Eldabrass (a work in progress)

[obi-wan shinobi]

This is my first attempt at world mapping, Im working from the inside out as im DMing a fantasy game in which a side quest of my characters is they where hired to draw accurate maps of the world. the way it works is i describe the world as we go and they map it. then as they turn in their maps to NPCs i will add them to my world map. we play every other week so i hope to update twice a month as well. since this is going to take a long time to finish I figured I would post my map as I go to improve my ability as I go through suggestions and constructive criticism.

The Mountains and the Forest were both Brushes that other guild members have posted in the mapping elements section.
The Grass and City are original patterns that I drew

Questions so far:

1) anyone know of a good way to draw Ice, or a frozen tundra rather, my thoughts where to draw in some white that wasn't completely opaque but its not looking right yet. maybe a pattern that would work well underneath?

2) I also cant seem to draw a pattern that works well for water, I will keep attempting. but is there a good technique besides drawing one by hand that you may know of?

Notes: Im using photoshop CS4, I dont have a sketch pad so im drawing with a mouse