WIP: My first map

[Needamedic]

So..... This is just a practice map, to get my feet wet.

I need to thank the following Guild members for the tutorials I have used so far:

Ascension for his Photoshop Atlas Style Tutorial.
Gidde for GIMP version of The Atlas Style tutorial.
Arsheesh for his Making Map Boarders in GIMP tutorial.

I also want to thank all the members of the guild for the great inspiration I have received from viewing all the great maps and WIP threads here.

Ok. So I am not happy with the size of the Neat Lines and the way the map looks cut-off on the edges. Work I will be doing in the short term:

Defining the mountains, hills, forests, lakes and rivers.
Adding Cities, Towns, and points of interest.
Labeling.
Cartouche work.

Any crits and/or help will be greatly appreciated.

[Needamedic]

Hopefully someone can get something out of my workflow.
Up till this post everything has come from a follow along with the tutorials listed in my first post.
In an attempt to detail the mountains a bit I have:

1. Merged all the border layers to the Margin layer.
2. Selected the Snowcaps layer.
3. 'Select by Color' the brightest snowcap (Threshold 100, Select by: Value).
4. Added a dropshadow (Color: Black, Contour: Linear, Noise: 0, Blending Mode: Normal, Spread:0, Size:5, Offset Angle: 120, Offset Distance: 5).

First thumb is a screen of my workflow. Second is the latest image.

[arsheesh]

Hey welcome to the world of mapping Needamedic, looks like you are off to a pretty good start here. Regarding the mountains though, did you emboss the Mountain layer (step 18.a of Gidde's conversion)? It just looks like you've got the mountain color so far.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Needamedic]

I'm pretty sure I did. I know that Emboss takes a long time on my computer. The Emboss step in your border tutorial (I learned a ton, thanks) took about 45 seconds. But I will try it again. I have quite a few saved increments on this project.
I think it might come down to having different processors and resolutions and such. I might just have to experiment till I find what looks best as I learn how to make each style of map.
Thanks Arsheesh

[Needamedic]

I took the timely advice from Arsheesh and tried the following:

1: Selected the Mountain Layer.
2: Raised the layer opacity to 95%.
3: Re-Embossed at Elevation: 35, Depth: 25.

I have also added Lakes using joao Paulo's Making Water in GIMP with a Soft Edge.
I did only use one Gaussian Blur at 65 px, however.

I kinda like the detail that came out of the hills surrounding the mountains. Some give a bit of a valley along the western edges, but I might be able to insert some rivers here. I also kinda like the oceanside cliff effect that came out on the right hand side of the workflow clip attached.

Let me know your thoughts and critiques.