I want a long-term relationship with a Cartographer
I want to tell a variety of stores in a secondary world, told at different times from different cultural views. By default fantasy works include a map. I don't like most of the maps. When I think of mapmaking I think of this saying "The map is not the territory". I want the map, and mapmaker, to be part of the story. I also want more historically accurate maps. That is, cartography that is more historically accurate as to the tools and skills that existed at historical points in time. I am not a fan of Tolkienesque fantasy maps, I'd like maybe one at some point.
What I'm looking for ultimately is a series of maps of the same world, from different points of view, that are reminiscent of maps like the Mappa Mundi and the Tabula Rogeriana. So in a sense I want someone who is also interested in the history of cartography.
Therefore I'd prefer to build a relationship with a cartographer who is interested in doing many maps for me over time, and might also be alright serving as a resource from time to time with questions of climate and geography, someone who is interested in secondary worldbuilding.
I tried making maps for my world, hand drawn, using campaign cartographer, and using Wonderdraft. I'm dissatisfied with the results. I'm not particularly good at that sort of art. I'm also not an expert on things like Hadley cells and convection currents and things like that. I'd prefer to collaborate with someone about things like geology and climate. Therefore the initial commission would be for a sattelite type map that I will never willingly publish or show to virtually anyone, which will be an "accurate" to scale representation of the world, hopefully with multiple layers available, like elevation, then waterfall, then climate. I'd ask that you similarly not share or publish the map to your portfolio, as all my work is in deep pov and I don't ever want the reader to know "the truth" but always be guessing at which things are real or lies or hallucinations, and this includes the maps. This map would be a rework of the map I did in wonderdaft.
This map would then be used as the basis for the future maps, which would in their own turn be created "in-world" by specific fictional characters wherein we try to estimate what biases and requirements would be present in the mapmaking (so, for example, a king hires a cartographer, and he is a vain king, and it's clear the map should be distorted somewhat to emphasize the size and power of the king's kingdom).
The initial "true map" I'd like copyright and the right to commercial use and to prevent you from sharing it in your portfolio. The later maps I'd like copyright and commercial use, however you could share those in your portfolio.
I want to pay you what you are worth. I don't really know what that is, I'm not that kind of artist. Sadly my resources are not without limit, and I hope you would take into consideration that fact and consider a sort of sliding scale where your compensation increases as I publish stories and my revenue grows. But I don't expect you to work on spec or eat exposure.
If you're interested post below, with contact info, and in a few days i'll put together questions and then email them out and then judge the responses and make a choice. I don't have pm access on this forum yet, I've only posted a couple of times.
*wow that Captcha is ridiculous*
Hi there,
This sounds like a very interesting project. I can help you bring your world to life but would need a bit more information before we agree to anything concrete. Feel free to contact me at clarketography@outlook.com for further discussion and any inquiries you may have.
Thank you and best of luck with the project.
Wow I really thought I'd get more interest. To clarify I'm looking to pay around $20 an hour for the early maps, and then hopefully more later.
Hello, I don't know if you will like my maps, but here we go https://www.artstation.com/naglisgrasmanas if you want you can contact me on gmail. You can find it in my portfolio, if you won't choose me, well then good luck to you on finding one that fits, and to other cartographers, that will draw your world.
P.S I work with a dip pen, but I can work with a rapidograph as well.
It may be more limited because it sounds like a gigantic project spanning an unknowable time frame for a vaguely stated paycheck. Rather than an hourly rate, do you have a total budget in mind per map, because the number of hours will vary substantially with how in-depth you wish to be with details. You could also provide a reference satellite map that indicates what level of detail is required. Plus, not every map artist likes to get involved with technical world building aspects like climate and geology...it can take a lot more time to think that out than to render information that's already there to draw. It all sounds like a very large time investment. That said, it also sounds like a really cool project for someone who has the time.Originally Posted by pseudanonymous
Hello PA,
This sounds like it's right up my street - I'm a history graduate with a solid amount of medieval illustration under my belt, as well as my hand-drawn maps, and I can be reached at ryan@ryansthomason.com.
I guess that's fair. It's not like you're going to get paid at the end though, I'll pay whatever arrangement is normal, something like sketch = 50% then 50% on completion of each map. And it's not like I can make you continue, if you're sick of the project you can bug out. And it's not going to come in one huge murderous chunk, there's a couple maps at the start, then another map every once in a while, so to me it's seems ideal to someone who is a serious hobbyist or else trying to make money off cartography.
I can cede that if you don't enjoy technical aspects of worldbuilding it's not interesting, though most of the regular comission takers regularly seem to post with worldbuilding thoughts in various other threads in my totally non-scientific survey (I have been lurking around for a while).
I don't mean to argue with you, I just thought a writer wanting to put mapmaking into the story as an integral part would be exciting to people.
I'll bite. I've never really worked on a project like this, but I'll give this a shot. My style seems rather different then what you have mind, but I think that I could adapt. I have a big book of historical maps from 1400 to around 1800, so maybe we could find a style from one of those. Here's my portfolio https://www.artstation.com/visionary_cartography
If you're interested my email is joshuaeisenberg98@gmail.com
Hey I'd be interested in working on this project as well. You can check out my portfolio at https://kate_moody.artstation.com, and if you think my style would work for you feel free to email me at kateam@optonline.net. Hope to hear from you.
Kate
There's definitely a lot who are. It's fascinating and fun...and it can also continue pretty much without end if you want it to, or let it.
It is an intriguing way to weave a story. I'm sure you'll get more replies wandering in over the next week if you don't close it by then. I'm tempted, myself.
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