Should I give the source file to the client?

[Redrobes]

Thats usually negotiated up front. It depends if you would consider the client making a series of maps with variations your work or his. I.e. would you be able to use the textures and other parts which make up the map again or not. If you make up a map using a texture then you sell him a copy of the map with copyright to it then he owns the copyright to the map. I am not certain that he would own the copyright to all of the textures which makes up the map. When your selling copyright its the artistic composition of all of the elements. So you cant claim the copyright to the colour blue if you purchase the copyright to a painting which had some blue in it. If on the other hand you used free to use elements and textures to make up the map then you may be less fussed about it.

[Tiana]

I am not certain that he would own the copyright to all of the textures which makes up the map. When your selling copyright its the artistic composition of all of the elements. So you cant claim the copyright to the colour blue if you purchase the copyright to a painting which had some blue in it.

Exactly. Since most of us likely use free stock images, we can't provide anyone the rights to those images exclusively, only the composition involving said art resources.

The reason someone wants the source file is so they can edit the names in the future. Not so they can reproduce your style to make other maps. You don't want them to be able to do that? Merge as much as you can while leaving the text editable. I only provide an editable file on request, and I charge more to those clients because I set the files up slightly different so they can edit as much as possible in the future. I always merge all of the layers that make up the underlying texture. I usually merge all of the lineart on top into a single lineart layer, making it trickier to take it apart. Then I'll have the compass, the label, the outline/border labeled as modular parts, and as merged as possible into single pieces. The client thus doesn't get the full scope of my art, in part because it would be a confusing mess for them to wade through dozens and dozens of different layers.

For the record, when I work with very professional clients for agencies, unless asked to use my stamps (...one of them loves my OG stamps and always asks for them though D: ) I just draw original artwork and create a custom texture which will not be reused. It's not that someone COULDN'T recreate that texture, since all my textures are based on stock texture resources, but they are never just "one texture on the bottom which I drew on top", I integrate multiple textures to create something unique and new that feels to me like it evokes the client's writing. And I only use that specific design for them. If someone asks for something similar, I will base it on the color scheme, layout, and font concept but select a different texture so that at its very underlay, it feels distinct.

I took a look at one of your maps, Paper Griffin, and I feel quite confident in saying that the selling point of your style is not the texture you selected underneath your hand-drawn lineart. A client will hire you for the energy of your lines and vision of the world, not your textures and fonts. I can TELL when someone who doesn't have passion or skill is using the tools of a professional. Like putting lipstick on a pig, Inkscape maps might be made from competent and attractive pieces but it is the trained eye of a passionate cartographer that can take pieces and organize them attractively.

For the few few years of my map making whenever someone asked, I would provide for them a free download containing all of my current free texture stock resources, my font collection, and all of the brushes I had drawn. Today, I offer a page on my website containing links to every single free map resource I can find. I do this because I don't think Joe Blow the skilled writer is as good as I am at creating a unique and evocative result and will thus be either inspired to become a better artist or inspired to hire me to get the result they use. I feel this way because I've seen many of the results that came from people using my resource pack. It's the work of amateurs, whom I'm very proud of for trying, who might come here and try to get better, but maybe they won't.

Use Firefox send if you don't have Dropbox space. Charge people more if they want the Photoshop file. If you want it from me I'll add 100 to the quote, easy.