Fantasy City Map - Sketch only - Black and White

[Dragori_Games]

Hello! Let’s get right into it:

Quality & Size, requirements: Professional cartographic skills (city-building), A1, required for print & web.

Special observation: other people will improve upon your work. At least four other professionals will work on the same map, one that starts with you. In the final stage, for example, we will build a 3D model based on your map to allow people to navigate through its streets and canals and tunnels, like in a videogame or “Google Street View.” If you don’t want other people to “mess with/edit/touch” your work, this request is unfortunately not for you.

Concept / Description: we want you to use your cartographer/urbanist skills to plan out a complex coastal fantasy medieval city, seen from above. We want it to have everything, from aqueducts to a magic research tower to a Dragon Keep on a mountain by the corner of the map and everything else you can concoct. In fact, we will present you with a list of “minimum key structures” once you start the job.

Important: you do not need to actually draw the buildings. For example, the space reserved for the Arena can be an oval/elliptical outline, the city’s main tavern can be a rectangle. What we need most is your ability to conceive an interesting, complex, realistic city from a geographical/cartographic standpoint.

Step 1 is a very rough black-and-white sketch of the city’s layout. Using your urbanistic knowledge, draw:

- The main avenues;
- Courses of water, natural pools, ponds, canals, and coast line;
- Overall shape of the city and its outside/inner walls;
- Location of all main structures and “events” (such as a significant relief that produces tunnels and elevated streets);
- Indication of “regions” = Crops outside the walls / “noble” neighborhood / docks / slums / downtown and so on.

We will review that and give you a quick feedback on what is “wrong” or that we think need to be changed.

Step 2 turns a rough sketch into an actual black-and-white map. It complements Step 1 by providing more details:

- Apply the feedback;
- Draw secondary roads and streets;
- Point out structures of secondary relevance;
- Further drawing of bridges, big generic buildings, and so on.

Steps 3-10 depend on you having true artistic skills to draw minute details as realistically as possible, such as roof tiles, glass mosaics on top of a church’s dome, trees, circus tents and so on. You will have to actually draw the final looks of buildings in these steps.

You do not need to do steps 3-10 if you don’t want to (or cannot), and, in fact, contact me if you only want to do steps 3-10. I will post another thread to recruit this person if you are only available for steps 1 and 2.

Now, 1 x A1 is the size of 8 x A4. We will divide the final result of Step 2 into eight A4 segments. Each segment is a “Step.” Here you will do the minute work of realistically drawing every single building, minor street, alleys, and so on.

We will do these in “steps” because our schedule is tight and we need to pass it along to other professionals to apply colors, textures, build 3D models and so on while the minute work is done in other parts of the city.

Expected Deadlines (approximately):
- Step 1: two days;
- Step 2: five days;
- Step 3-10 (if any): three days each

Copyright: Dragori Games will have unlimited rights to use and modify the image for commercial purposes, the artist will have the right to exhibit the image as part of his portfolio but not to exploit it for commercial gain.

Contact: my name is dan (hello!) and I will look at posts in this thread. You can also send an email to an address that starts with my name and ends with my company's name (dragorigames) dot com. Please say if you are interested in Steps 1-2, 3-10, or all of them. Send me prior work you have done in complex fantasy cities, your availability, and your rate for doing the work described above.

Thank you for your time!

[Wingshaw]

Hi Dan, I thought I'd put my name in for this project. It sounds like an interesting concept, and I am intrigued.

You can see my work on this website - if I specialise in anything, it's city maps (see Pyrus, Brightwater). Outside of making these maps, I am a professional urban planner and urban designer, which sounds like something you'd value.

My only comment is regarding availability: if you need this project soon, then I'm afraid I'm unable to help. If this is a project you have further down the pipeline (say, in a month or more), then I'd be keen to discuss rates.

You can reach me at george[dot]langridgegould[at]gmail[dot]com

Wingshaw

[Dragori_Games]

My only comment is regarding availability: if you need this project soon, then I'm afraid I'm unable to help. If this is a project you have further down the pipeline (say, in a month or more), then I'd be keen to discuss rates.

Wingshaw

Hi Wingshaw,

Unfortunately we are in a tight schedule; work must begin as soon as possible...

[Tiana]

YOU. COULD. HAVE. WINGSHAW... and you don't want?! Astonishing. I'd love to have Wingshaw do my city... his cities are so good... that Pyrus city is very nice.

Complex high end city maps are many dozens of hours, that's easily 1 week of full time art if... IF you're good at getting back with feedback and don't waste time that has to be spent on drawing... and you expect it done in a week? I would say you have too high of expectations for the production speed.

I could do step 1-2. I don't really want to do step 3-10. I don't think I'm strong enough in that niche. I could do it but it would take me a week per section probably. My signature indicates about how far I can go with specific building details. In the course of a week I can knock out a sketch of a city and clean it up a bit to your specifications. Just for step 1-2 I would charge no less than $500-$800 for this timeline and scope... for the full thing with all the buildings done, I'd ideally want several months to pick on it for good results!

People messing with my art is fine as long as I was appropriately paid and I know it will happen (in this case it is a guarantee).

City maps by me in my portfolio
A couple that aren't yet. These are both locations I laid out myself. These are also results I could reach in a week's time.
greenrestsmallwatermarked.jpgcameron-city-bordersize.jpg