First Timer - WIP - World/Hemisphere Maps

[MonkishMonkfish]

Here are physical and political versions of the world map I've been working on in my first complete project, which I've been putting together for a D&D game I'm currently running.





There are definitely some problems I'm aware of (e.g. the mountains are completely implausible mess), but any helpful critiques would be most welcome.

[waldronate]

You've got rivers joining and getting larger as they head toward the sea. That's a good start. The mountains aren't terrible, but it depends on the scale of the map as well as its projection.
What do you not like about this map other than the mountains?

[MonkishMonkfish]

Thanks, tapering the rivers took some figuring and I'm really happy with how they turned out.

As for things I'm not thrilled with:
- There's a weird interaction between the gradient for the arctic zone and the mountains in the north, I think it may have to do with the order I applied things in, or possibly a layering issue.
- I'm also no happy with how the texture I applied for the jungle areas in the south turned out. I'm looking for a better way to delineate forests and jungles in general for maps of this scale, and ideally one that comes with a way to distinguish temperate forests from jungles/tropical ones (not strictly the same, I know).
- I'd also like to introduce some texture into the temperate and arctic areas. I think a bumpmap is the way to go here, similar to how I've textured the mountains but less extreme, but I still need to hammer out the details.
- I'm undecided about the water, specifically whether I think it needs texture as well, or whether that would be too distracting. If I do go with texture I'm not sure what type I'd like to add or how the ocean texture should interact with any texture I might or might not apply to the rivers. (The rivers here are the same colour as the ocean but a separate layer on top of the land, rather than holes in the land layer revealing the water layer below)
- I'd like to improve my labelling in the political map as well.