I prefer the wider view, myself. I wonder if the muddiness you're perceiving is simply a matter of having too much line density. Rather than drawing all of those trees, you might be better off with a blobby outline and some light shading, instead. I'd love to link you to an example of what I'm talking about, but I just can't seem to find the map that I want. I guess it's similar to Schley's approach, only in grayscale: http://www.cartographersguild.com/fe...SarifalMap.jpg