IV. Adding Geography
RIVER & LAKE DETAILS
Now in a new layer just above “rivers” called “river details”, touch up your water using lighter blues (even whitish-blues) with a soft-edged brush set at a low opacity.
• Hint: Before beginning, you may wish to ctrl-click the “rivers” layer (or use the magic wand on the blue); this will select the rivers and thus prevent you from accidentally coloring outside the lines.
• When done, you may wish to smudge the rivers to simulate a flow. You also may wish to use Filter>Distort>Ripple filter on it.
• Set the layer blending mode of "river details" to Lighten & play with opacity
• Remember that deeper water is always darker
ROCKY TERRAIN
In a new layer above “background” create a “rocks” layer—if you plan to have rocks/cliffs/mountains, etc..
• With a large, soft brush set at medium-low opacity & flow (30%?), draw in rocky areas in a tan/brown color.
• Then, with a smaller, harder-edged brush, draw in details in a darker brown (or even black); set your brush to a more stark opacity & flow (60% or so). It helps to draw mainly in the direction of the slope (i.e., draw "downhill" lines), with a few crosscutting them for variety! When done, set the opacity of this layer down to around 50% [see image below]
• Finally, add a layer style of “Bevel and Emboss”—inner bevel, smooth. Also play with the highlight mode (I turned mine to overlay to cut on the glare!). Finally in that layer style box, add texture (one of the stock ones was used for mine) & contour (my range was dropped to 40%) [You can see my settings, below. Note from the uppermost screen that I already determined the angle and altitude of the shading; this will be explained below, but it's time to decide from which direction your light source will shine.)
If, after applying, you can still see the lines you drew, either lower the layer's opacity OR run a Gaussian Blur on the layer.
HINT: Once you like your settings in the layer style window, click the "New Style" button & give it a name. Next map, after drawing your squiggles, pull up the layer style menu, click "Styles" and you'll see yours listed. Click it and BAM! Instant style! [see image, below]
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