Okay, so, inspired by a couple of the current awesome WIPs here, especially Daelin's, I decided to try my own. I've never done anything like this, so I have no idea how good (or bad) it will turn out. I decided I would try to map the Orion Arm and its immediate environs, using mostly made-up star locations and names, since I'm not about to precisely locate every real star that we know about. Besides, new stars are being found all the time...
What I did to start with was make a basic generic starfield, then import an actual painting of the Milky Way and zoomed in on the relevant portion. Using it as a template, I added some cloud layers in various blues, whites, and grays over the arms. Next I'll start placing the stars...