Flexible and efficient world and continental scale maps

[Tort]

Hello! I am looking to hire a cartographer, or possibly several cartographers, to create a world map and some continental maps. You will be mapping moderately realistic territory for a homebrew setting with a wide variety of environments. The world map will need to display continental geography, political boundaries, and possibly a few other items of note. The continental maps need to display numerous and varied geographical features, political boundaries, historical sites, and many cities. In some areas there is an extremely high level of detail which you will need to preserve. Stylistically, all maps will be big, bright, and detailed. Beyond that, they will vary in style. Finally, there needs to be a functionality for updating these maps to reflect fairly common changes in political boundaries and less common geographical changes. How this functionality is implemented is negotiable.


For working with me on this project, I offer the following:
*Flexible deadlines. This project needs to get done sooner than later, but you will be given a reasonable and negotiable amount of time to work on the map(s) and enjoy the creative process.
*Creative opportunities. The world is heavily developed, but at the same time, blank or bland in places. As a cartographer you will have an opportunity to contribute to the design process by adding interesting features to the world at your discretion in consultation with me.
*Recommendations. Although I need to be able to use whatever you make me for my own purposes, I will let you display your creation in your portfolio. I will also give positive written recommendations upon request later.
*Money. I have a very flexible budget and will pay you to work on this project. I will let all interested cartographers name their own price and payment plans.
*Future Work. You will be considered ahead of others for future paid opportunities. You might be updating old pieces, or it might be new work.


If this is a project that interests you, please post a few work samples, a suggested price range/plan, and an email address for me to contact you at. If you have a reference from a past commission I will consider that too. If you are hired I will provide you with more exact specifications. I am looking for people who are cartographers of intermediate to advanced experience, people who are creative, people who are professional, and people who want to make something awesome. That said, I am open minded and will consider anybody.

Thanks!

[jwbjerk]

Hi, this project sounds interesting.
I'm a freelance graphic designer/illustrator who has enjoyed doing a few maps for homebrew worlds. I've used Google Earth with recent projects as a base to make locations more easily user-editable, and to deal with the issue of scale, but that is just an optional.


Portfolio:

My previously finished project -- Feedback

My very ambitious and therefore very slow personal map project

My Porfolio, (some of the same stuff and also non-map stuff)


I don't really know enough about the scope of your project to give out hard numbers -- it would probably be in the hundreds of dollars. The main question is the level of detail. If you could figure out how many normal sized sheets of paper the maps you want would fill up, with the labels no smaller than the print in an ordinary book, that figure would be a good start for me (and other cartographers) to figure out how much work this project would be.

Finally, there needs to be a functionality for updating these maps to reflect fairly common changes in political boundaries and less common geographical changes. How this functionality is implemented is negotiable.

Do you mean you want a way that you can update the maps, or you want to work out a deal with the cartographer to do regular updates?

[Tort]

Good questions. Let me answer them publicly to help inform you and other interested parties.

Do you mean you want a way that you can update the maps, or you want to work out a deal with the cartographer to do regular updates?

Either way, I need a way for updates to get done. This can be accomplished by me rehiring you, or you designing the map in such a way that a programmer could make a useful update interface for it. If I could get away with just updating political boundaries and maybe cities I would be quite satisfied. If you have your own programmer or write your own code you're welcome to do it as long as my website can support it. Otherwise, I might be able to find a programmer to work with you. Or, less ideally, I just contact you if and when I need updates in the future. Basically, I am open to suggestions.

If you could figure out how many normal sized sheets of paper the maps you want would fill up, with the labels no smaller than the print in an ordinary book, that figure would be a good start for me (and other cartographers) to figure out how much work this project would be.

Size and scale are up for discussion based on price, convenience, and functionality. That said, I have about 20-30 pages worth of stuff that could be mapped. I also have stuff that isn't sketch-mapped but might be used in the future that I also want map. I do not necessarily know that I want everything mapped on standard paper. How does it affect the cost to have an image that could be printed on a map brochure? That was one option I was considering.

[Sapiento]

Sounds very interesting.

Portfolios/website:
http://www.fantasy-map.net/
http://www.sapiento.deviantart.com/

I think there is an halfway practical way to modify parts like the political boundaries. I would appreciate if we could discuss this by E-mail.

[jwbjerk]

Either way, I need a way for updates to get done. This can be accomplished by me rehiring you, or you designing the map in such a way that a programmer could make a useful update interface for it. If I could get away with just updating political boundaries and maybe cities I would be quite satisfied. If you have your own programmer or write your own code you're welcome to do it as long as my website can support it. Otherwise, I might be able to find a programmer to work with you. Or, less ideally, I just contact you if and when I need updates in the future. Basically, I am open to suggestions.

I've never heard of maps being made with software like you describe. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but may cost a lot more than hiring someone to do the updates -- depending on how good you want the results to be. And anyway, someone is going to have to draw the new borders weather they are crunched by a program or not.

If you are willing to do a little rudimentary photoshop/gimp work, i could instead provide a simplified layered file were you could edit the political boundaries. Borders like these are created through effects, so you could move them by painting with pure black or white on the appropriate color-coded layer.

Size and scale are up for discussion based on price, convenience, and functionality. That said, I have about 20-30 pages worth of stuff that could be mapped. I also have stuff that isn't sketch-mapped but might be used in the future that I also want map. I do not necessarily know that I want everything mapped on standard paper. How does it affect the cost to have an image that could be printed on a map brochure? That was one option I was considering.

I mentioned the standard piece of paper just as a convenient measurement. A map could be as big as multiple sheets of regular paper, and printed out however you want.


* Also, if you could post a typical sample of your sketch-maps, that would also help is get an idea of the density of detail, and thus what we should charge.


* These Forums won't let you use PMs until you have made 5 posts IIRC. If you want to email me i'll get more specific on price, though with the current info it will still be a range. email: me AT jwbjerk D0T com

[anstett]

I can vouch for JW for his excellent communication and willingness to go back and forth on details on a project. He did the Google Earth work for me for my campaign world.

BOB