline in ink, add some rivers First two (potential) names for places
2.	Some mountains
3.	Seven geopolitical regions Two more names
4.	Another name One Island now belongs to someone else
6.	Decided that one of the regions on this map is the Kingdom of Keider (green area) Moved this article over here from my other world
7.	A few more names Traced Keider on a slightly larger scale, preparing for a few more details in that region
8.	First details of Keider
10.	More details of Keider
13.	Inked outlines and rivers in Keider
30.	Finally got back to the project Created main map in WA, see below Added lines for borders and rivers Added names of several geographical and political regions
May (1.-3.)
1.	Added a bunch of details to the Keider map Named a whole bunch of things Created map for Keider in WA Made both paper versions pretty
2.	Labels for Keider in WA-Map Some editing/formatting of this article Named another place
3.	Declared the maps finished for now Some things still need names, but that's a problem for future-me

I started April with an idea and loads of energy and inspiration. These two maps were a result of that, and all it took was some regular printer paper, a handful of seeds, a pencil, some fineliners and a little bit of very, very strong black tea, as well as a touch of patience. Unfortunately, with Easter being a busy time and some health-related issues towards the end of the month, I wasn't able to keep up the motivation and didn't work on the maps any more. Lucky for me, my motivation for this project returned just in time for the final days of the challenge.

You might notice, that the final paper versions of both maps (see below), are not the versions I used as backgrounds for the maps in WA. That's because I prefer an unlabeled base image to place markers and labels on top, and also because the labels on the final paper versions are in German, since it's my native language and the one I prefer to write my stories in.

A huge thanks to Tillerz for hosting this awesome challenge. I had a lot of fun and got to try some things I'd never tried before. Plus, I had the completely unexpected benefit of stumbling upon the map for this new world of mine, which perfectly fits with the spur-of-the-moment nature of the entire thing. After all, the whole idea for this world came from two typos that sounded like cool names.