World Map, in the style of Grim Hollows' Etharis

[MabrukPendragon]

Thank you for your apt response Mr. Naima and yours as well C.L Kellerica. I am glad to see that this site has maintained an active community. In truth, The Grim Hollows' cartographer, Matthias Rothenaicher, referred this site to me during our previous correspondence which I am glad for, as I've been rather impressed purusing the various project portfolios. While I have yet to hear back from Mr. Mammoliti or Mr. Stevenson, the former credited for the world map of Etharis itself, I feel that, my previous adventures with commission work have given me some insight and experience from which to draw upon.

Past Experience:
In example one, I followed Jan Loos's tutorial on "basic map creations" within Photoshop. This work took about six hours and taught me the basics of tectonic collisions, stress points, and ocean shelving for more realistic terrain locations. The use of masking for the creation of rivers was particularly fascinating. From my research into Mr. Rothenaicher's work, I learned that he used similar processes but overlayed various waves, forests, and desert textures; alongside Mountain Brushes. It was from this revelation that I obtained a new appreciation for the art form of cartography.

I knew that if I were to have a map commissioned, it would be a hybrid of realism mixed with Parchment brushes.

Regarding Pricing:
As for pricing, the parameters, like cost and time, vary. Example two shows a landscape that I've commissioned in the past with full copyright, being 14400 x 3866. It took around a month to complete costing $130. So I do apologize if my estimate of $400 was too low. I took the PPI dimensions and compared them to the canvas size which; I sought to create.

Sketchmob:
In truth, I am more accustomed to using escrow sites, such as Sketchmob, C.L Kellerica. It allows the artist to advertise their portfolios into a collective pool; that the buyer may pursue. The artists then name their price and wait for those seeking their talents to come to them. As you can see from example four, I am fond of the hobby of commissioning talented artists.

Regarding PayPal:
The second and most important aspect of an escrow site is the protection of the artist. In the past, digital goods, referred to by PayPal as "intangible goods" - were not covered by PayPal's seller protection program. Meaning that artists selling digital commissions could very easily be scammed by buyers taking advantage of that system and issuing chargebacks because they "didn't receive their item" because PayPal wouldn't protect the seller. In this case, the artist would then; be forced to have that commission refunded without their permission.

PayPal As of March 2022:
Paypal has now updated a few sections to "kind of" fix this problem amending the original stipulation that protected goods had to be physical and shippable to now also protect 'goods' that meet the "intangible goods additional requirements," which are deliberately vague and effectively came down to: "You have to prove to PayPal that you delivered what you Sold" And even then, it's up to PayPal's discretion as to whether or not they want to deem it eligible and protect your rights on a case-by-case basis, which is hardly reassuring.

Moving into their seller protection program terms further sheds light into how shady it feels and how little this update protects artists; because, under the list of ineligible items and transactions, they include: "Anything PayPal determines, in its sole discretion, is prohibited by this user agreement or PayPal's acceptable use policy, even if the transaction is initially marked as eligible or partially eligible on the transaction details page".

Basically, whether or not PayPal will protect artists from scammers trying to get out of paying for commissions is pretty much as difficult to determine as ever. Some artists have found a workaround by using the Friends & Family option for payment rather than Goods & Services, but doing so is technically a violation of PayPal's terms of service, which, if PayPal notices and finds suspicious, will lead to them banning the account in question.

The Protection of Escrow:
On escrow sites, however, if a client has canceled a commission unjustly. The artist can fill out a contact form to file a complaint regarding suspicious activity. The project is then reviewed and a fair resolution will be determined. Frequent cancellations, abuse of their platform, or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by their Platform Security team. If they determine that a client has deliberately abused the system then their account will immediately be terminated and the artist will be paid.

Note:
The client isn't refunded the money to their account, but rather, given a form of credit, to the use of the site, meaning that they couldn't just return it to their bank on a whim, thus the site itself still holds the amount that could tangibly to be turned back into currently for the artist, should such an unjust cancelation occur.

In response to Mr. Naima's Email:
Sadly 4k Euros would be a bit out of my range, but still, I wanted to thank you for contacting me either way. I do hope that you have a pleasant day.

[Naima]

Thank you for your apt response Mr. Naima and yours as well C.L Kellerica. I am glad to see that this site has maintained an active community. In truth, The Grim Hollows' cartographer, Matthias Rothenaicher, referred this site to me during our previous correspondence which I am glad for, as I've been rather impressed purusing the various project portfolios. While I have yet to hear back from Mr. Mammoliti or Mr. Stevenson, the former credited for the world map of Etharis itself, I feel that, my previous adventures with commission work have given me some insight and experience from which to draw upon.

