OK, I recently started watching Eureka Seven, and the anime is great, it's one of my favorite ones. So it was only natural to dedicate my first wallpaper to the series. After spending some time cleaning the scan, rebuilding some parts, brushing, and deciding on a background, I uploaded it to Session Zero, looking like this: Version 1
Then, I received a comment about the background, saying that it just doesn't fit with the wallpaper, since it was an actual photo, rather then something drawn. I thought that anyways as I was making the wallpaper, but seeing that I can't create clouds to save my life, and I couldn't find any nice looking ones on the net, I resourced to making my own by mixing various screenshots from the anime itself. It was a difficult job, but with a lot of erasing, repainting and blending, I finally managed to make it look decent, like this: Version 2
I was tired of all the work, so I didn't even notice the colors were blending somewhat too nicely, and the lines coming out from behind Eureka just seemed... too invisible, like they were blending with the sky behind her. So I decided to make a bit more contrast by making the final, third version: Version 3
I didn't upload it to Session Zero yet though, because I don't really know if version 2 is better after all. I'm really puzzled by this wallpaper, don't know where to go next, and I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

Personally I like the second version, cuz the lines behind the character fits better with the overall color of the wallpaper.

Try and amplify a little the lines in the second wallpaper, but keep the blending. Also you could fade a little the edges on the character, to make it blend better with the lines behind. I see there is also some kind of fog next to the edges of the character, you can use it to mask those.

I think the back ground is a little blurry in comparison with the character (but this is more like a personal preference)... if you wish smooth it a little and see what version looks better.

3nd version:
The lines are better defined, but the color is not matching very well and intersects with the blue "fog" on the edges.

One last note. Personally I dislike signatures that look to obvious and distorts or covers a part of the wallpaper. Simple, clean, small and visible is what i use (please note that this is only a personal preference and is not meant as a critique).

I'm looking forward for the final version on this wall ;)

I like the second version most. I think you should stick to it and do all the improvements on it. With the third version the color lines kind of distortions the wallpaper. The background color and style are nice. The glow effect around Eureka looks great too!!.

Lets see what others have to say. Maybe there are more good suggestions...

Phossil. ^_^

OK, seems like people like version 2 the most. I did what I could, and the is the result:
Version 2 revision

As you can see, I removed the black bar behind the signature and amplified the lines. In addition to improving version 2, I did one more version, which is basically the same except I changed the background. You can see it here: Version 4

This will be the last version. All I need now is an opinion which is better, version 2 or 4. After that, I'll stick with the better version and make improvements to it, if necessary. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

Ah, a slightly different approach than the completely design one taken by some people who have walled this scan before you. :P i don't know how well abstract-ish brushings work on top of a sky background but i'll go with your idea.

first off: the scan...is it possible to make eureka even clean in parts? i know that saving as jpeg will create artifacting but it bugs me that i can see some distinct artifacting in her hair (to either side of her head) and a long some edges on the blue parts of her dress. x_x

anyway, i think i prefer the first version 2, rather than the revision. on my monitor, the blending of the lights with the bg isn't such a huge problem and i like the softer lines. as to the new bg in version 4, the sun upsets the balance in and otherwise quite symmetrical wall and the bubbles (perhaps bits of a lens flare?) are weird. plus the fact that i just don't like those clouds for some reason. =/

that being said, i'm not super fond of the clouds in version 2 either. *dodges whatever you throw at me* they are on the blurry side. as well, the arrangement of individual clouds is not the most aesthetically pleasing. there is one thick solid bar across the top, then less visible clouds to either side of eureka. it's just too...organized? i don't know. can't quite put my finger on the perfect word to describe it.

but have faith in yourself. =] clouds aren't the hardest thing to make. painting requires the most work. the other ways would be using adjusted screenshots (you already know that) and/or filtered stock photos (most commonly treated with gaussian blur) and/or brushes. nowadays, i'd paint my own sky. but for my first wall, i only partially painted. what i did to make much of that sky was look for reasonably sized stock photos of white puffy clouds, cut & arrange & blend those, and give it all a nice blur, enough to take out the detailed realism but not enough to contrast too much with the clean foreground.

i don't know if this is much help. D: good luck with improvements though.

God damn, I'll never get this right xD

EDIT: Seems like it got it right, it got accepted into the galleries xD. Thanks for everyone's help, much appreciated.