Illustrated Terrain Map Artist Needed for Final Polish and Seamless Paint-Over

Budget Note: The expected budget for the full project is up to $2,000, but I won't be awarding the full contract immediately. I'll first be selecting a small number of applicants to complete the same paid trial using one section of the map. After reviewing the results, I'll choose the artist who's the best fit and invite them to submit a final fixed-price proposal for the complete project. If you're interested, please include your price and estimated turnaround time for the paid trial in your proposal. I'm looking for an experienced environment illustrator or matte painter to help finish an illustrated map of North America. The map is already around 80% complete. It has been assembled from multiple regional paintings, and while the foundation is there, it now needs a professional artist to unify everything into one seamless illustration. This is not a project to redesign the map or start over from scratch. The work has three primary goals. First, improve the existing terrain. Much of the landscape is already in the correct location, but because it has been assembled from multiple sources and upscaled, some areas appear softer or muddier than others. I want these regions repainted or refined so the entire continent maintains a consistent level of detail and quality while preserving the existing geography. Second, complete the unfinished portions of the map. Areas such as parts of the High Arctic, southern Mexico, and a few smaller regions still need to be painted. These should match the surrounding artwork and remain geographically accurate and stylistically consistent with the rest of the map. Third, rebuild the coastlines. The geometry is already finalized and must not change, but the coastlines themselves need to feel more natural. I want the land to visually rise out of the ocean with convincing cliffs, beaches where appropriate, continental shelves, shallow coastal water, and natural depth transitions while preserving the exact coastline shapes. There are also visible seams between some regions. The overall goal is to make the final map look like it was painted by a single artist from start to finish, rather than assembled from multiple pieces. I'm looking for someone with strong experience painting natural environments—mountains, forests, deserts, tundra, snow, rivers, coastlines, and large landscapes. If you've worked on environment concept art, matte paintings, strategy game maps, or similar projects, you're probably exactly who I'm looking for. I'll provide everything you need, including the layered master file, the original regional paintings, masks, references, and a list of areas that need attention. Please include examples of your environment or landscape work in your proposal. If your portfolio is primarily logos, branding, UI, character art, or unrelated illustration work, this probably isn't the right fit. When you apply, please tell me: What software you use Whether you've done environment paint-over or matte painting work before How long you think this project would realistically take Start your proposal with the word PINECONE so I know you actually read the description.