I cranked the jpg save quality up to 100% but didn't modify any other settings. It almost seems as if there is a layer in the mountains stack that is darkening everything except the mountains themselves. The catch is that all but the final two layers of this stack have their visibility turned off. The second layer's visibility is optional as it only affects the snow cap for the mountains. When it's visibility was shut off the work space in Gimp didn't look any different. ::shrugs:: I get the feeling that it's a combination of the base layer colors themselves and the blend mode of each layer that is affecting the visibility of the rest of the map I'm just not savvy enough with this to pinpoint the issue. It is my first tutorial and foray into this arena, after all. I did drop a question into RobA's thread on his Simple Mountains in Gimp tutorial asking if he'd look over here and offer his opinion/expertise on the issue. If he has the time I'd be grateful for the pointers.

As for sticking with one tutorial all the way through, well, I can't say that I have. So far, I've used RobA's original Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map tutorial, his Simple Mountains in Gimp tutorial, I'm looking very strongly at arsheeshA's Making Photo-realistic Trees in GIMP tutorial, and I've pulled ideas from several other tutorials and essays. The idea to use the dirt layer as the guide for the mountains location came from my experience with how the land colors mapped onto the mountains the first time I tried building them along with how torstan built his mountains in Making mountains in Gimp using an overlay layer tutorial. I'm thinking I'll lay rivers in next before forests so I've read up on them in a couple of different essays here, re: placement and flow. I don't want a ticket from the River Police I'm not sure I'll pull Inkscape in at this point to taper the rivers, maybe I can do something in Gimp with using different size brushes. Beyond that, I haven't gotten much further. Oh, no, I did read a discussion on placement of roads and the level of technology of a given culture to produce roads of various qualities.

I'm not to worried with this approach as, ultimately, I'm having fun. This engages both my creative and analytical sides. I cook the same way and most times the results are palatable. I'm focusing on the journey here not a specific destination, letting the map grow organically. Would I like to understand why there's a visual difference in Gimp's work space and the jpg output? Definitely, but I'm not letting it hold me back.