World Map, in the style of Grim Hollows' Etharis

[MabrukPendragon]

Project Scope:
As an independent author, I am seeking to create both a visual representation and a reference guide for my world. One which will inspire creativity in myself and my readers. I consider a world map to be the foundation upon which the broad strokes of a people's existence may be gleaned. Each biome has within it its own challenges, its own ecosystem, and its division of resources; truly, one's life is shaped by the environment of one's birth.

Setting:
I would like this to be a world in which a moon-sized satellite has made physical contact with and now rests upon the western hemisphere, the impact of which has undoubtingly reshaped and terraformed the whole world. This map should depict the regrowth of the world's ecosystem into a lush untrodden wilderness, now deprived of much of its old industrial modernizations. The impact site around the celestial body should be a vast wasteland, a desert of barren rock, perpetually in the shadow of this celestial body.

Design Concept:
Attached below are the basic concepts that I've created thus far, the general landmass, equators with various regions of vegetation, tundra, and deserts, the plate tectonics with the location of mountain ranges and volcanos. Do note that I am not looking for any text on this map, as I shall add those myself, I merely seek a talented cartographer to design the continents, topography, rivers, mountain ranges, deserts... etc similar to how Grim Hollows' Etharis was envisioned by Damien Mammoliti, John Stevenson, and Matthias Rothenaicher.

Number of maps:
One world map

Technical:
My main interest is in the RAW files in a PSD or PSB format, so that I may add to the various city-states, villages, hamlets, roads, and bridges. It would thus be required for the various topographic elements to be separated by folder and layers.
70” by 47” 300 dpi minimum. 21000 x 14008 PPI, PSB or PSD format.
Full color

Transfer of files:
As the file will be much too large for most conventional correspondence, I suggest that you provide me with a Google doc link, from where I may download the final product.

Copyright:
I do require written permission to retain the rights to the worldwide, royalty-free, use of the work for personal and commercial use. I may download, modify, print, and distribute this artwork in places such as social networks and blogs, and may commercially resell the art as reproductions of setting and for promotional materials.

Deadline:
Flexible. The Books are currently in development and I do not plan to publish until the winter of 2024.

Design Process:

Stage 1 – initial concept sketch – once approved - A rough sketch outlining the general layout of the map
Stage 2 – A 50% design development submittal for review – once approved - When the detailed line art is done to make sure the overall level of detail is right
Stage 3 – A 90% design development submittal for review – once approved - On rough colors to make sure the color scheme is right
Stage 4 – The final product.

Payment:
$400.00, payable via Paypal upon delivery and acceptance of the final files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am also open to using an escrow site such as Sketchmob, which uses the following transaction method:

1) Client orders a custom art from an artist (via Paypal)

2) Payment is made and goes into escrow (they hold onto the money)

3) Artist gets Client’s photo, creates and delivers final High-Res art & Raw File

4) Client receives a low res proof to review and approve.

5) If Client is happy with the final artwork > Payment is released to the Artist minus a 15% processing fee.
Client can download High-Res image & Raw files, share with their social network or Order Prints.

5b) If Client is unhappy > Payment is fully refunded to the Client
Client cannot download their high res files, share or print their artwork.

6) Artists can withdraw their balance on our site to their Paypal account or order art on the site using their balance.

Contact
Christopher William O'Baugh
cobaugh646@yahoo.com
Please use the subject line Freelancing opportunity

Globe.pngEquator.jpgthectonics.jpgLandmass.jpg

[Naima]

Email sent, I notice though that for such a large size and detailed map and copyright etc 400 might be too low.

[MabrukPendragon]

Thank you for your apt response Mr. Naima and yours as well C.L Kellerica. I am glad to see that this site has maintained an active community. In truth, The Grim Hollows' cartographer, Matthias Rothenaicher, referred this site to me during our previous correspondence which I am glad for, as I've been rather impressed purusing the various project portfolios. While I have yet to hear back from Mr. Mammoliti or Mr. Stevenson, the former credited for the world map of Etharis itself, I feel that, my previous adventures with commission work have given me some insight and experience from which to draw upon.

Past Experience:
In example one, I followed Jan Loos's tutorial on "basic map creations" within Photoshop. This work took about six hours and taught me the basics of tectonic collisions, stress points, and ocean shelving for more realistic terrain locations. The use of masking for the creation of rivers was particularly fascinating. From my research into Mr. Rothenaicher's work, I learned that he used similar processes but overlayed various waves, forests, and desert textures; alongside Mountain Brushes. It was from this revelation that I obtained a new appreciation for the art form of cartography.

I knew that if I were to have a map commissioned, it would be a hybrid of realism mixed with Parchment brushes.

