Hi all

I'll take this map from Sapiento as example
http://www.cartographersguild.com/at...ia-hyboria.jpg

I don't understand how to make these wonderful colors for lands, forests, deserts, the "base" of the map (so, not talking about mountains or hills).
I followed his thread and I know he started with basic colors, but then I just don't get how to make them more, "vivid", "alive"? Just take a look in the map linked, look Aquilonia's plains: they are not a single green boring color, but a mix. And I have no idea how to achieve this mix

I don't know if he used any textures but I highly doubt it, so my questions basically is: how do you guys make the plains/basic colors more alive? Hope I explained myself