How to Draw Isometric Maps 

Thank you so much for including a link to a template! After a very unsuccessful googling session yesterday I was relieved by your inclusion of one.

I love that a lot of the ideas we see in later videos are already forshadowed in this one in some of the sketchbooks.

Man, discovering your channel helped me so much. You and JP are the first DMs that I found online that are also draftsmen (as I am too), so you guys completely changed the way I create adventures, locations and dungeons. Writing is fun, but for us, visual thinkers, drawing is even more fun! Thank you for your great work and hugs from Brasil!

I'm so glad I stumbled on this channel. Thank you so much for the inspiration! You've encouraged me to finally start sketching some things when all I have has been distant, vague clouds of ideas so far. Not even for games but for art and design in general. I love the process.

I like the things you say and the way that you say them. Your energy and creative process is inspiring. Started watching because "draw isometric map", but leaving with "keep all your ideas" and "just try it!?" Beautiful map. Thank you

making your own sketchbooks and using them really does feel so very different! in both the feeling that its not fancy and you can use it and also that it feels really exciting to have filled it and be able to hold this completed thing you made!

Kyle you imspire me so much. Every time I watch a video in your channel I can't help myself but to grab a pencil or a pen and just go to create. Thank you very much for all the advices and tips, I appreciate all your work

If you find your hands get ink on them and you smudge stuff around, try getting an old clean sock, cut the toe end off it and slip it over your hand. Then you should be able to rest your hand on the paper without fear of accidental smudging. Another alternative is to use a piece of paper under your hand.

listening to you talk about drawing and the art process is insanely inspirational

You're such an exceptional artist! I hope you know this. It's an amalgamation of visuals, interpretation, the phonoaesthetic (I hope I spelled that right lol), everything combined makes your art so inviting and evocative as you like to say.

Loving your work! Thanks for such in-depth tutorials!

i dont even play dnd but i love seeing you express your passion for your hobby. you put so much love into it creative process and your whole vibe is really dope

Finally found a solid link for isometric templates to print. I am grabbing a pad and hope the scale is the same. So glad I found thus channel! I am just getting into drawing as a byproduct of getting into DIY RPG stuff (ICRPG) and feel like I'm getting free lessons!

Now, you are one more fount of inspiration. The maps so cool, and the most impressive to me is that they are drawed in traditional art

Hey! I just discovered your channel and I LOVE all of your videos so far! Just as a suggestion, it's a little bit jarring to have the music start for 2 seconds, then suddenly cut out so you can talk, then start back up again. Maybe you could try fading the music in and out, or grouping as much of the narration together as possible (kinda like Nerdforge does in their videos)? I don't want this to come off as harsh, cause I really love your videos. Keep up the great work, and I'm excited to see what you make next!

Thank you for these videos, this channel, and for you coming into existence!

Best DM channel I've came across yet

Just watching you work put a smile on my face.

Well fuck me sideways Kyle. I am currently trying to capture that rough old-school inked style myself, and this is just the stuff to cure my shingles. Fantastic work on Old school essentials too! I'll most certainly continue to refrence your bang-up art moving forward. Cheers!

Very instructive. Thanks for the tutorial, Kyle!

very cool to see the entire process

Subbed you beautiful bastard, getting back into art after a decade and I'm in need of both inspiration and new perspectives since going into art blindfolded after a long period of time isn't making progress

I met Sean at a Gen Con once and he's the coolest dude. He inspires me to draw whenever I see him on social media. I feel like you're gonna be the same way since you're popping up on my RU-vid a lot.

I compulsively buy notebooks I never fill entirely, and your video made me go and scavenge them ! I've been writing ideas/ doodling since forever, all over the place, it is quite a hunt. I also really loved the handmade notebooks!

I like your idea of using handmade sketchbooks to overcome the blank page fear. I have a big stack of printer paper that I keep right next to my desk. I keep some blank pages and whatever im currently working on in a folder as sort of a modular sketchbook. I also like to start a lot of my ideas on note pages or scratch work for school. I don't have the same fear when the page is already ruined with homework or a todo list. A lot of my favorite ideas started on math homework.

Love your tips and ideas!!

Love the video! Seeing you plan the map is very helpful. The 20 years of experience tell you when to call it quits :D because there is no end if you don't!

HEY! DAEL KINGSMILL REFERENCE! didn't expect that

Great! Thank you for share!

What is this, and why do I like it so much? Bonus for the Dael Kingsmill reference! You talk about the map not begin tactical, but I think a lot about how to use these sort of maps that way. I think there is a way that something that flavorful, evocative, but also modular enough to be tactical. IDK, I haven't quite cracked that nut yet, but I am interested in knowing more about how you use these maps practically in your game(s). Is it a visual reference and things go into TotM when we need to be tactical, or is it like a small "overworld" layout and you zoom in to a more-crude, on-the-spot map when you need to be tactical. With the proliferation of quarantine gaming, capable VTTs and ubiquitous video conferencing, it seems like our sophistication as a group is going up, which I am very excited to see. Thanks for your content!

I really like your style yo! -NEW SUB

Dude.. you're a beast!

wowwww it's incredibly awesome!

What is great about the making own sketchbook thing is that first sketchbook you got from your friend is actually a moleskin. its the pocket journals.

Amazing vídeo, i didn't started to make my drawings yet, but i'm researching a lot trying to know how to; i am horrible at this, but still i love drawing, your vídeos are helping a lot, not just with the tips, but with my own confidence in making my own skatches ^^

I really like how you aproach your proyects

this is AWESOME

So talented dude.

