I want to make a topo map, with contour lines. Going for Swiss shaded style. The problem I'm having is with the contour lines. I've read Ascension's tutorial and tried out the techniques, and while the maps it produces are pretty, I'm not satisfied with the contour lines. I've tried various combinations of Cutout, Posturize, Find Edges, and Trace Contour. It looks OK, but not great. So, I think I'm gonna have to hand draw them.

Any suggestions you could offer about this huge undertaking? What would be the best way to draw these contour lines? I'm thinking just draw them up as paths, and then "Stroke Path" onto a layer in my map. Any better ways? I'm going to start small-scale, for the first map at least.

For what it's worth, I think the main reason the quick and easy filters aren't working so well for me is because I'm working at 300 dpi. I want to print the map when I'm finished. A4 sized canvas, CMYK.