Oh! I had a hard time with my second vectored character, and that is Saber. I need to be patient in using shapes especially with the outline. Thanks a lot to `asa01 for his comments during the outline process. It took me more or less 10 hours of vectoring Saber, but just a little while with the background. I know the background is really simple. I made two versions of the background. I am really confused on what is better.

The first version of the background: Really simple

I am planning on adding a little brush work with the plain light orange background. I wonder if it would still be okey with that.

Here is the second version of the background, I added more curves, used layer effects:


Which is better?

Is the vector good enough? How about the background? Thank you so much for helping me out here.^^ I really appreciate comments and suggestions from you guys.^^

-Jane(^O^)

I personally like the first better, and mostly because its simpler. It sort of reflects the simple uniform the character is wearing, and the colors are unified throughout the wallpaper.

The second's background looks nice, but it seems as though everything is a bit more complicated then it needs to be. The background, also draws attention to the vertical lines in it, instead of the whole picture itself or just the character.

Hope that helps! :]

Like the first one. uhmmm... btw, pagtuon sa!

You should go with the first 1 ,it's simple, and it looks pretty!

You've done a great job with the vector! it looks quite good. i'd make some of the outlines connect/more continuous, such as with some of her hair strands, but that's probably the original style of the scan. i find the transition from the dark skin tone to the medium skin tone on her left shoulder (the shoulder towards the viewer) a bit strange, as well as the fact that for her face, there seems to be no medium skin tone. however, if you have vectored exactly according to the original scan, then don't worry about that.

now i'd pick the first one above the second, just because it is less busy. however, even then, i find the assortment of compiled brushes a slightly bit too chaotic. in design element walls, you want there to be lots to look at but you don't want it to appear actually crowded. it's kind of tricky to get it to look chaotic and clean. it all comes down to the level of detail in your chosen brushes and the number of brushes with high detail. generally, if your brushes appear too detailed over all, it'll look busy. as well, for your brushes, some of them don't seem high quality -- blurry and artifacted. did you by any chance enlarge a brush head?

aside from that, it is also nice that you played off saber's colors to create your bg -- the purple, pale yellow/blonde, and black. however, although it is nice for your wall to have a consistent color scheme, you also want your scan to stand out. you can do that by having the colors in the bg differ somewhat from the foreground. for example, they could be lighter or darker. experiment to see what would make saber "pop" out more and still look nice.

congrats on getting vectoring right! and keep working. effort pays off in the end. =] good luck.
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edit: oh and since i've commented here about your vector, i guess i won't be commenting on your vectorness thread then, if that's okay.

I too like the first one, cleaner lines in the background does not draw your attention away from the character, maybe bring some of the vectors behind Saber up to overlay on top of here so it adds a little depth

Well vectored. wish i can do something likt that

Oh I am back! Thank you so much for commenting on my wallpaper and for the compliments and the criticism. Now, I added new versions for the background, I choose not to include black on the two other versions, as the theme of the curves to give Saber the spot light. I tried to improve Saber's skin tone on her shoulders as what `asa01 pointed out. The shades of her skin is based from the scan, and that also includes some on continuous hair lines of Saber. So, I decided to keep it to that.^^

There are three additional versions of the background, so I would like to know what looks better, and if there are things I need to improve. The new versions are revised forms of the brushes, so I minimized them and maintained it's quality. I added flower brushes in the background.

Edit:

I tried to make the outline of Saber more softer as what `OtakuGaijin suggested.^^

I will post the three versions here:
(the later versions)
1.

2.

3.

Which of the three background is better? Comments, suggestions and critics are always welcome.^^
I personally like number 2.^^

Btw, the brushes aren't mine, these are from www.deviantart.com , I will post the owner when I submit the wallpaper.^^

Regards,
Jane(^O^)

Ah three and four look so similar so Im gonna go with four

I'd go for the second one and prolly the first. The first wall is alright cause the colors of background COMPLIMENTS the colors of your vector. Complimentary colors are good. The second wall is also pretty visually good cause it CONTRASTS the colors of the vector. CONTRASTING is also good. So your at a stand still.
I however, choose the second one because it look less busy to me and that in my opinion, you COMBINED both the CONTRASTING colors (light pink-ish BG, with the purple swirls) and the COMPLIMENTARY colors (Black swirls, black brush designs).
Therefore since you mixed up two very good elements, I like looking at the Second wall.

