Here's a Kingdom Hearts wall I've been working on. This is my first "re-CG" job, painting the ocean and the sky. There was a bit of perpspective involved in this, so I'm not sure if I did it quite right. The text is also a worry for me.

At any rate, I appreciate your comments. ^_^

The wallpaper is indeed 'simple and clean' :) great job..

the bottom right of the wallpaper, (the water) seems like it could use some extra colours IMO. :)

It's nice and clear. Really there should be a difference in shade between sky and water, but it shouldn't be anything more than subtle or it'll detract from the wide open feeling. The clouds are well painted, did you use stock photos or brushwork? It doesn't quite look realistic because there's not much of a concept of altitude to them. Try going for a thick bank of clouds down at the horizon that loosens towards the top, or lose the clouds in the lower half of the sky so you're left with the light fluffy ones higher up. You can then place the text on the horizon, making it smaller and less obtrusive or just below it over the water. It kinda spoils things when people make nice backgrounds then stick a block of text right in the middle of things :P

Nice and simple indeed. I just have a couple of pointers :

- The dark outlines on the beach at the waterline should be more faded as you go into the distance since perception of detail should decrease with distance. Some rocky detail on the beach nearer to us may also help.

- The clouds are nicely painted, but they don't convey the distance to the horizon. The sky looks kinda flat. If you have a bunch of the same type of cloud (implying that they're at about the same altitude), then those that are further away should be progressively 'flattened' i.e. compressed from top and bottom, and also (vertically) closer together.

In any case, I think adding more depth to the background will improve the wall.

I like the choice of the song lyrics to go with the wall, but I also agree with Furikuu about the placement.

Thank you both very much for your comments.

Ansalon: Hmm...the way I made the ocean would make it a little difficult to put in different shades of blue, but I suppose I could try it.

Furikuu: Any cloudy details in my works are painted. Me and stock photo clouds just do not mix. >_<
I tried moving my existing clouds up as you suggested, but I ended up repainting the whole thing because it looked a little off. As many know, I am text-inept, so forgive me if I still didn't position the text quite right. I never do. ^^;

Really there should be a difference in shade between sky and water, but it shouldn't be anything more than subtle or it'll detract from the wide open feeling.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that there should be some kind of shadow where the two meet?

~*~*

Well, here's the second version incorporating most Furikuu's suggestions. I still don't think I pulled it off quite right, so I appreciate all the help I can get. Thank you!


EDIT: Whoops, guess hamstersanonymous beat me to the punch by 13 seconds. XD
I'll try and work with your suggestions as well, and I'll re-edit when I'm finished.

Nice improvement on the clouds, you could still add a few flat wisps in the lower part of the sky though.

The text placement is also better, though you could play with it some more, like try having the lines of text straddle the horizon etc.

Edit: heh, well I hope you caught these further comments on the latest version too. =b

NeikanShinigami

Really there should be a difference in shade between sky and water, but it shouldn't be anything more than subtle or it'll detract from the wide open feeling.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean that there should be some kind of shadow where the two meet?

~*~*

Hello,

What he means is use a slightly different shade of color. Make one a little darker to distiguish where water ends and sky starts. Something that you can see difference in but not so much as to detract its wide open feeling. Yes I quoted you Furikuu XP lol. Hope that put things in more into perpespective.

Have a nice day.

Gah, I am so confused right now. So many things I just can't keep track of. @_@;;

At any rate, here's two versions with slightly different text placements. Very basic arrangements, just to get a feel for them. I might add other effects if such things are suggested.

In this version, the text is large and encompasses the entire horizon. I combined the lyrics into one line in both versions because it just wasn't workin the way it was before. >_<



And now in this one the text is smaller, covering only the waterline's horizon. Please give me some insight on what I should do, I really need help here. ^_^;



EDIT: damn it, it happened again! Curse you, cruel, cruel forum. Now I'm sooo confused.
Thanks for explaining it to me, Alex. That's what I figured after I looked at some oceanic horizon pictures. I guess I'll tie that in my next update.

