World Map Commissions

[Alyth]

Preface:
For the longest while, I've been trying to move forward in a personal project of mine, but I've found time and time again that to continue, I'm going to need some actual maps. While I could certainly try drawing them myself, no matter what I make, I can't do something I feel worthy of calling a map, so I thought it best find someone who knows what they're doing. So, on with the request(s):

There are *three* world maps I am looking to have commissioned. By no means do I require them all from the same person; If only one or two strike your fancy, by all means, point that out when contacting me so I don't mark the whole thing off. As I said, this is something for a personal project, so I don't mind (and don't have to worry about) conflicting styles or varying quality between the various maps, I just need to actually have them.

I'm not all that picky, and though I do have an overall image for each, I want to see what kind of world you, as someone who actually knows what they're doing, comes up with. I have a little spiel for each world, describing it as it is in my mind in hopes of firing up your creative artistic juices to make up for my utter lack. If you think of something that you think would fit better for the map that conflicts with what I outlined, as long as it's not ridiculous (like, say, putting tundra anywhere but the poles of an imagined desert planet) go right ahead! I value your ideas, engagement, and enjoyment as the person essentially giving life to my planet(s).

I would love any type of map given to me, whether digital or physical. However, moreso as a safety precaution, I would very much like to have a digital copy, whether it is the original artwork or a scanned version of a hand-drawn.


Time, Rights & Pay:
I have no particular time constraints for this project; It's been months since I've waffled on posting this, so I can wait a few more. For legal rights, I would like to have reproduction rights: even though this project is technically fully personal, it's a bit of a dream of mine to someday actually put this project to a real use; it would be kinda bad if I couldn't use the maps at that point. Of course, I'd have to actually get to that point to need to worry, but even as much as I doubt it, I can't help but feel uncomfortable about not having those rights.

Payment is... a little odd, I guess? My aim is to have maps that are more a passion project rather than something formal or done for the money, but I fully understand the allure and importance of providing monetary benefits. If you would like to be paid for your work, I will rightfully provide, given you share some particular information:
-How long you're planning on working on the map(s) (in number of days spent drawing)
-How long you expect the project to take (essentially, when you expect it to be done)
-What you feel is a reasonable hourly rate/flat payment for your work
-A portfolio, its equivalent, or a previously drawn map and links to other commission threads you've accepted








The Maps:
As stated earlier, there are three different maps I'm looking to have made. All of them are world-scale, and of different planets (detailed below). Though I would expect something along the lines of this (http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...1&d=1545926074) type (of course, it need not be anywhere near as embroidered or fancy), if there is a different type you want to draw it as that still effectively shows the entire world, I'll take it. In addition, I do not particularly care what your art style is like; If you enjoy drawing in a Chibi-like style, I'll accept a map from you just as easily as I would one drawn in a gritty realist style. I want you to enjoy what you're doing; even if you're just trying out a new style to see what it's like, I'll be happy to see what you come up with.

However, I'm looking for a few key things out of these maps:
-Effective & diverse biome markings (For example, happy little circle trees for a temperate forest, triangle trees for an arctic forest, sand for deserts, dead trees for swamps, and so on; as long as it makes sense/has a key, anything works)

-Notable terrain features marked (Hills(as in excessively hilly expanses), mountains, rift valleys, cliffs, plateaus and the like should all be drawn in or otherwise properly noted)

-(If you can think of any you wish to add) Locations of Magical Phenomena or Areas of Note duly marked (Is there a lone mountain spire, seemingly reaching out to the very heavens themselves? A desert that magically whips up a storm every year on the third of March through the 5th of May? A thousand-year-old willow tree, the larger than a king's palace? Or an archipelago that rises and sinks with the full moon? Anything you think of that you want to add, do!)

-Something that I can directly print/scan, so that I may screw with a physical copy without having to mutate the a digital one first


The base premise for these worlds is that the Primordial Gods, quickly becoming bored of one another after just a few millennia, wanted to see something new. Anything, in fact, as long as it wasn't the same prescences they've been with since the beginning. After the Primordial of Order, peering through dimensions and realities, found our earth, they were intrigued by the humans on it, and so decided to create their own version. When the other Primordials caught wind, most everyone took part in this new and interesting project. Since it was his forte, the Primordial of Earth, with guidance from other primordials, created the foundations for the first three planets, with the Primordials of Water, Wind, and Life decorating their surfaces accordingly.
These three planets were Vazia, Terrim, and Undys:


Vazia:
Spearheaded by the Primordial of Fire, Vazia was the first planet to be created. As a general overview, think "Worldwide Africa".
Though deserts are larger and more common on Vazia than other worlds, they are by no means predominant -- much of the land is covered in vast savannah or light forests, and in the places where the circumstances are just right, lush tropical jungles. Despite its generally level ground, mountains are not uncommon on Vazia -- though they are most often short, their ranges swath vast expanses of land. The land can be harsh to outsiders, but it is by no means unlivable. Of the three, Vazia is the only one likely to be a single continent; The Primordial of Fire tended not to deal much with the lands where water would flood, and preferred to keep everything in one spot, to make it easier to work with. The planet is overall warm enough that even the poles are temperate.


