How do people make fancy QBAM backgrounds?

I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this question, but I always wondered how people made fancy and unique background for their QBAM alternative history maps. Below are two examples that describe what I am talking about:

cornycator's Dragons Emperors of the East

Xianfeng's 1438, a Year with no Significance

Each background appears to be made out of pixels, including the custom text and symbols. How do people create such beautiful backgrounds? Is there some sort of special program for it, or is there a good tutorial in making one? I am mostly interested in learning how to create the fancy images and borders that the mapmakers use in these maps.

Thank you.
 
I imagine they draw them in the same programs they use to draw on the maps themselves- often Glimpse (or its relative the GNU Image Manipulation Program), Paint dot Net, Clip Studio Paint, and the like.
 
Yep, it's almost all drawn by hand unless you have something to base stuff off of. Or if it's a preexistent logo that then got traced.
 
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