Where to begin?

[goaltimeexposure]

First-time poster here. I apologize if this question is better suited for another sub-forum.

I need a map for my setting (a world map, to be precise). Though I am well-versed in Illustrator and Photoshop, the actual drawing of a map is not my forte. As such, I figured that I'll pay someone to to the drawing for me. But! How far along should I be with designing my setting before I comission a map? Should I have a complete list of cities and other points of interest? Furthermore: I understand that certain elements on a map - like rivers and shores and whatnot - require thought to be "realistic." Can I assume that my artist of choice will take this into account?

[Redrobes]

You can certainly pay for a comission and if you want to head that way then go to the map making requests and read the sticky posts there about what you need to provide.

We also have a community world building project (CWBP) which has had several incarnations of worlds. Were on CWBP3 now. There is a section under the community mapping where you can find those links. As a guild member you should be able to go to the full zoomy map of the world which has it in some higher res version. So you can pick some area on that world if you like.

Otherwise check out the finished maps section and browse through to see if anything would be useful to you.