Past Experience:
In example one, I followed Jan Loos's tutorial on "basic map creations" within Photoshop. This work took about six hours and taught me the basics of tectonic collisions, stress points, and ocean shelving for more realistic terrain locations. The use of masking for the creation of rivers was particularly fascinating. From my research into Mr. Rothenaicher's work, I learned that he used similar processes but overlayed various waves, forests, and desert textures; alongside Mountain Brushes. It was from this revelation that I obtained a new appreciation for the art form of cartography.

I knew that if I were to have a map commissioned, it would be a hybrid of realism mixed with Parchment brushes.

Regarding Pricing:
As for pricing, the parameters, like cost and time, vary. Example two shows a landscape that I've commissioned in the past with full copyright, being 14400 x 3866. It took around a month to complete costing $130. So I do apologize if my estimate of $400 was too low. I took the PPI dimensions and compared them to the canvas size which; I sought to create.

Sketchmob:
In truth, I am more accustomed to using escrow sites, such as Sketchmob, C.L Kellerica. It allows the artist to advertise their portfolios into a collective pool; that the buyer may pursue. The artists then name their price and wait for those seeking their talents to come to them. As you can see from example four, I am fond of the hobby of commissioning talented artists.

Regarding PayPal:
The second and most important aspect of an escrow site is the protection of the artist. In the past, digital goods, referred to by PayPal as "intangible goods" - were not covered by PayPal's seller protection program. Meaning that artists selling digital commissions could very easily be scammed by buyers taking advantage of that system and issuing chargebacks because they "didn't receive their item" because PayPal wouldn't protect the seller. In this case, the artist would then; be forced to have that commission refunded without their permission.

PayPal As of March 2022:
Paypal has now updated a few sections to "kind of" fix this problem amending the original stipulation that protected goods had to be physical and shippable to now also protect 'goods' that meet the "intangible goods additional requirements," which are deliberately vague and effectively came down to: "You have to prove to PayPal that you delivered what you Sold" And even then, it's up to PayPal's discretion as to whether or not they want to deem it eligible and protect your rights on a case-by-case basis, which is hardly reassuring.

Moving into their seller protection program terms further sheds light into how shady it feels and how little this update protects artists; because, under the list of ineligible items and transactions, they include: "Anything PayPal determines, in its sole discretion, is prohibited by this user agreement or PayPal's acceptable use policy, even if the transaction is initially marked as eligible or partially eligible on the transaction details page".

Basically, whether or not PayPal will protect artists from scammers trying to get out of paying for commissions is pretty much as difficult to determine as ever. Some artists have found a workaround by using the Friends & Family option for payment rather than Goods & Services, but doing so is technically a violation of PayPal's terms of service, which, if PayPal notices and finds suspicious, will lead to them banning the account in question.

The Protection of Escrow:
On escrow sites, however, if a client has canceled a commission unjustly. The artist can fill out a contact form to file a complaint regarding suspicious activity. The project is then reviewed and a fair resolution will be determined. Frequent cancellations, abuse of their platform, or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by their Platform Security team. If they determine that a client has deliberately abused the system then their account will immediately be terminated and the artist will be paid.

Note:
The client isn't refunded the money to their account, but rather, given a form of credit, to the use of the site, meaning that they couldn't just return it to their bank on a whim, thus the site itself still holds the amount that could tangibly to be turned back into currently for the artist, should such an unjust cancelation occur.

In response to Mr. Naima's Email:
Sadly 4k Euros would be a bit out of my range, but still, I wanted to thank you for contacting me either way. I do hope that you have a pleasant day.

That price tag is an estimation of 10 x times the proposed value according to request.
The kind of work requests you are asking if I understood for a professional work is at least for my standards taking a series of steps that goes from basic world layout, study of tectonics, evolution of those, climate defiition, realization of several study maps and process all of that study into a final phisical map, plus considering copyright retention etc a previewed compensation is at least 10 times more than what you proposed so the esteem of at least 4k.
The example you did of 130 $ for a month of work is not a considerable price tag unless someone agrees to work mostly for free, this is regardless of the resolution as a smaller res might have lot of detail work vs one of huge size with no detail or work efforts in it. It depends also on the artist style, speed, study etc. basically its mostly due to time of work and how its valued. I personally take several months to complete a full project with all the study needs, also a contract is made and everything is clear in it.

[MabrukPendragon]

I had an interesting conversation with a cartographer from the guild who goes by the handle Turambar91 on Deviantart. He advised a reduction into a 10,000 x 4414px at 300 dpi map for $600.

While such a reduction in the scope of the project; isn't something that currently interests me, I still wanted to acknowledge that his insight into a baseline sum has been helpful.

His work is stunning; a particularly striking piece was his Dhar Maqda; I love the design of the canyon.

Thank you for reaching out, Mr. Macdonald.