I'm making a graphic for someone of a town. He gave me the following as examples of what he wanted:

http://www.turnerconstruction.com/tc2006/ - I said, "Wow, that probably took a long time to develop." And he said that it was more complex than what he needed.

So then he showed me this graphic, and I said it would take me about 5 hours to make something similar.

Next he directed me to look at the graphic at the top of http://www.ownyourc.com/static/, to which I replied that I didn't know how long it would take me to make. It's definitely more involved that the second example, but not as complex as the first.

So, having a pretty good idea of what he wanted, he asked me to start with a sports store. Here's what I came up with. I emailed it to him this morning. I'm hoping I'm on the same page with him...the one building took about 3 hours to make, and there's eight more buildings to go (plus the environment), so I think I'm going to give him an estimate of 30 hours.

How long would it take you to make such a graphic? How do you think I'm doing so far?

most respect for your work, but doesnt it look a bit generic? I mean when I compare the stuff he was showing you to your house, its very different. Do you have a tablet for your work? when I need something dynamic for a job, I usually plug in my tablet and better it goes...become wild when you design it!

Yeah, I see what you mean. I tried for a mix between the second and third examples. He wanted something 3d rather than 2d, so I basically took the second example as a reference, added a level of detail, and make it 3d.

I'm thinking he'll probably come back with a response similar to yours. Thanks for the input.

do it in 3D and buy some models at any of the 3D warehouses (i.e. turbosquid)

you do the art work, add 5 hours to the cost and i'll convert it to flash

Well, it turns out that I don't really have time for this project. I was under the impression that he wanted something a lot more simple than most of the examples he showed me. I start back to school tomorrow, and I wanted to have this project done by then. So, I fired him.

He asked if I could give him some contact info for other graphic designers. If anybody is interested in this job, just give me your email address and I'll pass it along.