Well, it does not have to be that good to be a very interesting and beautiful style. Truth be told, it is by far not what I would consider perfect - there are a number of point with the map as well as with the style that I would consider changing. But it is in its current form very pretty, rather uncommon and thus of high interest to see just how you did it.
I didn't want to go into a deeper criticism in my first post - I though that would be better suited to a WIP thread and I wanted to emphazise my first impression of your work.
But now I think I should go over some points that in my view stood out as especially good and those that should be improved.
The coastline is one of most notable features. If that watercolour effect is indeed a technical solution and not solely based on artistic ability, I would very much like to know how you did that.
The base pattern is also great. It gives to whole piece alomost the appearance of a woven tapestry. The crayon-like style of the mountains is also great, though here I would like to see the option of a little blurring, or perhaps a medium grey sublayer, in the style of the coastline.
The rivers look very nice in style, adding to the "woven" look. You really really should reconsider the layout though... rivers just do not behave that way. As always in this case, this thread is the best way to get a hint about rivers.
The woods didn't come out that good in my opinion. The basic idea of green blotches fits this style quite nicely, but here they came out to sharp, to digital. I'd say it is the sharp black outline that leads to that result. You could try getting rid of that outline - perhaps replace it with an irregular, slightly brighter green background, again in the coastline style.
Most of the icons are fitting in very well again. The house icons though are a little to kindergarden-like for my taste and do not really fit in such a map. You could either leave them out completely, having your settlements marked with the circles alone, or replace circle and houses with some other kind of icon (drawn in the fitting style, of course)
I hope this now wasn't to overwhelming or discouraging... I would love to see more of your work!
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