Town Map - Old West

[tex_maam]

Hi all! My name is Tex Thompson, and this is my book:

sixes_cover.png

It's coming out in July from Solaris, and I am super excited. How excited, you ask? SO excited that I would like to commission a map for the interior!

As you can see, it's a fantasy Western novel, and I'd really like a map that shows the layout of the town. (It ended up significantly more European-looking on the cover than in the story – this would actually be more similar to a New Mexican town in the 1860's.)

What I'm looking for is actually a map in two parts:

1. A black-and-white drawing of an island town, similar to this one in style :

Mifflintown,_Pennsylvania_birdseye_map_by_Fowler_(1895)._loc_call_no_g3824m-pm008027.jpg

The buildings would be western, not New England-derived, but I can provide references for those.

2. On top of this black-and-white map, I need some overlaid "scribbles" – as if a person has taken the printed map and literally drawn over it. Some parts are scribbled out, and a couple of new shapes/buildings have been roughly drawn in. (This part should not be involved or elaborate - very quick, crude-looking graffiti.)

I can provide:
--visual references for general building styles
--specifics for the few important landmarks
--labels for major streets and buildings
--a rough top-down sketch of the town layout, with important features marked

I'm looking for someone who is:
--experienced with historical mapmaking (I really want this to look like something you could have pulled out of somebody's desk in 1863 – relatively period-accurate styles and fonts are important to me)
--available for some backing and forthing during the drafting process. (I am not going to micromanage or eat your life, I promise – I just want to make sure that we get to a good, finished product without any wasted effort.)
--able to provide examples of past work

Terms of the job are:

--I'm offering $500 (negotiable*), paid half on signing and half on delivery of the finished product

*willing to revise upward if what we eventually agree on is appreciably more involved than this initial posting – I'll need to talk with you more about the specifics

--I need this finished by March 31st, and will want to work with you to plan reasonable milestones along the way. (It's possible that we will have longer than that, but I can't commit to that yet.)

--I'm looking to retain full copyright for this map, including the exclusive right to sell reproductions and derivative works, though I'd be glad for you to keep non-commercial reproduction and display rights (and possibly receive some commission on products derived from your work – again, something to discuss.)

--I don't know exactly what I need in terms of resolution and file format. The map will be printed for mass-market paperback, in black and white, B format in the UK (130mm x 198mm) and A format in the US (110mm x 178mm). However, I'm interested in using this artwork for other purposes as well – I'd appreciate your advice on best practices to use to make this work as versatile as possible.

Please contact me with questions! Tex at thetexfiles.com

[tex_maam]

Wow - what a great response! At this point, I have plenty of excellent applicants to choose from - please consider this job Taken.