Local Artist Leads

Surprisingly looking for artists and checking their capability takes a lot of time...  Anyway I am looking for more local artist for the mapping. I told my friend, who is in the University of the Philippines Fine Arts College, that I'm looking for both for professional or amateur.

I'm slowly moving towards a bias to professional... but lurking in the Cartographer's Guild, there are not any identifiable Filipino Cartographers. There are many Filipino Artists... Illustrators, all making a great living in comics. Those guys don't need my money, as much as a start-up, but hey.

Filipino Artists who find this blog - Check out the Forgotten Realms Map.  Give me a quotation based on your ability to make such a map. As a test, make a map close to the standards of the FR map but a size

Anyway basic rules with artists, as a former artist

1. No free work - I will pay for custom samples. Of course I can ask for quotes and what should I expect. The two artists I'm talking to are completely outside the Cartography Illustration.  
2. No piracy please - use open source PLEASE... I think it is unfair to the honest others who use open source or paid for their tools, and have to scrimp and save to pay for them. If they use their work places tools, I might lose the rights to the work they are supposed to assign me, after payment. For ethical practices
3. Vector Graphics Map - this means the art may be zoomed in continuously, allowing for an insane amount of detail a GM or myself may want to add in the future. Empowering GMs by making tools that are easily modifiable for them. Allowing them to adjust and alter the map. 
4. Expectation of Professionalism and Smart work process - like finding ways to communicate ideas effectively. 
5. Must factor rework into expectations. 

For the Novices - this I recommend this process, because it will come in handy if I critique the work and will judge it not passable professionally.

From Trying to Game Work
Its a surprise to me it is applicable to project management. I guess the thing about Art is that each project has a LARGE emotional investment when you are starting out, and you learn to divorce emotional investment as you start working. Emotions have to be managed and keenly focused in aspects that won't affect your ability to make strategic decision making while executing the project. 

1. Make more than One sketch. (Make more than one plan)
2. Take the opportunity of the additional sketches to try the other plausible strategies. (each plan must exploit different theoretical strengths and scenarios)
3. Visualize and plan out everything, maybe even write it down. (detail the scenario planning) 
4. If possible make time to finish at least 2 at 60% using the 1/2 the time you have to execute your project to see how things go. (narrow down to 2 scenarios that encompass the key threats but are flexible enough to fix most of the potential ones).
5. Finish early and have some time remaining to sleep over what you have done, and enough time to make small alternations. (pre-ops check, don't over think or over do)
6. When making alterations, list down what you want to do then ct it down to half or 1/3.

Do this repeatedly and accept the failures, despite personal standards of taste or perfection. Note that what counts most is the opportunity to practice and implement a learned skill/mindset/theory. Even if it costs a failure, the practice is very important, thus the opportunity to retreat to fight another day more is important. Choose the option which gives you more practice vs immediate success/failure until you are in a level where success is very certain.