This is a nice start, Rhino, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you finish it. I'd say your drawing skills look just fine, to me.

The main critique I would have is simply that there is nothing about the map right now that looks like a desert: the buildings look very northern European, the large river. Maybe colour will change that, but I'd have perhaps gone with a different architectural style to convey the desert location (eg. Archensheen by J.Edward)

Hope that is helpful and keep up the fine map-making

Wingshaw