Pink Poogle Toy Forum

wallpaper

original image

Photoshop 7

note: the text comes from a poem I wrote, I can provide the full poem if you ask for it.

EDIT: I changed my entry:

Wallpaper

Original Image: Here
Program Used: Paint Shop Pro

All right, this is the round I'll probably be out, so I'd just like to say thanks to all the judges for their excellent feedback, and a big thank you to Flame for organizing everything and keeping it running smoothly^^ Kudos!

http://www.geocities.com/lyrabelacqua_8 ... esktop.jpg (copy paste)

Original Images: Here and here.

Program used: Photoshop Elements

The Wallpaper.

Original Images: Here and here.

Program: PS 7.0

wallpapers are evil...


Original image: -click here-
Program: ps cs

Wallpaper
Image Used: click
Program Used: PS CS

Good luck to all. :3

Gah, this turned out absolutely terrible. X_x This is why I work with photography, and not anime.

Wallpaper
Original Image
Program: PSP 8

Judges to choose two people.

There will be only two more rounds after the current one.


Apricus
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PSP 8

Neko
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PS CS

Darklegendary
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PS CS

Koku
WALLPAPER
Image 1
Image 2
Program Used: PS 7

Amethyst
WALLPAPER
Image 1
Image 2
Program Used: PS Elements

Optimus
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PSP

moogie
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PS 7

paola
WALLPAPER
Original Image
Program Used: PS 7

Yay, I love this round!
For all you interested in anime walling, I'd recommend Minitokyo.net, it's full of talented wallers and a great source for high quality images for walling.
[/shamelessplug]

Apricus: It's a very pretty source image, but you haven't done much with it. All I can really see is that you rotated the image, tinted it reddish, blurred the right half, and added a gif pattern overlay. The only real suggestion I can make on this piece is that you spread out the blur a little more, the edge is very obvious and it looks awkward. 6/10

Amethyst: This is a little simple, but it's very nice. I like the way you incorporated the larger image into the background, it looks very good with the abstract waves you made. The smaller figure is a little rough, and I can tell you tried to smooth out the lines, but the best way to avoid jagged edges is to start off with a high quality image, particularly when making wallpapers, as they're so big that you can't depend on downsizing to smooth out the picture. 9/10

Darklegendary: I really like this wall, it's very classic and nostalgic, yet dirty and grungy, suits Vicious perfectly. The edges of the image are a little rough, it's especially noticable on the bird's wings and crest. The text in the left portion is distinguished enough that I'd guess it's meant to be read, but it's just so small and the font is so curly that it's very hard to read, particularly the second line ("All the ??? been? forgotten by me"). 8.5/10

Koku: The first thing I noticed is that your source image looks like a crop of this wallpaper. Would you mind telling me where you got it from? The source image of THAT wall is this picture from an official wallpaper. [/moreshamelessplugging] I don't see much that you've done with this picture, besides boost the saturation of the pictures and add diagonal scanlines. I'm not too fond of the tilted text, it doesn't fit with anything, and it kind of gives me a headache. 6.5/10

moogie: Heh, it looks like you went out of your way to clear up the left side to make it look functional, but there's another problem here. By default, the Windows taskbar covers the bottom 30 pixels of the desktop, including the wallpaper. Most wallers take this into account (along with the fact that not a whole lot of people change the default) by putting their signature there. In this wall, the text on the bottom would be cut off by the taskbar. Generally, if such a thing happens, someone would be more inclined to change their wallpaper than their taskbar. Function issues aside, this wall doesn't look like much was done with it either. You simply stretched the canvas to 600 px tall, added lines and text to the blank space, and added pattern overlays on the picture. 6/10

Neko: Wow, this is my favorite wall this round. The silhouette is very dramatic and pretty against the abstract background. I especially like how you made another abstract layer to echo her wings, very pretty. Excellent job. 10/10

Optimus: Interesting effects, but other than those and the text, it doesn't look like you did much to the original picture after extracting it. 6.5/10

paola: I really like the background you made on this one, it reminds me of an abstract oil painting. I don't know how the quality was on the original image, but it looks resized on the wall. The text near the bottom is a little too dark for me to read on this monitor, remember that LCD monitors are very bright and often show details that won't be visible on other monitors. 9.5/10

First I have something to say. Nearly all of you made wallpapers for icons on the left, and that's not really necessary. It's very easy to drag and drop icons elsewhere, and there are plenty of beautiful wallpapers designed for icons to be on the right, top, or bottom edge.

Anyway, this round I vote out Apricus and moogie.

