Lands of Fagacea

[Schwarzkreuz]

I just have the Mountains on a layer inside the open file I am working with. and clone it from there. If they are in my way I just push them away in another corner I dont need. Like in my sample left the elements, right the Mountain clusters.

If you work from a scan, as i do mostly, you should try to turn all mountains in one swap to a big brush, than brush them to an empty layer, like this you have a clean drawing layer without any white and can start my tutorial, its much faster than trying to erase all white surrounding the drawing.

Have fun.

[Hai-Etlik]

A few criticisms:

That distortion and the graticules (the grids) look really wonky, Given the symbol style of the map, I think you should ditch the graticule entirely as it doesn't mesh well with that style. If you really want it, then it really does require some knowledge of projections and how maps represent a globe in order to get it to come out right. The details depend on where on the planet the map is, how big it is, and the purpose of the map.

The crumpled paper texture seems a bit excessive. Likewise the stone texture on the border. If you are aiming for something that looks like a map made "in character" you have to think about how and why the fictional cartographer would get the effects in question. Drop shadows imply that the map incorporates elements that hover over top of the rest of the map, which is odd to say the least. Relief in general is something you should think about carefully.

If you are just after a pretty picture and don't care about keeping it in character, you still might want to tone the effects down, particularly the relief and textures. They are a bit distractingly over-prominent. That sort of rough stone texture you use for the border is also a bit repetitive. If you want to stick with that look, it might be worth finding a larger texture to hide the repetition more.

The cartouche is a bit hard to read. The purple text doesn't contrast very well with the grey textured background.

Finally, it would be a good idea to make a more diverse symbol set to try to disguise the repetition of the symbols. I usually go with 7 to 12 variations on a symbol in my symbol sets.