I regularly GM for a group of my friends, and I have for years. The campaigns I run tend to be long, sometimes stretching for one to two, or in one case even three years. GMing is something I take very seriously, and every time I run a game I like to try something mechanically different and provide my own source material, or my own world to romp around in.

It's this context that I got into maps. The last campaign I ran I did a very simplistic map that I blew up to a three foot by three foot poster. It was largely unexplored land, and I added things in pen and marker as the PCs made discoveries, and it worked for me. But next to the maps I see here, it was juvenile and I can see how large the difference between me and an actual cartographer.

So the question I want to pose is can I learn enough in time to do a complex and detailed map myself in several months given that I have no artistic abilities myself? Is commissioning an actual map maker something that's done? Is it even appropriate to ask? I know context would be needed to complete the map, but I feel uncomfortable providing that without knowing if I'm overstepping here.