Regarding Pricing:
As for pricing, the parameters, like cost and time, vary. Example two shows a landscape that I've commissioned in the past with full copyright, being 14400 x 3866. It took around a month to complete costing $130. So I do apologize if my estimate of $400 was too low. I took the PPI dimensions and compared them to the canvas size which; I sought to create.

Sketchmob:
In truth, I am more accustomed to using escrow sites, such as Sketchmob, C.L Kellerica. It allows the artist to advertise their portfolios into a collective pool; that the buyer may pursue. The artists then name their price and wait for those seeking their talents to come to them. As you can see from example four, I am fond of the hobby of commissioning talented artists.

Regarding PayPal:
The second and most important aspect of an escrow site is the protection of the artist. In the past, digital goods, referred to by PayPal as "intangible goods" - were not covered by PayPal's seller protection program. Meaning that artists selling digital commissions could very easily be scammed by buyers taking advantage of that system and issuing chargebacks because they "didn't receive their item" because PayPal wouldn't protect the seller. In this case, the artist would then; be forced to have that commission refunded without their permission.

PayPal As of March 2022:
Paypal has now updated a few sections to "kind of" fix this problem amending the original stipulation that protected goods had to be physical and shippable to now also protect 'goods' that meet the "intangible goods additional requirements," which are deliberately vague and effectively came down to: "You have to prove to PayPal that you delivered what you Sold" And even then, it's up to PayPal's discretion as to whether or not they want to deem it eligible and protect your rights on a case-by-case basis, which is hardly reassuring.

Moving into their seller protection program terms further sheds light into how shady it feels and how little this update protects artists; because, under the list of ineligible items and transactions, they include: "Anything PayPal determines, in its sole discretion, is prohibited by this user agreement or PayPal's acceptable use policy, even if the transaction is initially marked as eligible or partially eligible on the transaction details page".

Basically, whether or not PayPal will protect artists from scammers trying to get out of paying for commissions is pretty much as difficult to determine as ever. Some artists have found a workaround by using the Friends & Family option for payment rather than Goods & Services, but doing so is technically a violation of PayPal's terms of service, which, if PayPal notices and finds suspicious, will lead to them banning the account in question.

The Protection of Escrow:
On escrow sites, however, if a client has canceled a commission unjustly. The artist can fill out a contact form to file a complaint regarding suspicious activity. The project is then reviewed and a fair resolution will be determined. Frequent cancellations, abuse of their platform, or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by their Platform Security team. If they determine that a client has deliberately abused the system then their account will immediately be terminated and the artist will be paid.

Note:
The client isn't refunded the money to their account, but rather, given a form of credit, to the use of the site, meaning that they couldn't just return it to their bank on a whim, thus the site itself still holds the amount that could tangibly to be turned back into currently for the artist, should such an unjust cancelation occur.

In response to Mr. Naima's Email:
Sadly 4k Euros would be a bit out of my range, but still, I wanted to thank you for contacting me either way. I do hope that you have a pleasant day.

Example4.jpgExample.jpgExample2.jpg

[Naima]

Thank you for your apt response Mr. Naima and yours as well C.L Kellerica. I am glad to see that this site has maintained an active community. In truth, The Grim Hollows' cartographer, Matthias Rothenaicher, referred this site to me during our previous correspondence which I am glad for, as I've been rather impressed purusing the various project portfolios. While I have yet to hear back from Mr. Mammoliti or Mr. Stevenson, the former credited for the world map of Etharis itself, I feel that, my previous adventures with commission work have given me some insight and experience from which to draw upon.

Past Experience:
In example one, I followed Jan Loos's tutorial on "basic map creations" within Photoshop. This work took about six hours and taught me the basics of tectonic collisions, stress points, and ocean shelving for more realistic terrain locations. The use of masking for the creation of rivers was particularly fascinating. From my research into Mr. Rothenaicher's work, I learned that he used similar processes but overlayed various waves, forests, and desert textures; alongside Mountain Brushes. It was from this revelation that I obtained a new appreciation for the art form of cartography.

I knew that if I were to have a map commissioned, it would be a hybrid of realism mixed with Parchment brushes.

Regarding Pricing:
As for pricing, the parameters, like cost and time, vary. Example two shows a landscape that I've commissioned in the past with full copyright, being 14400 x 3866. It took around a month to complete costing $130. So I do apologize if my estimate of $400 was too low. I took the PPI dimensions and compared them to the canvas size which; I sought to create.

Sketchmob:
In truth, I am more accustomed to using escrow sites, such as Sketchmob, C.L Kellerica. It allows the artist to advertise their portfolios into a collective pool; that the buyer may pursue. The artists then name their price and wait for those seeking their talents to come to them. As you can see from example four, I am fond of the hobby of commissioning talented artists.

