Can someone help me with my map?

[Breona]

Hey everyone, I have been working on a map for the fantasy series I plan to write, but I am learning that I am definitely not a cartographer. I could really use some help. I made my map on Inkarnate because I have no artistic skills. I am super proud of my continent outline, but Inkarnate's scale doesn't work for what I want to use it for. I want this to be a map of an earth-sized world, but the scale of the mountains and trees in Inkarnate make this look like one specific continent. I also find the color scheme to be too garish and I want something more simplified.

Based on the continent layout, this world reminds me a bit of Pangaea. All of the continents are sort of squished together. I love that idea (I can imagine lots of pirates and coastal battles in the middle sea area), and I want to roll with it. I've even done a bit research on Earth's climate during its earlier ages to get an idea of the different biomes that would likely be present. (lots of jungles and deserts, very little ice and snow. I want to live there instead of Minnesota!) I just need help making coastlines, mountain ranges, rivers, and such a bit more realistic. I am no map-making expert, so I don't know what the inch to mile scale would be, but I am sure some of you smart people can help me come up with something reasonable.

What I REALLY need is a very large-scale black-and-white (not grayscale. I want everything to be white except for drawn objects/terrain features, which would be black) version of the map. This is so that I can later go in and make edits as I need to or add in political lines for countries and such. I also need someone more knowledgable than me to make the proportions more realistic. I know that the rivers I drew are much too large in proportion to the continents, for example. The coastlines probably need some touch-ups, and I have no idea how to draw realistic archipelagos and such, so whoever takes the job would need to add in small islands where they would make sense. As far as style goes, I'm really not too picky. I want it to be easy to tell what kind of terrain a region has without the map looking too busy. A great example is this one (it's simple, easy to read, and shows good variation in terrain. It is also easy to see the difference between land and water, and I love how you can see clearly where the foothills of the mountain ranges would start): http://i.imgur.com/h98Vu3B.jpg. A good example is the map of Alagaesia from Eragon (easy to read, easy to tell the difference in terrain; the heavy shading makes it look a bit busy, though, and the southern mountain ranges look odd to me): https://www.paolini.net/wp-content/u...r_fan_mail.jpg. A bad example is this one (much too busy): http://michaeliantorno.com/wp-conten...6_worldmap.jpg. In general, I prefer to see forests instead of clumps of individual trees and ranges instead of individual mountains.

I'm not sure if this is realistic or not, but I am envisioning a map size that would be roughly 4x6 feet if printed out. If that isn't realistic, we can talk about it together. I want the map to be HUGE because it will be easier to include more detailed terrain features which will help me tremendously in world building. I want to build the physical world first and then create cultures and peoples to fit their settings. (If a small kingdom is in an isolated valley, for example, they likely have a separate language and culture from kingdoms that are more linked by trade routes and rivers.) From there, I can develop religions and governments for each region and discover large-scale conflicts that will eventually form the plot for the story. The world map is a crucial step in the world-building process.

Another note is that I currently do not know where cities, towns, and kingdoms will be located. I have a vague idea for some, but I plan to add in those details at a later time (in large part because I am TERRIBLE at coming up with names for places and characters. My next step after completing my map is to work on developing fantasy languages so that I can make consistent names for different regions). I don't know what file format is ideal for this, but I want to be able to load the map into Krita (free alternative to Photoshop) and add separate layers for political boundaries, migration patterns (I know that some of the cultures will be nomadic), and cities/towns.

This may be too much to ask, but I would prefer the map to be in vector format. Inkarnate uses raster, and I hate it. I need to be able to zoom into specific regions while I write, and I don't want things to be pixellated.

I really don't know how much a map like this would cost. I feel like I am asking a lot, but maybe this is a simpler task than I think it is. If you are interested in taking on my project, we can discuss a cost together. (I am thinking somewhere in the ballpark of $50-$100. If that is unreasonable, please let me know in the comments!) I have never commissioned a map before, and I am not planning to make money off of my writing anytime soon. It will probably take me at least 5-10 years before I am ready to publish even the first book.

In terms of copyright, I want reproduction rights to the map so that I can include it when I am ready to publish my writing. If/when that time ever comes, I really want the artist to receive credit for their work, so I am happy to allow the mapmaker to retain full copyright. I am not sure if I understand copyright laws correctly or not. Basically, the map would be yours to do with as you please, but I want to be able to use it, too!

Please comment here if you are interested in taking on this project! If I accept your help, I will PM you my email so that we can set up a time to discuss the specifics of the map and payment.

Here are the images of the map that I have so far. One includes the locations of mountains, major rivers, and forests/jungles I have come up with so far (they are horribly out of scale with the landmasses though.) The other is just an outline of the continents.

[NarramoreArt]

Hi there Breona,

I've spent a little while reading your post, and I'm certainly curious about your project.
To clarify, you want a black and white map, of a continent and surrounding islands, with varied terrain.
You want this to be 4x6 feet, vectorized, and to have other features added later.

It also sounds like you would like to have the artist act as a consultant with several elements of world design.
This sounds like an interesting and entertaining project, certainly one within my skillset, but I would have to spend some time talking to you about certain specifics (in particular the price).

The cartography page of my website narramore.art/maps shows a very small selection of my recent maps, (this selection will updated relatively soon, so I apologise if you have any trouble with the website)
I have previously worked at a similar scale to what you need, and several of my maps have been produced in black and white (although the present online selection is all colour).
Typically I work as a traditional artist, but I do have the tools and skills required to produce a map in line with what you request.

I'd love to hear from you, and hopefully work with you soon.

Best,

Sammi (NarramoreArt)

[Tiana]

Redrawing the exact map you have there except in vector format so you can make it huge, in the style of the first map you linked, would be very easy for me. I am actually happy to do that for only $100 USD. I can whip that out. I have a setup which would enable me to very easily draw something in vector format.

If you wanted me to add in all the things that you are wanting to add once you zoom in that big, though, then the price would definitely be going up! A world sized map with all the text and symbol placement for towns takes AGES. I just finished a very detailed world map and WHEW! It was not cheap and it took SO LONG I CAN'T EVEN.

But I can definitely simplify what you've done for that price. I have no examples because no one has ever hired me to do it but I know exactly how to do it and that first style example will be easy to mimic. My best example of a black and white inked fantasy map is here. I think the mountains are exactly what you were looking for, and the forests are much too dense, but it's easy to simplify them. I've also done a vector Google Maps style map just to back up that I do have vector map skills.