Thank you for the insight in the process! I think it’s awesome that a client adds references like Dürer and Doré! Their work is amazing but not generally connected with maps. I’ve the illustrated bible of Doré on my bookshelf and it is a delight to thunb trough the pages once in a while, will do that again but now with a different view.

Thanks so much, Dim'Door !
Compared to the size, level of details and time spent on this map, it was not a lot of back and forth (I have 16 previews in this project folder, from the very first sketch to the final view), and most of them were about where to place the icons. I had the two reference maps as a guide, so it was easy to set up the biomes without nipicking about how this forest should be a little smaller, or this mountain a little taller.
The client was a joy to work with : he asked for a full colored map, roughly based on my super old Kingdom of Mar style (hopefully enhanced ^^'), and gave me some clues about the general feeling and inspirations he wanted for the map : something dark, dangerous, fancy/crazy gothic borders, with Albrecht Dürer and Gustave Doré as references, which is totally my cup of tea. But out of this general guideline and a few specific requests (the gargoyles, a few ships...) I would say it was the kind of "feel free have fun" commission, so I had the pleasure to add on the map a lot of hidden details and suprises, hoping he'll use them to enrish his RPG campaign
The border was made in a few steps : I firstly drew the top part lineart and asked his validation to make sure it was a style he would enjoy (you can't put that many skulls on a map without the agreement of the client ), then I added the title banner and the bottom right corner for another validation (it's where he asked to add the gargoyles, which was not that difficult on the side pillars anyway), and finally the complete border/shading/color.