I went and tried all of your wallpapers on my desktop and rated from there. If your wallpaper wasn't 1024, I put it on my desktop and a window.

<b>Apricus</b> -- Your technique is very interesting and bold. It's vivid and definitely catches one's eye. The problem is that it gives me a headache after staring at it for awhile. The bright red hurts a bit. The blur looks funny because it's so obvious. I would have tried to fade the edge into the image a bit more, or not use a blur at all, but a gradient.

<b>Neko</b> -- I love what you did with the original image. Using its silhouette is really creative. The crazy wing stretch behind it is pretty cool as well. I just think that you should have moved the text to the bottom right corner, because my icons obstruct it.

<b>Darklegendary</b> -- The grungy/elegant look is cool. Care to share where you found the brushes? =) The only thing I dislike is how you used them so much that the image is almost completely covered, which makes it look a little messy.

<b>Koku</b> -- I really like the image you chose and what you did with it. However, I think it might've been better to stick to the original skye blue rather than the bright cyan because as it is right now, it's a bit shocking to look at. Also, you should move the text closer to the girl, as it looks awkward where it is. Or you could have placed it to the right of the girl to fill up the strange white space where the wings are.

<b>Amethyst</b> -- The funky glow you used on the main image is cool but it doesn't really go with the overall mood of the wallpaper, because the crazy background and the strong scanlines give it a more techy/hard feel, rather than dreamy. It's also not a good idea to use a pixel font for subtext because it looks silly if the image is adjusted at all.

<b>Optimus</b> -- The pixel effect is too strong. I'm not a big fan of a large pixel effect because it's distracting. You should have tried smaller pixels. The tint you chose was a nice touch, but the random lighting effect in the middle makes it look washed out. I also don't like that you put text to the left of it, because it sort of cuts off the wallpaper there. You could've gotten away with putting the "mite gai" stuff under the guy's arm in the little curvature.

<b>moogie</b> -- Well, first off, since most people have their toolbar at the bottom of their screen, your "said the saxaphone man" is partially covered up. Plus you spelled "saxophone" incorrectly. I don't like how you completely faded the image out on the left. Even if you made space for icons, it just looks silly to have a big blank white spot on my desktop. I do think your style is very unique, however.

<b>paola</b> -- Was the original image a wallpaper? I like that you put a completely different mood on it. The dark/mysterious thing works really well. It's pretty sexy. Anyhow, I like it a lot, save the vertical lines (which are a bit too strong) and the usage of a pixel font.

My votes go to Optimus and moogie.

Apricus - This is very eyecatching. The colour tint creates a nice feel and the circles you added are good too. I like the idea behind the blurred area - some backgrounds can be way too busy to be useful! - but it might've looked nicer a bit more subtle. The overblurriness might make your eyes go a bit funny, I'd imagine! Working the blur around the picture elements (eg. lessening it a bit on those red areas of the skirt that are on that border line) would make that line less obvious.

Neko - Wow, that's gorgeous. The silhouette is really stunning against the busy background, and those swirls from the wings look fantastic. The font and wing symbol are very nice, though it might've been nice if the wing was drawn a little more spikey, similar to the girl's wings. But overall... well done!

Darklegendary - Oh, I really like this one. So very... dirty! I love those dark splotches. The bird's feathers turned out really well, especially on the edges of its wings and tail. Where did those eyes on his back come from, though? Is that an eye brush? ... hehe.

Koku - Nice idea with the sky there. I'm not so fond of the flourescent colours though... and although the high contrast makes the sky (and girl) very bright and interesting, when combined with the diagonal overlay it lowers the apparent image quality. To be picky, the straight edge where the feather (that's going across the girl's hair) is cut off looks a little strange too.

Amethyst - I like the background you added, abstract yet classy looking! The way you've brought out the red on the girl looks really good, but I find some parts of her outline (like her hair) a bit too pixelly looking... I'm guessing partly due to the scanline overlay and remnant lighter pixels from the gray background. It's a bit of a pity, because for me it detracts from the quality of the wallpaper (which is otherwise very high!).

Optimus - I like the source image you chose, the cartoon style is very interesting. The pixel pattern looks very nice on the side of the guy's (um!) skirt-like clothing, there. The way it's graduated works really well with the cartoon style image. I feel something a little extra would have been nice though, other than the pixel filter and the pattern.

moogie - I like the random lines and grid overlay a lot. The gray contrasts very nicely with the purple of the robot. As Marissa said, however, it seems you could have done more with the original image. Although the current background (the birds and the building) look cool as they are, removing them to add your own background could have looked really good, and been good evidence of your creativity.

paola - Wow, sparklyness! That background is really stunning. The vertical lines really draw attention downwards, towards the main text and picture, which is great. An overly-minor-and-probably-useless suggestion would be that maybe using that teal colour on the girl's jacket a bit more in the background would've been nice... but nah, it looks great as is ^_~

Great job guys, I really liked seeing all your wallpapers

But unfortunately... this round my votes go to moogie and Koku.

