Hi!

Project:
I need a map of a fictional small town for a graphic novel for middle school readers. This graphic novel, a sequel to an earlier work, already has a publisher. (You can read more about it at www.hereville.com ).

Although the graphic novel takes place in the modern day, it is a fantasy graphic novel.

Setting:

Pacific Northwest, current day. This is a small, hilly, isolated town, surrounded by woods, with a lake, a downtown area that's just a few blocks long, and many blocks of residential houses with yards. Little patches of woods snake into the town. Near the residential section of the town, there is a school (with woods on a couple of sides), a witch's tower (with woods on all four sides), a firehouse (located downtown), and a small lake (or perhaps a pond - I'm not sure what the technical distinction is). The witch's tower is more or less between the school and the residential area.

Style:
Black-and-white line art with no gray tones whatsoever (although cross-hatching is fine, if you want). I'd like there to be a compass rose, and for the map to be clear enough so that middle-school readers can understand it.

If you have a style that people might describe as "charming," then you might be especially ideal for this project.

Number of maps:
One.

Technical:
I would need the map in a Photoshop-readable format. It would need to be wider than tall, and it needs to be high-res enough for professional printing purposes. (I.E., minimum of 22 inches wide and 17 inches tall at 300dpi, and 600dpi would be better.)

Ideally, what I'd like is for the map to be delivered as a Photoshop file (or Photoshop-readable file) with two layers. On one layer would be the map itself, and on a separate layer the labels, so I could use it with or without the labels, or edit the labels as needed. If that's not something you can do, then what I'd prefer is an unlabeled map, and I can add the layers myself.

Copyright:
I'd prefer to own the copyright, because my publisher will get skittish otherwise. (If this is a deal-killer for you, we might be able to work something out). If I own the copyright, of course you'd retain the right to display the map as part of your portfolio, and to use it for noncommercial purposes.

Deadline:
I would love to get this before the end of March, if that's possible. April or May could also work, if you can't do earlier, but the earlier the better for me.

Payment:
We can negotiate this. Please let me know what you'd charge. Payment via PayPal upon completion.
Credit inside the book

Contact:
barry (dot) deutsch (at) gmail (dot) com