When I began writing the “Dire Skies Trilogy” I knew that one day I would need a map of Stheara. I can remember poring over the map of Middle Earth when I discovered “The Lord of the Rings” as a kid. I loved tracing the path of Frodo and Sam’s journey from Hobbiton the Mount Doom. Dreaming up a fantasy world seemed impossible then, an act of wizardry worthy of Gandalf himself.

In the spirit of DIY, I started sketching out my concept of Stheara long ago on an old iPad. Several iPads later, the tools for map making had increased exponentially. I have dabbled in digital art for years so I dove in with Procreate, the powerful and popular graphics powerhouse of the iPad, confident that I could produce a decent map. I bought several fantasy map brush packs which included everything I would need to bring my fuzzy concepts to really: trees, hills, mountains, coastlines, cities, etc.

And then…I hit a wall. My valiant attempts looked amateurish at best. Mountains and coastlines were easy but forests were not. A fellow author with excellent maps pointed me in the direction of Fiverr, an online jobs board. Typing ‘fantasy map’ into Fiverr’s search engine yielded a ton of hits. It was overwhelming. I scrolled through many demos before landing on an artist who had just the right look and feel. And great forests! I paid the fee (it was reasonable) and sent in my feeble attempts as a guide. After a bit of back and forth, I got the map I wanted. I can’t wait to see it in front matter of the books!

T.C. Rubright

Posted on: November 2, 2024, by : T.C.