Vague and evocative!! Just hearing this makes me so happy lol

Love your art!!! Oh my oh my, the design process is amazing even for a non-DnDer!!! Thanks algorithm brings me here!!

I have no idea why I only just found you on here, but I am glad I did. I love drawing iso. I stopped trying with an actual grid as it seemed to be tightening me up. Now I just occasionally draw a reminder diagonal if I want to keep the geometry regularish, but now I'm starting to just let it skew as it wants to and use different perspectives. How come all these architects line everything up at the same angles anyway? lol... and most worlds seem to be in the southern hemisphere with the shadows on the bottom right, and I tend to draw routes which go bottom left to top right too. One of these days, the adventurers are going to get suspicious that there's a (right) hand behind their world, or decide to cross the equator and really mess with me. Love your work - reminded me of Leo Baxendale :) Sub.

"we already ruined it so its not longer blank" such a huge roadblock cleared with such ease.

1:54 it's the Witch knight!

Very cool, I do think its a bit difficult due to the dark/light balance in the final piece to tell what all is happening. I'm not sure if that's intentional, but like the river being so dark for instance makes it a bit hard to make out as a river to me.

i seriously think you should show how you made those notebooks, theyre incredibly cool and id love to try out something similar !

So we're just going to gloss over "this was accomplished by diluting some highlighter ink"?! Great vid, you're very talented!

Pretty nice.

That was very interesting, and quite informative :)

Me who doesn't draw at all but enjoys this content because I find it interesting: Ah yes now I will make my own sketchbook, great advice!

This is really useful

I know that you didn't really touch on this much but I just wanted to say that I love the toad by the side of the path and the beast/god in the faerie ring. Also, your laugh is awesome because it just shows how you love your work.

"Or maybe I'm just calling it quits." Art is never finished; merely abandoned.

Jesus christ I'll never be this good. Map crow makes me ashamed to DM the way I do. This is all just so impressive.

I'm just looking for inspiration for an upcoming campaign, but now I suddenly feel obliged to start making tons of maps like this. I guess I should get a blue pencil.

11:12 damn that really is a magic eraser

Just got an office and I've been trying to find something to put on the walls, looks like it's map time!

I just switched to digital, but this is still helpful! 🌵👽

Does he have another video or something where he mentions how to make those sketchbooks? I have no idea how those are getting put together, especially with the dotted and curved high quality pages

Can we see a combat play out on one of these maps? I'm worried if these style maps would get too busy to easily allow for that, but the isometric style allows for more varied terrain vs a top down perspective

the worst part is not even not reaching the "wow, I really am liking this!" feeling, it's freezing in it because it's so good that if something is done, it gets ruined we need drawing 2.0 with undo button for yesterday

Love the sketchbook tip- do you think you could show us how to make a sketchbook?

i love isometric exercises

This was very helpful in understanding this style of maps I've seen so often. I'm curious if you have any recommendations for minimalist drawing/shading/hatching? Definitely will be checking more of these out.

Bro, that printer has seen some better days.

Hello ! Very instructive ! Thanks for the tutorial ! It's possible to share your isometric template cyan blue light lines u used to make this fantastic map ?

Ive been very interested in your videos since Ive found them just the other day, this video has given me a lot to try, because getting ideas on the page is crazy hard. One problem that I have personally, is that my thoughts are so much faster than my hands and they start to run away from me when I get excited and all of a sudden all my ideas that I thought were so brilliant are forgotten and theyre not written down. Do you have any advice for that sort of situation?

I'm a lefty and that's a great idea...

19:52 no project is ever finished, merely abandoned :D

Fantastic. Beautiful and instructive. Are you saying verbs (17minuteas onwards)? IS this a metaphor for actions? I don't hate it; just wondering.

Heya! Is Old Roads possibly going to be available for people who missed the Kickstarter?

Nice work. In regards to the ferry operator I feel he/she/it needs to have a good reason to depart from the current location. From a business perspective it makes more sense for him to be closer to the broken bridge. When I think along these lines I come up with backstories for npcs. Maybe there was once a path to the ferry but since the operator has been cursed to operate the ferry for one-hundred years people have become extremely hesitant to use his services.

Just discovered your incredible work! Do you sell an art book or collection of art books of your isometric art?

Ahhh yes, the Slumbricid

Huzzah

8:08 yes, stay hydrated! but also, watch some tutorials on vocal fry so you can make creepy and demonic voices in a healthy and less tiring way 😌🙏

The iso grid seems slightly off or skewed in perspective, but I can’t tell if it’s just a trick of the eye. Not even sure if it matters or if there’s a reason?

What is the blue pencil brand and type?

So uh... you gon' show us HOW to make a sketch book? I mean I know it doesn't look super complicated but... maybe for those of us who made INT our dump stat? 😅

What is the map scale? Seems like all that is there is in eyesight. Isn't it overwhelming for players? Or are all those things much further apart then they seem?

Well you got a subscribe from me

Let me just say that you have great skill for drawing evocative landscapes. But the title of the video is a bit misleading. I expected to hear some practical (or rather technical) advice on how to make maps you can actually use at the table. I don't think anyone can replicate what you do based on watching this video.

The pencil grip: 🥸

u cover bookmaking in this, but in ur videos, u don't go over it. is there a chance u might show ur process in terms of bookmaking??

How would you use this map? It does not look like a in game map and it also hardly supports tacktical combat. Looks like a map for GM to get inspired that can't be used in a session.

could u plz come work with me in my business