Thats of course my opinion.
Take it from me, I'm ranked 94th waller ahahahah (if thats ever taken into consideration ahahah) lol


EDIT: you got rid of the first wall you had, therefore the wall that was in second place, is now in 1st, hence if your confused, I like the first wall with the black and purple swirls ^_^

I'm not sure which one i like the best...probably the first one? um, not sure. i'll try to explain my thinking.

color combination:
- black is not a happy color (technically, it isn't even a color) and so i feel that it doesn't quite fit a background with such many floral brushes
- by having black stripes in the background to pick out the black on saber and the black flowers arranged right against her is good, but it kind of contradicts the 'happy' floral stuff a little bit (or is that just my weirdness kicking in there? ^^;)
- however, when you don't have the black stuff in the bg, it leaves the black flowers right next to saber kind of all alone (i like walls where designs complement and where something has a sort of similar 'reflection' design element elsewhere in the wall...i doubt if that makes sense)
--> my conclusion: i'd experiment with the livelier colors in the later versions after #1, but also change the black brushed flowers to another color. playing off saber's colors is good, but just try to stick to the purples and the yellows instead. however, i don't know if that'll just make the black parts of saber look odd...

floral prints:
- yay you decreased the mass of flowers directly next/behind saber =]
- the black stripes covers up some, so the layout of the visible brushes looked better; in the later ones, a bit too much (although i think this might be a person preference for fewer floral brushes...)
- the curcular brushes are nice, but the one where there are roughly two perpendicular straight lines, that brush doesn't quite fit. that one is kind of angular and breaks up the curves and the roundness you have going on there with the wavy stripes and stuff.

to copy my friend otakugaijin:
that's of course my opinion.
i don't know if you want to take it from me though, because i was ranked 143 a long long time ago but still haven't made it into the top 100 yet. and in v5, since only the top 100 get a visible rank number, i have no idea what i am ranked at. probably very far at the back...

anyway, keep up the effort. :D

LOls Asa:

asa01

black is not a happy color (technically, it isn't even a color) and so i feel that it doesn't quite fit a background with such many floral brushes

asa01

by having black stripes in the background to pick out the black on saber and the black flowers arranged right against her is good, but it kind of contradicts the 'happy' floral stuff a little bit (or is that just my weirdness kicking in there? ^^;)

K several things that I have to bug here.
First, I know its your opinion and all, sicne when did do walls have to be "happy"? Judging from her brush work, it appears to be a grunge look and that the colors are actually complimenting eachother. They match. Making it "happier" would make the wall dull. Sure the second wall looks nice with the light BG, but its missing sumthing, something to contrast the light colors.

I do agree that the black stripes maybe a bit too much, (therefore I suggest taking sum stripes off) but sayin black is not a happy color is wrong. I've seen sum walls here in AP that do a damn good job using only black and making it look more-or-less "happy".

I also dont see how the stripes "contradicts" the floral brush work... what do you mean by contradicting the floral? wat are you talkin about? lols

YAY! I am so glad that my friends and all of you guys take your time to comment about my updates.^^ THANK YOU!

Now, this is another update from me! This will just be a quick post since I have to prepare for school.^^

`OtakuGaijin suggested that I play with layer effects with the brushes. So, I experimented with the floral brushes behind Saber and I come up with something I really like. I replaced a new brush in place of the straight form `asa01 pointed out.^^

Ow, the floral brushes aren't for happiness for me, I want to create a deep mood yet with a sense of brightness. Thus I choose to use fantasy flower brushes from Capris of www.deviantart.com .

I lessen the view of the dark curves in my latest updates, I played with layer effects for the curves in one version and the other two, I maintained with just playing with the opacity.

Here are the three updates for the wallpaper:
1.(I played layer modes but I don't really like the result)

2.(Stopped at uniform opacity for some curves, this is the version I really like.^^)

3.(Made variations with the opacity.)


Whew, this will end my post, got to go and prepare! KYAAAA!!

Regards,
Jane(^O^)

Hi there...
i was following this wall lol... but OtakuGaijin and asa01 already gave so good comments that i had nothing much to say...
But now i'm first yeah lol...
Well i like more the second version.. I like a lot what you did in here..

i would get rid of the brown flowers at the back.. cause i think that they don't much so well... and i think you need to fix the bright pink on the flowers near her hands.. and there is a bit of the bright pink on the right side betweed her elbow and her body... (i hope you understand what i mean)

Anyway.. wait for OtakuGaijin and asa01 comments.. cause they have been following your wall more than me :P (i didn't know that you were doing a wall lol)
Goodluck!
kisses...

Hello, Jane ^^
I'm not sure, but I think your walls look sharper than the last time I saw it.. Maybe it's just my eyes.. Anyway, the purple in the first wall definitely looks too bright for me. I'm a bit confuse about the second and the third one, but finally I think the second one is better. As I said, my eyes maybe wrong, but since I see that your chara's outline is sharp, the soft purple would give a nice balance for it.
Anyway, this is just my opinion. I hope it helps you out a bit ^^
Good luck for your wall, Jane ^^

Warm Regards, Yuki