Thanks, everyone. Still on the fence about the red or gold for the flag, but I'll think about changing the contrast a bit if I stick with the red. Might help when the rest of the border/map is colored to get a clearer picture.

And I want to color the actual map somewhat, I just haven't decided on how much I want to color it. And yeah, it's a photoshop technique, more than just a brush. It's here if you want to try it out yourself, although you need to download the brush as well as some other tools to get the blending effects right, it only takes a couple of minutes. Simply Messing About: It's not about the brush: Digital Watercolor in Photoshop