Welcome to the Guild eneas! A lot of good information, but anyone who might be available to do such a commission would need some more:
- What style of map are you looking for? artistic, hand drawn look, atlas, etc
- If I read you right, you need a large world map and multiple sub maps for individual regions. Of course, a hugh part of the price will also depend on the number of sub maps needed. If you already have a good idea, great, but if not, you may want to pay for the base map first and then as a separate transaction pay for submaps. So for example, you get you world map and after looking over it, you tell the artist "hey, I want a closer in map or x, y, and z locations" for a total of 1 world map + 3 submaps.\
- Another thing to consider is that the more work required, the longer it will take and the more expensive. This is mainly pointing to your request for submaps, but also has some bearing on the level of detail.
- Similar to above, timeline is another important factor. Many of our professionals may be glad to take on a commission, but having an expected date for some or all of the combined maps would be helpful. May of the artists are constantly working on commissioned works, so knowing what you timeline is would be helpful in them determining if they can meet your expectations or not.
As for the first bullet item above, it would be hugely helpful if you were to look around the forums (or the internet for that matter) and post links to some styles that you would like emulated. A good place to start here are: Featured Maps, Finished Maps, and perhaps Tutorials/How-To for some examples of styles.
Also, don't be surprised if you don't get any immediate feedback. As I stated, many of the people who do commissions are in the middle of existing projects.
Finally, many(but not all) of the works posted here are either directly covered by a license which allows you to use the map at no charge(check the posts of course) or their owners are willing to allow them to be used by simple request. If you see a map you really like and see nothing about how it may be used, just send a PM to the artist to ask them. One good thing about using an existing work is that..well... it already exists...
Joe