My first sandbox map - I have questions

[swiss]

I made this mostly following a youtube tutorial with the goal of getting familiar with some basic techniques like layers, brushes, etc. which I had no experience with previously. So the goal of this map is not a finished product map, it's just skill building. And I kept a list of questions that arose that I would appreciate any help with:

1) When the mountains (or any brush really) overlap they create a darker line. Is there any good way to avoid that besides just carefully not overlapping?

2) How to blend rivers into the mountains and get them to disappear. Is it just a matter of zooming in and touching up?

3) The brushes for mountains, forests, and cities I used (sketchy_cartography_brushes_by_starraven-d3a1hra) don't show up that well on my map. Part of that is the coloring, but it's also like they need to be bolded or something. Also if I increase the size, they do not scale. They just get grainy. I feel like I don't know what I don't know with something here...help me out

4) If you're wondering what that ugly green square is in the bottom left...that's a texture I imported but after watching 3 tutorials that obviously were not for exactly what I'm trying to do, I can't figure it out. Basically I want that green square to be how my land looks, but for it to only cover the land. I want it to replace the light green. I keep looking for an 'Import Texture' function in Elements but the best I could do is just import this as another layer, which obviously is short of what I want. So how do I do that?

5) When I painted my mountain brush, it was black. Is there any easy way to globally change the color of the mountains, or do I need to delete and re-draw?

6) I have a strong feeling of 'I don't know what I don't know' at this stage, so if something catches you eye that you'd think I'd benefit from let me know.



My ultimate goal is to get to something like these, although it feels like a long way away:
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...light=Mydresia
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ghlight=aldora
https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...294#post222294



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This list below are the steps I used in Photoshop elements. This is not meant as a tutorial for anyone, it's just an audit of my steps so if someone thinks 'wait, what did this guy do exactly?', this is what I did exactly. Very open to feedback on these steps, i.e. "I see what you were going for but there's a better way to do that step", or "you should add a step inbetween these steps to accomplish _____", etc.

Order of Operations:

--- LAND AND SEA----

Open new file and set dimensions based on standard shapes and use of map. A3? A9? Dunno

Name first layer 'Background'.

Create new layer and name it 'Ocean' and color it blue

Create new layer and name it 'Land' and outline the land. Use the pencil tool, not the Brush tool because you need hard edges. Fill in land masses

Click to 'Land' layer. [Top menu] Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings > Bevel (size 9?) and Stroke 1 (for an outline?)

Eraser tool (experimenting with Brush and Pencil versions. Pencil is hard-edged. Make coastlines natural

--- MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS ----

Create a new layer and name it 'Mountains'

Click Brush tool and select mountains and paste them on.

Use the erase tool to create rivers and lakes


--- FORESTS AND CITIES AND PATHS ----

Create a new layer and name it 'Forests'

Click Brush tool and select forests and paste them on

Click Brush tool and select cities and paste them on

Dotted lines. Brush tool. Hard Round 3. Brush Settings. Spacing 192%

--- HIGHLIGHTING COASTS ----

Land or Sea layer and [Top menu] Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings, add Inner and Outer Glow. You can change the color as well. I made it light blue

--- TEXT ----

Click the text tool and add text. You can add shadows, etc.