I was blown away when I saw Scott Reinhard’s work combining old print maps with 3D rendering on This Is Colossal.  I set out to try to create something similar, and after a lot of trial and error, came up with something that’s not as sophisticated, but still produces a decent looking map. 

I created these maps with public domain data from the USGS, NOAA state GIS repositories and free HDRIs from HDRI-SKIES and HDRIHAVEN.  Maps are made using QGIS, Aerialod, GIMP and Just Color Picker. 

You may download and use these high resolution map images under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share and Share Alike License.  Wal-Mart makes a surprisingly good quality and cheap poster sized print.