How long does it take to make a map?

[Gnarl]

Hello everybody,

I was wondering if you guys could help me get an idea of how much time it takes to make a map. I'm going to need city maps, regional maps, dungeon maps, etc. for a RPG project of mine. The style I'm looking for is Pathfinder/Dungeons & Dragons like in the links below. I would assume it takes about the same time as any other piece of digital art.

How much time do you think each of the maps below takes to make (for a professional cartographer)?

Phandelin (Town Map)
http://mikeschley.zenfolio.com/p9238...9fd7#h18591121

The Desserin Valley (Regional Map)
http://mikeschley.zenfolio.com/p9238...9fd7#h13196d69

Julkoun (Town Map)
http://dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content.../julkoun-1.jpg

Cragmaw Castle (Dungeon Map)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iDTG9FNzxQ...2Bx%2B1568.jpg

Cragmaw Hideout (Dungeon Map)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c0f78jo4eU...00/Capture.JPG


Thank you all for your help!

P.S: I already found someone to do the maps.

[- Max -]

Hey Gnarl,

Hmm, well if you already found someone to make the maps, maybe the best is to ask him/her? People can have different working speed I guess.

[TimPaul]

Your assumption about the time it takes to do a piece of digital art is faulty. Everyone has different methods of working, developing the image and process.

To assume how someone does their job, isn't fair.

the experienced weasel in me came up with this thought. You hired someone, who is charging you by the hour to do the work, and you are trying to assess if you are paying fair, or being over charged.

Also, why not hire Mike Schley? Essentially, it sounds like you've hired someone to make makes in Mike's style. He's a great guy, I've meet him several times. This is something artists struggle with all the time. They work hard to stand out, get great at what they want. Then someone comes along and hires someone to copy them.

The work Mike did to get to this level, you have to do on your own, and you don't get paid for it. So he was willing to spend thousands of hours to perfect this work.

So yes, hire him. Not someone to copy him.

[Meshon]

How long's a piece of string?

All the maps you've posted are (I believe) by Mike Schley. Mike Schley is probably the fastest person at making Mike Schley maps, but I also know that he puts a lot of time and care into them. For someone else to make a Mike Schley map would probably take a factor of time longer (I'm guessing about 100x for me to do it, for example ). So yes, exactly what -Max- said, the person who is going to make the maps for you is absolutely the best person to tell you how long its going to take.

Of course when I try to estimate how long it will take me to do a map I get it wrong 100% of the time…

Good luck!

Meshon

Edit: TL;DR What TimPaul said

[Gnarl]

Hey Gnarl,

Hmm, well if you already found someone to make the maps, maybe the best is to ask him/her? People can have different working speed I guess.

I already have. And I would like other opinions.

[TimPaul]

I already have. And I would like other opinions.

Art takes as long to make as it takes. There's really no rushing it. I do lots of different kinds of illustration as a professional. Somethings, because that's what I draw a lot of, take little time, because i know the subject and can execute really fast.

So my question is, why do you want to know how long it should take?

[snodsy]

Gnari;

On my WIP thread for the current Oct/Nov challenge I have hours posted at each WIP up to the last one. I've spent about 54 hours on it so far. That is one example, has others have stated, each artist, each project, each client vary depending upon the scope of the project and typically artist put in more time then they will ever get paid for.

[- Max -]

Art takes as long to make as it takes.

I do agree with that. If I had to commission a work from an artist I like and I agree to pay him/her $XXX for it, I wouldn't really care if he'd spend 1 day or 1 week to make it. As soon as it'd meet my expectations, that would be fine and I'd be happy to see a great result.

[Meshon]

I already have. And I would like other opinions.

If you're not happy with the time frame you've been given you could first talk to your artist. It's possible that s/he could speed up the process if you offered a higher fee. Basically you would be paying the artist more money to put aside other commitments to focus on your project. It's likely that's not possible but you could at least ask. If, on the other hand, you asked your question because you feel like you're being quoted too much then you need to discuss that with the artist and, possibly, find someone who can work with your budget.

If the work is already done then you just have to pay the artist what you initially agreed to pay.

Hope that helps.

Meshon

[Chick]

There are also two different kinds of "how long...".

Are you asking how many hours a particular map should take? That depends on the skill of the artist with that particular style of map.

Are you asking what time span is required to make a map? That depends a lot on you and your interaction with the artist, as well as the number of hours per day/week that the artist can spend.

Are you concerned that you are being cheated? Abandoned? What's the real problem?