I've only ever drawn my maps with a pencil on paper, but am starting to look at making them look a little more impressive using GIMP. My concern is my lack of a graphics tablet (or similar), and being confined to only using my rather clunky mouse. I don't really see how I could accurately trace over or draw the sort of lines I do with my hand with only a mouse.

I'm also at a bit of a loss where to start with learning how to take a sketch I've done and create more detail, make it look nicer, and colour it on the computer. I've had a look through the tutorials board, but couldn't really find anything. I'm not looking to do an ultra realistic style, more the type of thing seen here:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...Maargard/page5

thought without all the extra bells and whistles for now.

If someone could point a real beginner in the right direction, it'd be much appreciated.