A challenge for which my skill set is woefully inadequate

[DanielJSmithAyo]

Greetings, fellow map enthusiasts!

I was specifically directed to these forums by a friend of mine. I hate reading long posts (as I'm sure you do as well) so I'll be brief:

I wrote a fantasy novel and accompanying it is a crudely drawn map that is, quite simply, pathetic. My skills lie elsewhere. I need someone's assistance to draw a more detailed map as opposed to the one I have.

I've never been an artist, and my drawing skills are lacking. So I place the question to the community: what would be the best way for me to get the job done? Compensation could easily be discussed.

Thanking you all in advance,

Daniel J. Smith

[foremost]

Hi Daniel.

I'm no artist either, but I have been around for a while on the Cartographers' Guild. First and "foremost", you need to decide whether or not you want to make your own map (or play a major role in doing so).

If you do, head over to the tutorials section and spend some time reading, learning, and doing. You certainly won't be able to replicate your favorite maps right away, but you should be able to produce something you can be proud of - even if you only end up using your work as a sketch to show to an artist later on.

If you're certain that you'll need someone else to accomplish this (it sounds like you are), you should visit the Mapmaking Requests section here on the guild. Read the "please read me" stickied thread before making your post, because you need to include specific information. Many many many many people forget to include something important (such as an email address). Compensation is important to almost all artists, and marking your project as [Paid] (and later following through with that, obviously) will garner interest. I'm not sure what prices look like for maps (again, I'm NOT a professional artist), but cheap doesn't always mean good : )

You might get the opinions of others in this thread or have a CL move it to Mapmaking Requests. We have great talent here on the guild and I'm sure you'll find the right person for your project if you choose to hire.

[DanielJSmithAyo]

Thanks for the advice! Turns out you're absolutely correct: a number of people already reached out and I found someone to take care of it. I'll be posting in the Mapmaking Request forum for the City map that I need. The map I am discussing in this thread has been agreed to and I am paying the artist as I type this. How would I go about marking that in this thread, or should I just delete the blasted thing?

[DanielJSmithAyo]

This commission has been taken, thanks all!