I remember reading Paul Kidby's intro, to one of his Terry Pratchett graphic novels, where he talked about working with Sir Terry, in developing Discworld maps.
Pratchett was a geologist, by training. That meant he was pretty demanding, as to the realism of the maps (of a giant disc, on the back of four elephants, on the back of a giant turtle).
He mentioned being corrected for not having rain shadows, for example.
Making realistic fantasy maps is a bit more involved than one might think.
God, yes. I remember when I had a lot more free time in high school and college and was doing a lot of world building for D&D campaigns I had not the skill to actually run. I learned so much about geology, geography, hydrology... just to make a map I wouldn't even finish, let alone use. Extremely fun though!
Pratchett was a geologist, by training. That meant he was pretty demanding, as to the realism of the maps (of a giant disc, on the back of four elephants, on the back of a giant turtle).
He mentioned being corrected for not having rain shadows, for example.
Making realistic fantasy maps is a bit more involved than one might think.