How do I make a realistic drought-stricken map?

[Invalid]

I've recently come up with the idea for a continent that is stricken by a huge drought, with the only source of water coming from the middle of the land and distributed/controlled by the government. I've been trying to make a map that reflects that, by having the distribution of green/fertile land be more towards the middle and darken into unhealthier grass/sand as it goes further outwards. I'm not too happy with the results though, and as this is my first time I don't really know what I'm doing too well.

I'm using Campaign Cartographer 3 and the method I've been doing is having a few layers of different shades of green and then mixing them using the glow effect. Is there any way to do that that'd look better?

Here's what I have so far.

hA0RNVQ.jpg

Any suggestions as to how to make it more realistic/look better would be welcome.

A little information on the setting if that'd help, the government pumps water through a large pipe system to the various parts of the country. Water distribution is lessened as it gets farther from the distribution center, which is why there's a drop off in green.

Once I finalize how I want to show the drought I'll be adding various pipes going across the land and changing the fertility to match (More green near the pipes, or where the pipes end).


(Repost of my post from the world building forum, just saw this one)

[snodsy]

I'd change the other regions colors to a brown/ grey , not green and not even along the pipe, but only at the access point, maybe even cracked dried up earth, and maybe not an island but dried up land all the way to the edges of your map or only water on one corner, but not much anywhere

[Poison]

The way you have it spread out right now suggests a very even flow of water in all directions. Adding the pipes and adjusting the spread like you said might help a lot to make it more believable.

I think the colours are a little too bright to be farmland. While there are some neon green crops, most are a little darker. Some variation in colour might help, too? In places which don't get quite enough water the crops might be yellowish or brown - or maybe they're growing a different crop that needs less water? Drought-stricken land generally still has some shrubs or bushes on it, little tufts of dark green or brown. You could choose not to include those at this scale, however.

I also second snodsy: less green in general! This land doesn't look drought-stricken, but rather like an island that's got enough water to irrigate the entire island.

Do you plan to add other features to the terrain, maybe mountains or rocky plains? Have you thought about where that water is coming from?

Maybe google "nile aerial", "drought aerial" and "irrigation aerial" for some inspiration.