Here is the final version of the map that's been keeping me busy for the last half a year or so.
It's a gift for a friend, but he kindly let me share it here ^^

I was aiming for something bright and colorful that is more of an artistic depiction than an accurate map with this one.
It was hand drawn based on my friend's sketches, then scanned. As I wanted to print this on a large poster, I processed
the map's various parts with inkscape before finally putting it all together with gimp, where I also applied the color and
texture. The tree, compass, scrolls and frame are modeled in blender and processed in gimp.

I'd love to hear thoughts and feedback about it

here's a roughly 1/4th size version
(sorry about the loss of quality, the original really is huge though)
AralMapSmall.png