Aye, the trees were done, from start to finish, in about 2 hours (which includes learning how to do animated brushes). The problem I gave myself was doing them at the scale in the tutorial as opposed to on more suited to this map. I'll be revisiting that very soon, and not starting at midnight like last time.

The texture background was just plopped in to give a canvas — totally mutable, especially since at small scales like the thumbnail it really stands out (sore-thumbnail?). Given the nature of the lands depicted in most M/MU scenarios, more white would actually be appropriate funnily enough; all snow-bound terrains were a feature of the originals. However, as you'll possibly note from the central-eastern mountains, I've had a play with toning down the white (and the whole mountain come to that). I may opt to vary the overall range themes, depending upon whether Ralph has any specific desires on it. He's done all the shields for the various lords of the lands so I may take a steer from the local potentates' arms...

Thanks for the tips though JF, much appreciated.