Ok, I'm still working on my Kenshin wall, but this one hit me & I had to do it. I'm not sure about the font & it took me forever to figure out what to put in the space by his elbow/face but I'm really pleased with the end result.

Comments/suggestions?

EDIT: Changed image source to imageshack

I really like, and that is saying a lot, because I always have something to say :D Good work... I think that animepaper might reject it on the ground of it being to simple though...

I like how simple it is, but I agree with what fooblued said. I do notice that there is some white smudges in his hair and along the edges of his shirt, so I'm sure if you cleaned those up (by leveling those areas and using the clone tool a little to get rid of the few specks that might remain) the scan would look much crisper. Also try leveling his eye to make the lines darker.

I'm happy to see such a wallpaper as I'm a Sano Izumi fan. I really like the contrast and the use of the checkered pattern in the space between his arm and face. The pattern draws your eyes to that area, where Sano greets you with a vulnerable stare.

It's not extracted well (or maybe it's just spread out), but I simply adore this manga, so kudos.

Ok, after several hours of online tutorials, a couple hours figuring out the pen tool and even more hours going over the scan with a fine-tooth comb - I think I've really cleaned up the image a lot. I'm especially proud of his eyebrow.

So, what'dya think? Does it have any potential as a submission or should I shelve it & keep it for myself?

Shrink the size for your sig for one. As for the rest, it was said before, it is simple and good but I am unsure if animepaper would accept it.

The sig fits perfectly under my taskbar so I really don't see why it would need to be smaller.

As for it being simple - I've "complicated" it as much as I can. I thought simple was allowable if it fit the wall and wasn't just me copping out of trying to do better.

I think that for this wallpaper simple works quite well. Its really hard to think of anything to improve on. It flows quite nicely, and no color makes the contrast work better. I think its a rather interesting wallpaper.

I like it, but I'm not sure about the text.. Also, being stark black and white doesn't sit well with me. I need some color.
The texture on his neck really bothers me too.

If this were mine, I would probably color it with dark hues, after vectoring of course. Go for a night color scheme, something like this:

http://www.click-stick.com/images/other/wallpaper/Lastexile/Lastexile-Al_wallpaper.jpg

That would look nice.

Ok, how's this:


I'm thinking about removing the checker pattern & replacing it with the same brushwork as the corner.

EDIT:
Ok, here's my "final" *cross my fingers* version. Replaced the checker pattern with the brush work. Also lightened the shading on his neck. I tried removing it altogether or coloring it in a darker shade purple vs. the black spots but really prefer this better. Believe it or not, I've got close to 20 layers on this thing now!

I just don't know. It really seems to be missing something to me.

I'd still suggest replacing the pattern on his neck/chin/nose with a darker shade of purple/blue.
Lighten up the highlights in his hair, they need to stand out. Change the shades used so that his neck is separated from the background, too.

I'd also re-iterate that the colors used need to be different hues, not just different values of the same color. The SANO text might look better if the gradient over it is reversed, or removed.

Vectoring would really help this, and it wouldn't take terribly long. If you want the manga scan look, just add the patterns as shading afterwards.

I'm not sure this si somethign you can fix as such, as you may be limited by your scan, but I think the thing people may be picking up on in terms of 'missing something' is that the composition is a bit wonky. Basically, if you look for some tutrials on somthing called "rule of thirds" (it's a photographic thing) you should see what I mean.

The detail of the image in the background is all located in his face, and his face is stuck all the way over in the top left quarter of the wall. That's why you've instinctively put the text in the big empty space on the right - cos your trying to make-up for the emptyness.

Therefore, I would adjust his position in the wall - make it so that his eye is sat on the upper left focal point, at the very least. You can do this is you've got more of the scan by re-arranging it, but it may look better if you simply chop away the right and bottom, and then resize to wallpaper size.

As I say it may not be somethign you can fix, but hopefully it'll help you next time around.

In terms of this wall I'd step back from adding the detailed grunge and the colouring, myself. It works better in the original. If anything I'd also remove the text and if you can't fix the composition is there something you can put as an overlay that says something abotu the chara or the series.

Ie is it set in a city and you could have the black body of the chara fading to a street scene (Ie a stock)? You get what I mean, I'm sure.

Hope that helps you :).

Ok my first reaction was "Who is that?! He's hot..." (I'll have to look it up when I get home) Moving on, I sort of like what you did with your second/third attempt, but the first felt as if it had more style to it. Also as trismugistus pointed out, either move the scan down, or chop off the bottom and resize. Also for some reason I feel like rotating the pic.. This may help on the empty space thing and spice things up ^^; Good luck

Ok, I researched the rule of thirds and this is what I came up with...

I have a good idea for this.. Tris is on to something. The fading in of a scene in his black shirt area sounds good.