Step 3. Mountains.
Take another hard look at your inspiration map, this time focusing on the mountains. How did they draw them? Is the top rounded or sharp? Is there a clear line between light and shadow, or is it a matter of gradual shading? Is it hatched or washed with color? Are the hatch lines all pointing the same direction, or do they pretty much follow the contours from the peak to the bottom? Again, make a mental set of instructions. This time, though, before you put away the inspiration map, try to look at the whole map and get an idea of how big the mountains are in relation to the whole. This part you may need to keep the inspiration map out for, until you get the hang of the mountain sizing.
Grab a sheet of scrap paper (or open a fresh image in your mapping software) and practice a few mountains while looking at your inspiration map. Muscle memory works. Once you get bored with this, you probably have a good enough grasp to work with.
Now put away the reference map and draw in your mountains using the muscle memory you practiced into yourself and the mental instructions you made while looking at your inspiration map. Keep in mind the following: Mountains don't usually run through the center of a landform unless it's a smallish volcanic island. Mountain chains are not straight or regular; they curve, fork, and double back on themselves. Peninsulas will either have some sort of a backbone of hills or mountains (see Italy), or they will erode away and become very swampy (see Florida). I read somewhere (don't remember where so take it with a grain of salt) that mountains cover roughly 10% of a given landmass.
Mountains are tough; this step will take some trial and error before you can live with your mountains. After each try, look at your mountains compared to your inspiration map. Tweak your mental instructions, put away your inspiration map, and try again. Once you get to something that you can live with, you can move on to Rivers.
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