Commission Costs for a Typical Map

[dirk6382]

Hello all,

I am working on designing a new fantasy-realm board game with a partner, with the intent of creating a kickstarter campaign and producing the game en mass for distribution (hopefully generating buzz with the kickstarter and going from there). We are working on commissioning an artist to design the character cards already, and I am considering commissioning a second artist (specialized in cartography!) for the game board using the cartographer's guild. I am wondering about typical pricing for a commission for a job like this, so any estimates/help would be appreciated.

We would at the very least be asking for *exclusive* reproductive rights of the map/game board permanently, and would probably be fine letting the artist keep the copyright (although interested to know how much more $$$ it would be to have an artist). We'd therefore give the artist credit on the game board and allow them to use the map in their portfolios, but otherwise be unable to use/sell the art for any other reasons. If the game is a success, there is the potential for future work in the form of expansions.

I was able to find a lot of great information on the site about copywright and what to ask for/ etc, but was not able to find details/ranges on actual typical pricing to see if this is something we could consider, other than that a request like this should definitely be offering a commission of some sort. If I've missed that information somewhere, I apologize! But info on the usual range of commissions would be helpful (i.e. - what are the higher and lower end of costs for a commission like this, and what kind of experience/quality level would those ranges get me).

Thanks everyone, the maps are beautiful and I hope to be working with one of you soon on this awesome new game (I have a lot of faith in being an actual success)!

-Erik

[waldronate]

You'll find that the answer to this question is going to be "whatever you negotiate with your artist." Unlike the guilds of old, the Cartographer's Guild isn't about price fixing.

[dirk6382]

You'll find that the answer to this question is going to be "whatever you negotiate with your artist." Unlike the guilds of old, the Cartographer's Guild isn't about price fixing.

I figured there were large ranges in regard to this, however I am moreso just looking for a ballpark as we consider whether or not this is something we can fit into our budget. I don't want to get laughed at by some of the more experienced artists, but don't want to offer too much off the bat (as I also think this is a great opportunity for some mass exposure!).

Are commissions here usually in the hundreds? thousands? never more than a certain amount, or never less than a certain amount? Any indications would be helpful as we just test the waters .

Best,
Erik

[Azélor]

Everyone have diffenrent rates. Also, the price depends on the style and complexity of the project.

Without knowing that, it's hard to give an estimate.

[Voolf]

The easiest way to do this is decide how much you want to get for one hour of drawing a map.
Be honest to youself about how good your map are comparing to others. If you think your work is worth $20 per hour, then draw couple maps in your style (or different) and look much time those maps took you to finish. You will know approx time you will need to spend on certain map. Then if a client wants a map in that style and you know you can make it in X hours, calculate your Hour Rate x Hours required to finish map and you will have your estimate.

Of course the rate per hour depends on how proffesional your work is. If you have an original style that noone else can draw you can ask even more, because you have no competition and client will be forced to agree on your terms if he/she really wants that style.

Price for one map can go from 10s to 100s depending how complex (style, colour, details) map the client wants. The more time it takes the more expansive. Prices can go even to 1000s if we include selling, licensing copyrights.

[DanielHasenbos]

As the others said, it's very hard to give a good indication of what you can expect because everyone works with their own rates.

However, from past experience around the guild I can say that you should expect to at least spend $300,-. Still, depending on the requirements (size, style, deadline etc.) and the cartographer you choose to work with it can go way up as far as 1000s.

So yeah, the best way to find out is to post a request in the Mapmaking Requests subforum and talking to different cartographers. Hope this is any help (:

[Wired]

Generally, to get a good idea of what the demands of a commission are I require my clients to provide me with the following.

-- Size. How large is the map? What are its dimensions (cm/inches/pixels) and desired resolution?
-- Color or B&W?
-- Details. What's the level of individual detail you are looking for? This point includes such things like illustrated crests, flags, highly elaborate locations, ornate map borders, etc. As an example, think of the way you'd like to depict a town on your map: you can do it as simple as a dot. But you can also draw, color and fully shade a miniature town.
-- Style. What kind of style would the client like? I can be flexible, although it’s advisable that it remains at a style that I’m familiar with.
-- Urgency. How urgently is the map needed?

These are the prime factors for the cost. Additionally to this then come questions of rights (commercial vs. private and limited vs. exclusive).

Now, going by what you've provided (without knowing more about the size and desired style) my estimate would be in the €500+ range.

[dirk6382]

Thank you all for the responses (though will of course take any more helpful insight) - this gives me a good rough estimate of what to expect to pay, and even more helpful some of the questions we'll need to answer to be ready to make an accurate request.

[dirk6382]

Generally, to get a good idea of what the demands of a commission are I require my clients to provide me with the following.

-- Size. How large is the map? What are its dimensions (cm/inches/pixels) and desired resolution?
-- Color or B&W?
-- Details. What's the level of individual detail you are looking for? This point includes such things like illustrated crests, flags, highly elaborate locations, ornate map borders, etc. As an example, think of the way you'd like to depict a town on your map: you can do it as simple as a dot. But you can also draw, color and fully shade a miniature town.
-- Style. What kind of style would the client like? I can be flexible, although it’s advisable that it remains at a style that I’m familiar with.
-- Urgency. How urgently is the map needed?

These are the prime factors for the cost. Additionally to this then come questions of rights (commercial vs. private and limited vs. exclusive).

Now, going by what you've provided (without knowing more about the size and desired style) my estimate would be in the €500+ range.

At the moment, the plan for the game board is to be 25 x 25 inches. If you have any insight into the kind of resolution that would work well for a game board of this size, that would be very helpful. We just want it to look good/sharp for purposes of the game.

A few of the maps I've seen in the vein/style that I believe we'd be looking for are the following:

https://www.cartographersguild.com/a...0&d=1492529387
https://www.cartographersguild.com/a...7&d=1497604458

(We're exploring the idea of a "world map" for the entire fantasy land, or focusing on one city/area and making that be the area of the board game).

[Hai-Etlik]

Another thing you need to consider is how much knowledge of cartography and geography you need. There are plenty of illustrators who can make pretty pictures that most people will look at and think "yeah that looks like a map". If you want a map that is convincing and functional, you'll need someone with a skillset outside of illustration. That's going to raise the value of their time, and require more time to apply it. How important this is will depend on your audience (How many map nerds?), shape of the world (Flat worlds are mostly simpler than round ones), extent of the map (The more of a round world you show the more complicated it is), and apparent technical quality of the map (Does it look like an obvious illustration, or a technical diagram with elements like graticules and compass roses)