Elderbree (TM) rigional map.... WiP (learning)

[Elderbree TM]

Well here is a sketch of the first map I'm going to try to make with GIMP and InkScape (do I even need InkScape?!?!?)

I scanned it and on my screen it looks pale and lack colors some what [as if it stood in the sun too long] so I played around with the colors in GIMP as well as made a picture of it with my cam, but I was told by a friend that the original [Image 1] looks OK on his screen and the modified ones [Image 2 & 3] look bad, so I just going to post all of the versions here and have you tell me which ones to remove , to me Image 4 looks closest to my color pencil sketch)

Image 1 (The original scan)
http://www.cartographersguild.com/as...7&d=1270225826

Image 2 (Some Twining with colors)
http://www.cartographersguild.com/as...7&d=1270225849

Image 3 (more twining with colors)
http://www.cartographersguild.com/as...7&d=1270225833

Image 4 (A photo with my cam)
http://www.cartographersguild.com/as...7&d=1270225841

Any way, the sketch is made with colored pencils on regular paper and it is what I want to reproduce using GIMP.. and advice or/and links to guides that will help me achieve that will be appreciated (and regardless I'm probably going to post it in the map request section of the forum so I can commission someone else to make it for me as well.... what would be a fair price to pay for a map like this???)

(Descriptions and explanations of the features in the map will come tomorrow)
well shoot away...

~E(TM)