Very important edit: OK, OK, I caved in. Sorry to have lead everyone on. This is a guy you see in this wallpaper. Guy. As in, y'know, penis. Sorry to have confused you all, it's thanks to my skillz of turning everything girly XD
** Please view the 4096 x 1536 version, I have no clue how to set that one as the preview image so you get the uglier one with the Bars of Death D:**
After thinking I was going to throw a hissy fit over the internet connection not working today, I finally managed to upload this. And (almost) just in time for WWII! And not in time at all for Kelsey's birthday, which was 3 months ago T_T Happy very belated birthday, Kels, and here's your gift <3 It's also for MT's Wintry Wonderland II; didn't plan to enter it at first but then thought the theme fit - btw, I added the scarf as a required item, I tried adding earmuffs and they sucked.
Ironically, the vector took the most to do. I originally wanted it to be simple, with just a few shades here and there, but then I couldn't stop myself from adding more shades D: Then I had trouble with the background, because I first wanted it to be only trees and clouds, but I couldn't paint them properly (I suck at making clouds when they're "important" to the wall) so I looked for scans. This wasn't easy either because most were too low-quality for the huge resolution and I absolutely did not want to vector again.
In the end I went with this scan, which I stretched to fit the canvas. After some re-painting it looked OK so I left it this way. The most challenging (but fun) part was definitely all the snow. Since I've been ranting in my blog about how much I hate snowless winters (like this one almost was), I was ecstatic when it finally snowed and I got the inspiration to continue this wall c: Then I proceeded to add snow on everything . See, because I've been snow-deprived, I take it out on my walls! It was all done with default PS CS5 brushes which are very fun to mess with. See the comparison to see where I added snow!
Bloopers!So I got all the way to this point when I stopped to think "Hold on. WHY THE censored AM I EVEN PAINTING GREEN TREES IN WINTER ?" Cue epic facepalm and rapid deletion of the shame. I ultimately got to this point before finally deciding to scrap the whole background and start anew.
Also, I hate the tree on the left. I had to redo it twice and I'm still not happy with it.
Credits & specs
Manga scan ---> for the other rant, see the vector.
Background scan by back07.
Original image vs. snowy image (comparison)
Layers / size: 57 / 142 MB + 162 / 66 MB (vector) = 219 / 208 MB
No textures used, everything is painted!
EDIT: non-dual screen has the Bars of Death on the top and bottom; tried to make them look decent (thanks, Ao!) but your mileage may vary concerning whether I succeeded or not c:
Saving…
1 year, 3 months ago
This looks like the illustrations to a children's book. It's cute. I'm not sure what size the original image was made in, but you should try and crop by adjusting to the height and lose some sides rather than adding bars. That's what I prefer anyway. :/ Ok ignore me...
1 year, 3 months ago
Yea, this would look better without the “bars of death” (as you call them). For matter fact, the gradient map makes them even uglier. If I were you, I’d get rid of all the versions with these atrocious bars on them and leave only the original up (y’know, the one and only resolution you did this for – dual screen).
As far the wallpaper goes, it’s not bad. Although I think the character would’ve looked better within a sunnier background. Cloudy backgrounds are just too sad to look at. But maybe that was what you were going for though to begin with, if so, then that’s fine.
1 year, 3 months ago
It is a spectacular wall, but I think those spaces up and down, should not be there, I feel distracted ... So that part bothers me. The wall itself is very good, and I think it will be one of the best, but you should do another revision without the spaces. n_n
1 year, 3 months ago
Sorry about the thumbnail, I'm fixing that soon in an upcoming version :)
You've got great skill with the glow and smoke! The glow layered on top of the girl looks particularly pleasing, I really like it! Scarf looks awesome like that too! Great work!
1 year, 3 months ago
Thank you for the response and comment~ I thought it was my fault, the new system's kind of confusing since I was used to the old one XD And sorry to burst your bubble, but that's a guy. Don't worry, I think of him as a girl too either way :P
1 year, 3 months ago
It is really nice and magical. I love the shine and the glow of the light! And the snowy background is simply spectacular. Makes me want to go skiing! XD
1 year, 3 months ago
I like how you modified the scan for the bg. With the brushing of snow in different depth and layer, the bg design is really impressive. I like the clean vector of the character as well. It is clean and good. XD
However, for the glow, it would be better if the colour is a lil solid in the middle to emphasize the light. The character and the bg can be darken a lil to highlight the glow. Nevertheless, I really like the concept of this wall.
Great work. Looking forward to see your next wallie. ^^
1 year, 3 months ago
It's really cute.
1 year, 3 months ago
AWESOME! O_O
1 year, 3 months ago
excellent. i especially like how you use the colors and the whites together, almost as if they were refracting through a prism.
1 year, 3 months ago
AWESOME !!!!
1 year, 3 months ago
I for once think that black bars wouldn't look bad here lol. It would offer a contrast in terms of colors, since the color scheme of the wallpaper, despite of being a winter wall, is rather warm :3
Kudos to you for extending that manga scan, if you hadn't mentioned it I'd have thought it was like that in the original scan, more kudos for vexelling it, it looks really beautiful. Good job on the snow, it looks very well done :D
1 year, 3 months ago
First of all great work on changing a plain manga scan into a pretty scenic wall. ;D The vector looks nice and clean, but I personally think it would have been better if you did it without the outlines so that it would blend in better with the painted-like background. Everything else from the snow to the bright glow in her hands are all done nicely though. As for the borders at the top and bottom of the wall, well it's not that distracting, but i still would have preferred it if the wallpaper was cropped to fit the resolution or if you had extended it instead. But overall great work anyway. :)
1 year, 1 month ago
Infi, your vector is amazingly pretty ♥ and i kinda feel cold looking at the wall :D nice work :D+