Realistic mountain terrain

[Chick]

Correct, Max, the trees and rivers are not the interest here. I only put them on to see how I could fit them into the mountain structure dictated by the underlying shaded relief.

[Adversary]

I think I like the mountains on the western island better. They seem sharper and more detailed. Which technique did you use?

[Chick]

I think I like the mountains on the western island better. They seem sharper and more detailed. Which technique did you use?

The technique is the same throughout. I used different shaded relief maps from USGS, NASA, and the like, to get some varied texture. Also some of them needed to be adjusted for brightness or contrast. That is probably what you are seeing. It is good to know which variation looks best

[Deadshade]

The shading is really great. Like it very much.
But take a care with scales. A good guide is to put a scale on your map and then look how large/high are your mountains according to the scale.
I would say that yours are really big. Perhaps too big in all 3 dimensions. Don't forget that you look at them from quite far up.

Actually you have a scaling graduation : plain, low round hills , high foothills, mountains counterforts, high mountain.