How long does it take to make a map?

[Chick]

Multiple opinions would be a good start!

Gnarl, I can give you multiple opinions myself. For the same map it would take me 5 hours, 10 hours, 20 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours to do, depending on the factors I already mentioned. I just finished a commission that took me 6 MONTHS to do. A week ago, I finished one that took me 3 hours.

There simply is no answer to your question. Why can't you accept that?

[TimPaul]

Gnarl, it's great that you want to pay the artists fairly, but it really is coming off that you are more worried about not getting ripped off.

I just can't help feel that's the real motivation behind this. Artists have to deal with ALL the time.

You know what? Pay a fixed rate, and set a deadline. That way you will know exactly what you are paying, and when you will get it. Then it's up to the artist to work to get it done. This is the more acceptable route to go, and the industry standard.

What it does is motivate the artist to work fast.

For all you know, they could say, it's going to take 10 hours, and they do it in 5. There's just no way you are ever going to know how long it actually took.

[J.Edward]

Why is the time it takes to complete it so important? Unless you're working against a deadline, I don't understand the relevance.
Pay what the map is worth. If they agree then move ahead. It's really that simple.

[Wired]

Gnarl, we've pretty much all given you the multiple opinions and answers you desire. I don't quite understand your problem.

[TK.]

On the matter of price range/payment __________

Value is a subjective thing.

Even on well defined, straight comparison products, like cars for example, people find "worth it" to buy (or not) quite different models. For once, I'd never ever buy a Ferrari as my first choice, if I had the money for it. I'd surely go for a Lambo than a Maserati than a Bugatti than a Skyline...somewhere down the road we'd get to the Ferrari, eventually.

Still, for some Ferrari is considered the epitome of car-ness!

When we talk about Art, it's even more subjective. Surely, you can have tiers of Art and undeniably valuable stuff, like Picasso, Mozart, Michelangelo, Da Vinci but even among these there can be diverging opinions.

A lot of stuff we do in life is because we find some value in it. We judge that x action is worth due to y factor and thus why we pick it.

Every deal is a clash of interests: The artist check of his time X the payment ; The contractor resources X benefit received. When you meet a medium of those 2 checks in that both sides think they're good, you get a deal. That's all that is to it.


People pay (no small amount) for large amounts of psychoactive drug ethanol that not only have all sorts of side effects but can also cause physical dependency...
People pay to go sit in a dark room with many others and watch someone's else vision of (often times) their fantastical ideas...
People pay to have daily access to a big place filled with body altering apparatuses where they subject their own bodies to heavy stress and stimuli to cause unnatural muscle/tissue alterations (like I do)...

Trying to quantify these by some arbitrary parameter is silly, really.


On the matter of hours/map_____________

If you really want to see how quite variable this parameter can be, just go to the Challenges Section of the Forum and see the intervals in the updates of random artists. You'll see some are blazing fast while others take their time and still, this is in no way, shape or form correlative to their output in quality.

That's what the artists here have been trying to tell you.

[Midgardsormr]

Bidding and estimates for art are tricky. I occasionally help to bid visual effects work for my employer, and even when you are really experienced at doing the work, and you can quantify exactly what needs to be done to arrive at the requested final product, it's still difficult to know how long it will take, particularly if someone else is actually going to be doing the work.

After five years of practice, I'd say that I get within 20% of the right number about half the time. I don't think it's outright impossible to make an estimate and be reasonably certain as to its accuracy, but it's never going to be as simple as "How long does it take to make a map?" The question should be "How long will it take to make a map with these particular qualities, in this style, at this size, and with this level of quality.

I'll take a stab at actually answering the question, though. If I were going to create a map similar to Cragmaw Castle, on 15" x 20" illustration board, to be scanned or photographed prior to coloring and ultimately delivered digitally, here's how I'd break it down: Layout and design: .5 day, with another half day allotted for notes from the client. Pencils: 1.5 days. Ink: 1 day. Digital lettering: .5 day. Digital coloring, texturing and post-processing: 1 day. Another day allotted for notes on the digital elements and touch-ups. So all told I would bid with an assumption of 6 days of full-time work, which at my day rate would cost US$1800 (Los Angeles, CA, USA).

The Cragmaw Hideout would probably be a bit faster. The others would take significantly longer. Other things might influence that number, too, such as how much information the client provides up front: Is there an accepted layout already? Am I trying to divine the client's intention from nebulously-worded requests? Has the client ever said the phrase "I'll know it when I see it"? Does the client require the copyright?

And after all of that, I might be completely wrong about how long it takes to actually perform the work.

And, of course, another artist's bid will likely be entirely different. For instance, I'm sure Mike, who may have made hundreds of maps at this point, could make a map in his own style far more quickly than I could. But because he's an in-demand artist with a long track-record of success, it might still cost more, even if he does it faster.