Terrim:
Its creation guided by the Primordial of Life, Terrim was the second planet to be created. As a general overview, it's the "everything" planet, similar to viewing the entire continent of America, North and South.
Despite the abundance and diversity found on Vazia, the Primordial of Life simply found it too stifling, and with far too many limitations. Wishing for more variety, diversity, and evolution, he pushed the Primordial of Earth to create his own planet to essentially become his personal wildlife sanctuary/zoo. Everything was included in Terrim: from mountain spire ranges to vast flatlands, deserts to tundra, jungles to swamps, savanna to temperate megaforests, nothing was left out, though some terrain (such as plains) was certainly more common than others (like jungles). As the Primodial of Life couldn't wait to populate the planet, its creation was rushed, leaving many areas unnaturally influenced by mana. There are likely several separate continents, as a Pangea would harm diversity.


Undys:
The Third planet created, Undys was used to create a new environment for intelligent beings to be placed, under the direction of the Primordial of Water. As a loose overview, think "Worldwide Indonesia".
As Terrim was the Primodial of Life's pet project and personal safe space, only unintelligent beasts were allowed to reside. Vazia, on the other hand, had already completely set into its natural order, preventing proper placement of new beings. Unable to add to these to, and with what had already been done in mind, Undys was built as the new experiment space for primordials looking to create ever more races. Essentially a planet-spanning archipelago, Undys is covered in lush, tropical forests. Where the climate is weaker, simple Temperate forests span the land, and, in rare areas, plains take hold. There is no shortage to variant elevation, as everything from island-wide flatlands to island-wide mountains are present in Undys. There are even some islands that match sea level for some or all of their mass, turning said space into a massive swamp. On Undys, even the poles are lush, covered in thick evergreen forests where it is the coldest, and resilient temperate forests or plains where it is warmer.




If you wish to contact me, you should send an e-mail to e--dot--c--dot---880n--at--gmail--dot--com or reply to this thread. Unfortunately, I cannot be rather attentive to my phone (and, in turn, my e-mails and other notifications) until around 5-6pm EDT (-4), and then spottily until 11pm, so you can't really expect much out of me until those times. If there is another, better service you wish to use to contact me, or if there is a specific time you wish to set aside to talk, send an e-mail with the service and/or time you wish to use, and I'll see what I can do.

[Alyth]

Hello Cartographers,
As it stands, I have replied to those whom I wish to take up this project. Therefore, I believe this job has the right to be considered accepted.
I wish luck in your future endeavors,
--Alyth

[Tiana]

Preface:
Payment is... a little odd, I guess? My aim is to have maps that are more a passion project rather than something formal or done for the money, but I fully understand the allure and importance of providing monetary benefits.

No one who's a freelancer doing maps for their income is doing it "just for the money". There's no chance anyone's skill in this arena was born of anything other than immense passion for some aspect of worldbuilding. n order to get here to the skill level I see around the collective of cartographers, there's not really instruction / school / a typical journey to take. Just as we all build worlds, we built our own way to be the skilled cartographic professionals we are today. Yes, technically, it's "for the money" in that "because this is my job instead of McDonalds hourly wage, I need it to make me enough money to live." Nobody has a portfolio full of a hundred maps out of 100% passion alone–they developed the skills to get there from the passion, developed their portfolio out of reliably demonstrating their ability to perform the task, and inevitably that results in doing some boring jobs. So there's a mix in my portfolio of pieces I was very passionate about, and the ability to be that passionate came from what sort of project the client brought to me.

All aspects of obtaining any item to survive in this reality comes down to a form of energy exchange, with a very standard exchange being currency. There are absolutely non-monetary arrangements, but those come with some other form of energetic benefit. A classic of course is "will work for food" arrangements, such as helping a friend move in exchange for pizza and beer (which restores one's energy spent on the task). Or "I scratch your back and you scratch mine." "I cut the onions and grate the cheese and you cook the taco meat."

I was passionate at 14. I'm passionate today. I do this instead of a stable and predictable job with precisely one boss to deal with because i'm passionate about it enough to be arguably quite weird. You aren't paying for my passion, you're paying for the hundreds of days spent drawing maps for the last fifteen years resulting in competence, for the rental of my (or whichever cartographer you end up selecting) brain and knowledge and practice.

I wouldn't blink at charging $800-$1200 for commercial use of a map of the detail level you linked. World maps are hard. There's no way to fake a whole world. It's a stunningly detailed piece with hundreds of custom details. I would expect it to take over a month of time to create unless I was working full time. If you want full on passion mode (which is to say, I pick on it over a lengthy period of time when I'm in the zone prepared to give it 100% of my best art) I don't actually charge more for that at the moment, if you're not in a hurry I'm happy to mull over art for months and make it amazing and full of small deets and add all kinds of custom and extra details. If that's the kind of passion you want, which is to say, time consuming work on a project that results in something spectacular, yeah, sure. Consider hiring me. I think I've covered the questions you'd have, I think your setting sounds fun, other than this particular freelancery red flag. And you'll understand if your writing ever brings you to a point where you're doing work for hire, how it's possible to be very much in love with your art but not in love with a specific project, or needing to negotiate fair pay for something you know you'd love to do and you wish you could do for free because you love it but you still need to eat.

I am a fantasy map artist and this is my portfolio of custom cartography for novels, books, and games.