Hi,

I would like to commission a set of mapping elements for a map we're making.

A few words about the project:
We're a small publishing house, we issue a bi-monthly comic book. We're still in the beginning but we felt the need for a map (stories were starting to get mixed up with regards to location)
The comic book is of the fantasy/magic persuasion.

You can see a few things here - Personaje - Harap Alb continua
(sorry it's in Romanian)

We already have the map. We made it to fit the comic book timeline, the initial story we started from (a 130 years old local fairytale) and the episodes we have so far.
So the large features are set in stone. We can maybe move the river points of origin but not the actual "ending" . There is one area that's "iffy" with regards to realism (we have a large river that flows alongside a vast canyon instead of flowing into it) We know it's not entirely kosher but we sort of "fixed it" by adding some mountains and terrain elevation between the river and the canyon. Couldn't be helped - it's closely related to the story and needs to be like it is.

I made the map in illustrator (for which I have Cartographers' Guild to thank). There are no textures, just blocks of color. It's been received with tremendous acclaim by our fan-base and we've felt encouraged to take it to the next level. I must confess I "stole" some mountains from a tutorial I found here on CG.

You can see the map here: http://www.harapalbcontinua.ro/harta/harta_HAc.pdf

What we want:

THE STYLE:

We're partial to old style maps (think sea monsters and woodcut patterns on seas)
We like subdued, washed out colors.
We do want color delimitation - forests are green, mountains have snow-capped peaks, seas are blue/turquoise/green, deserts are red and yellow, etc
We want a hand-drawn feel

THE QUALITY

It has to be of professional quality.
It will go to print.. We hope to make large-scale prints for sale in our shop but at the very least it will be included in the comic book as a 2-page spread.
The map will be around 80-90 cm by 50-70 cm so textures and such will have to be on the large side
Raster is ok.

TIMEFRAME

We are not rushed but we would like to have something meaningful within 1.5-2 months.

COPYRIGHT

We need the cartographer to agree to refrain from using the elements on his own commercial projects for at least 2 years.
The work may (with our blessings) be used for portfolio.
We will give credit.

PAYMENT

We have a budget of $150 - of which $75 payable upfront as advance.
We will send the cartographer a large print (along with our first paid order from the shop - we will not print it in large scale before we get a first order)
Our undying gratitude.

WHAT WE ACTUALLY NEED:

We need all elements to be hand drawn and most important, be "part of the same family"

- Mountains
At least 5 mountain types (mountain range, solo large, solo medium, group, [important] island mountain

- Hills
At least 4 types of hills (grassy/forested hill, range, solo and sand dunes)

- Canyon walls
At least 6 types of walls (straight vertical [with/without cracks and mini"caves"], ramp, upslope, single projection and [IMPORTANT] ice walls)
Walls need to work together - meld nicely into each-other as they will worm a single map feature

- Vegetation
At least 5 types each of the following trees: Coniferous, Decidous, semi-tropical (no palm trees but generic "could-be-found-at-the-tropics)
The tree categories will each need (solo - at least 3 types and cluster - at least 2 types)

Some type of vegetation found at the top of the canyon walls - bush or very large grass

- TEXTURES

The textures can be free textures the cartographer has used previously, found or bought on the internet, etc - as long as they already fit or will be modified to fit the theme and feel of the map.

- Land textures:
At least 4 types of grasses (mountain grazing, plains, steppe/savannah, near desert/yellow sparse)
At least 2 types of deserts (plain yellow/whitish and [IMPORTANT] red desert)
At least 3 types of coastline (frozen tundra, regular beach with sparse vegetation and semi-tropical beaches)
At least 2 types of rock texture (plain bluish stone and snow/ice mountains)
At least 2 types of "empty" ground (snow, brown)

- Water textures:
At least 3 types of water textures (frozen along coastline, deep sea and regular/semi-tropical along coastline)
Woodcut texture for water/land

- Special texture
This requires a bit more explanation. We don't have all the map features in place. There are large areas of land that we have purposely left without features.
We would like a "fog-of-war" type of texture for those areas. We will replace it with actual map features once we decide what's actually in there.

- Unifying texture
Grunge + Parchment to place on top of everything

The above may seem overkill for a map that will show an entire continent. However, parts of the continent will be developed into subsequent maps of countries/even cities.
We will be using the features for those as well. I'm sure not all will fit and I would like to use the same cartographer in the future for those maps.


You can contact me at panu.ionascu.mihai--at--hacbd[.]ro

Thank you and hope one of you will pick up my commission. There's so many talented people here, we're sure to find one who has some spare time.