Apricus - I love the use of color and I am glad to see you dared to make it very lively and strong. The blur, however, is way to obvious and looks rather nasty. By saying this I mean the edge between the two parts should have been more faded if you still would go with the blur. Otherwise I'd say a gradient or such would have been a better option. I'm not too fond of the text either, you should have harmonized it with the image a bit more and not just pasted it onto the whole thing.

Neko - Very dreamy looking, which I like. If I were you I would have crammed the subtext together a bit, so that it would not stretch beyond the length of the main text (this including the wing).

Darklegendary - Rough and grungy, just how I like it. Really nice job with brushes and such. Nevertheless, I do not like the lighter texts placed a little here and there on the wallpaper. The grab too much attention and at least I tried hopelessly to figure out what they said even though that was just a waste of time.

Koku - Well, I like it. Particularly the colors, I just think it's more original to make a sky, for example as you did, cyan instead of regular sky-blue. The text does not fit the imagery though. "Sky" pops right at the viewer. You should have made all of that a bit more mellow.

Amethyst - You've put together two images very nicely, good job. I also love how you included the text, because as it is now it looks great. Maybe you should have made the strip below the text a bit wider though, so that the text would not touch the borders of it. The smaller image is a bit too blurred in my opinion.

Optimus - To be honest this wallpaper looks simply boring. The images are too weak under all the image effects you have added and the text is not any different.

moogie - A great looking wallpaper; great colors and effects. Its function is lacking however, as the windows taskbar covers the lover part and therefore some of the lower text which is not too nice. This was already stated by Marissa as well, but repeating the pointer won't hurt, right? Nevertheless, I still like the wallpaper a lot, even though I hate FLCL... O_o

paola - Looking good. My main pointer for this wallpaper would be that it's a bit too dark for my eyes. This not meaning that everything should be brighter, but at least some part (the text for example). The background looks sparkly in a large format which is very good I think.

My votes go to Apricus and Optimus.

I got it from the girls gallery on animevisions.net. ^^;; I didn't know there was a wallpaper with the same image.

to judges: I guess the reason why I didn't change the image very much is because I really liked it. This image has always been a favorite of mine, and I guess I didn't fix what wasn't broken. I guess that stubborness will have my out this round though, too bad.

apricus
The colors in this are very striking, but I don't see all that much done with this....You've blurred the left section, which looks awkward because of it's suddenness. Not much else to say...

Neko
Awesome. The sillhouette is striking, as is the effect that seems to be coming from the wings. The background has a good amound of detail, no to busy, but still with a lot of interest. Maybe the only thing I don't like is the wing design...Perhaps a smaller silhouette of the girls wing would have looked better...but not anything major.

Darklegendary
Definitely fits the characters of Vicious very well. The red looks like washed out blood (as gross as that may sound) and the grungy effect really is a nice touch. I maybe wouldn't done something other than added the image faded into the background though, as it sorta of just looks...odd to me. People are also saying there is text in this, but my monitor is being rather screwy, so I can't see it at all.

Koku
Er, my eyes hurt....The sky is far to bright, especially with the somewhat duller colors used with the girl. I don't really like the font choice in 'reach for the'.....Yeah. But other than altering the background, I don't see much else done with this.

paola
I love the background. I'm fond of the leaves randomly places in it for some reason. (Yes, I'm weird.) The orange of the feather is especially a striking contrast. The text is very nice, and definitely goes with the definition of the work luxurious. The small text is very hard to read though....so you might want to fix that. Change it to a lighter color maybe?

Amethyst
Very nice. THe background is definitely very very unique looking. I love your main font choice, though the rest is a tad bit too small. The smaller figure looks a little out of place with the bright colors and glow too, just because of the rest of it being so dark. Though I think that might've been the effect you were going for?

Optimus
Sort of bland looking. You seem to be using that pizel effect a lot, but it doesn't work with this. I'm not sure where icons would go, maybe on the left...but I don't think a lot of icons could fit there without overlapping the text. I also don't see a lot done with this other than the pixel effect and text...So yeah.

moogie
Sort of boring looking. I don't like the white fade out. The text on the bottom would be seen because of the toolbar. I will say your style is very unique though.

...decisions will come later.