Regarding PayPal:
The second and most important aspect of an escrow site is the protection of the artist. In the past, digital goods, referred to by PayPal as "intangible goods" - were not covered by PayPal's seller protection program. Meaning that artists selling digital commissions could very easily be scammed by buyers taking advantage of that system and issuing chargebacks because they "didn't receive their item" because PayPal wouldn't protect the seller. In this case, the artist would then; be forced to have that commission refunded without their permission.

PayPal As of March 2022:
Paypal has now updated a few sections to "kind of" fix this problem amending the original stipulation that protected goods had to be physical and shippable to now also protect 'goods' that meet the "intangible goods additional requirements," which are deliberately vague and effectively came down to: "You have to prove to PayPal that you delivered what you Sold" And even then, it's up to PayPal's discretion as to whether or not they want to deem it eligible and protect your rights on a case-by-case basis, which is hardly reassuring.

Moving into their seller protection program terms further sheds light into how shady it feels and how little this update protects artists; because, under the list of ineligible items and transactions, they include: "Anything PayPal determines, in its sole discretion, is prohibited by this user agreement or PayPal's acceptable use policy, even if the transaction is initially marked as eligible or partially eligible on the transaction details page".

Basically, whether or not PayPal will protect artists from scammers trying to get out of paying for commissions is pretty much as difficult to determine as ever. Some artists have found a workaround by using the Friends & Family option for payment rather than Goods & Services, but doing so is technically a violation of PayPal's terms of service, which, if PayPal notices and finds suspicious, will lead to them banning the account in question.

The Protection of Escrow:
On escrow sites, however, if a client has canceled a commission unjustly. The artist can fill out a contact form to file a complaint regarding suspicious activity. The project is then reviewed and a fair resolution will be determined. Frequent cancellations, abuse of their platform, or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by their Platform Security team. If they determine that a client has deliberately abused the system then their account will immediately be terminated and the artist will be paid.

Note:
The client isn't refunded the money to their account, but rather, given a form of credit, to the use of the site, meaning that they couldn't just return it to their bank on a whim, thus the site itself still holds the amount that could tangibly to be turned back into currently for the artist, should such an unjust cancelation occur.

In response to Mr. Naima's Email:
Sadly 4k Euros would be a bit out of my range, but still, I wanted to thank you for contacting me either way. I do hope that you have a pleasant day.

Example4.jpgExample.jpgExample2.jpg

That price tag is an estimation of 10 x times the proposed value according to request.
The kind of work requests you are asking if I understood for a professional work is at least for my standards taking a series of steps that goes from basic world layout, study of tectonics, evolution of those, climate defiition, realization of several study maps and process all of that study into a final phisical map, plus considering copyright retention etc a previewed compensation is at least 10 times more than what you proposed so the esteem of at least 4k.
The example you did of 130 $ for a month of work is not a considerable price tag unless someone agrees to work mostly for free, this is regardless of the resolution as a smaller res might have lot of detail work vs one of huge size with no detail or work efforts in it. It depends also on the artist style, speed, study etc. basically its mostly due to time of work and how its valued. I personally take several months to complete a full project with all the study needs, also a contract is made and everything is clear in it.

[MabrukPendragon]

I had an interesting conversation with a cartographer from the guild who goes by the handle Turambar91 on Deviantart. He advised a reduction into a 10,000 x 4414px at 300 dpi map for $600.

While such a reduction in the scope of the project; isn't something that currently interests me, I still wanted to acknowledge that his insight into a baseline sum has been helpful.

His work is stunning; a particularly striking piece was his Dhar Maqda; I love the design of the canyon.

Thank you for reaching out, Mr. Macdonald.

[Kellerica]

I have never heard of Sketchmob, but my god, I hope no artist is desperate enough to do commissions by those terms. The idea that the client can just decide that they don't like the artwork and have their money fully refunded, and the artist is left with nothing, is outrageous. Especially maps like this - I don't make this type of mapping work myself, so I don't know exactly how long this takes, but for my own fantasy maps I can easily spend 20-40 hours on the more complex pieces, and if the client decides to not accept the artwork... what, I'd just have wasted 20+ hours of my time for absolutely nothing, and the platform thinks that's fine and fair? That is insane. Not to even mention the 15% processing fee! 15% is a HUGE chunk of the money. Good grief. Fellow artists, please take care of yourselves.

Hopefully you and Naima can work something out, but as they said, given that you're asking for something very complex and detailed, and it sounds like you're wanting the artist to sign the copyright over entirely, $400 may not be a realistic budjet.