A Cartivale map theme

Watercolor

Soft colour settles into paper. Watercolor gives your map the feel of layered washes, with uneven pigment and gently painted edges. Choose a starting palette, then find the colours that feel like your place.

Create with Watercolor

In the studio, choose Watercolor under Theme, then pick a style.

Venice · Mediterranean · Made with Cartivale

Let the wash show through

Large areas carry shifts in pigment rather than one perfectly flat fill. Paper remains part of the picture, and the edges feel less exact than a clean vector map. Colour is the main voice here: Japanese Ink puts more emphasis on dark brush lines, while Coloured Pencil builds its texture from finer directional marks. Watercolor leaves things softer and more fluid.

Find your starting style

Ocean and Mediterranean explore blue and turquoise. Autumn brings warmer pigment, Forest leans green, and Sakura and Lavender offer lighter, delicate colour combinations. Impressionist uses short, broken paint marks; Fresco favours matte mineral colours and warm plaster.

Ocean
Sydney
Autumn
Prague
Sakura
Kyoto
Forest
Auckland
Mediterranean
Venice
Lavender
Québec
Impressionist
Recife
Fresco
Cartagena

Give the colours room

Try a view with a broad patch of water or greenery so the washes have space to show. Adjust the layer colours and move the map within your chosen format. A few words or a discreet marker can turn the painted geography into a memory without filling every quiet corner.

How it works