Welcome Moonborn, you are in the right place! Hope to see and hear more about this world you are building. I love world building myself, as a GM for many different games over the past years, I find it fun to write about histories and making the maps that go along with all of it. Don't worry about the rambling, I ramble too, so if they can put up with my long meandering posts, your good.

Since you are brand new to mapping, I thought I'd just give some general advice, the kind that happens through trial and error. I hadn't read anywhere, or I've missed it, but what are you using to map and paint with?

I've always found, especially in the world building aspect and the mapping part, to start small and work your way up. Like, I'll make a world map on paper, a sketch.... and then, once that is done, and I have a scale for everything... I focus down to a smaller region and fill that area out and map it. I build worlds primarily for ttrpgs that I GM or play in, so that is how I build and map, small to big. Maybe that will help. When you make a big continent like the size of AUS and then start mapping, you come to realize that there are a lot square miles in that size and that putting interesting things down at that size, becomes a chore. In your case, I would have started with the larger map, put in the communities, the ones that I knew I was going to use as backdrops, then focused down on the area of a community and fill it out and map it. I almost always do this part on paper, then transfer to digital before I go mapping areas. When I have to do a large area, like a continental or world map, as in commisions or I will have a larger map for the characters to get their bearings in the world they live in, I pretty much map the same way you are mapping it out right now. Regardless of using stamps or brushes, I define all the mountainous, hilly, forest, lake, badlands etc... I build from there, textures, stamps etc... Just stick to your theme, you are doing great. And hey, don't worry, the first one is the hardest, you will probably spend hours trying to get it to look right, I know I did.

On commisions, ya. Always use a contract. In fact I believe aeshnidae put together a crash course on contracts that you may read up on, ask questions about. There are also hundreds of tutorials on here, for all kinds of platforms, styles and mapmaking.

Badger