I would change the font to something more soft

NeikanShinigami

At any rate, here's two versions with slightly different text placements. Very basic arrangements, just to get a feel for them. I might add other effects if such things are suggested.

The larger text that covers the entire horizon seems a bit intrusive on the beach color, but the smaller one is... small. =D Try combining the bigger "Simple and Clean" with the smaller version of the lyrics?

The slight straightening of the horizon line, I'm not imagining it, right? It's an improvment.

NeikanShinigami

Curse you, cruel, cruel forum. Now I'm sooo confused.

LOL. Anyway, he's right, generally the whole stretch of water is a darker color compared to the sky. Those darker bits around Sora's feet? That's a nice color to use, imho.

OK, if I understand all 3 of you correctly, the ENTIRE body of water has to be a different shade than the sky (or vice versa)? Or do you mean just the horizon line? Yes, I am really that slow. My 13-year old brain is just not functioning properly. -_-

Well, while I wait for someone to confirm what I'm supposed to do, I did as hamsteranonymous suggested and combined the larger "Simple and Clean" with the smaller lyrics. And no, he isn't imagining the straighter horizon. I fixed it while I reworked the text.



I swear, if I post at the same time as someone else again, heads are gonna roll. >_<

NeikanShinigami

OK, if I understand all 3 of you correctly, the ENTIRE body of water has to be a different shade than the sky (or vice versa)? Or do you mean just the horizon line? Yes, I am really that slow. My 13-year old brain is just not functioning properly. -_-

That's certainly what I meant, but I can't speak for the others... still, I read that in some book on painting scenery - along with the bit about the clouds from earlier, as well as something about how to paint convincing looking waves / ripples.

NeikanShinigami

Well, while I wait for someone to confirm what I'm supposed to do, I did as hamsteranonymous suggested and combined the larger "Simple and Clean" with the smaller lyrics. And no, he isn't imagining the straighter horizon. I fixed it while I reworked the text.

Well, it looks pretty good that way. Glad to know I'm not hallucinating things. =D

NeikanShinigami

I swear, if I post at the same time as someone else again, heads are gonna roll. >_<

LOL, is 10 minutes apart enough to secure the well-being of my head? I sure hope so. =X

I know you've gotten suggestions about the text, but I'm going to differ a bit. As it is, the text divers the eyes away from the character and divides the wall down the middle - an unpleasant effect. Perhaps downsize the size of the lyrics and begin them to the right of the p in "Simple" and end it where "Clean" ends. That would help things a bit. Also, something behind the text wouldn't hurt either. Perhaps vectored elements from the game, or birds, maybe a simple cloud? Something needs to be back there, currently the text is far too prominent. Another suggestion is the water - make it more detailed. Perhaps add reflections to the water or ripples, fish maybe? Just give it a little flair ... maybe some birds in the sky. Ok, I'm done. x) you're off to good start.

Play with adding more surf to the water, but I don't think reflections are really going to work because of the shallowness and the turbulent surface as it washes up onto the shore. As for darkening the sea, I did mean the entire water should be a deeper blue, since you have a wide depth of field from close up to the horizon there should be a gradient as the depth increases with distance. Does that make sense. But I think a subtle effect is more important than getting a realistic hue change! Do what you like the look of, don't change it too much from how it is at the moment.

Echoing what Almighty said, the text shouldn't span the entire horizon. You should think about playing with different fonts as well. Keep the lower line as it is but the 'Simple and Clean' could be in block capitals, or maybe a handwritten or calligraphic font. You can place the two lines closer together vertically as well if you do that. A vectored motif in the same blue, glowing white style behind the text would be a really nice addition. The heart logo, or the key he uses, maybe something not out of the game like a bird or cloud like Almighty suggested.

hamstersanonymous: *sharpens ax* As long as my post comes out on top, you won't have to meet my friend Mr. Ax. ^_^

Almighty-Baka: Thanks for the help, especially with the text. It looks a bit better now.

Furikuu: Ah, I see. So Chaox was right, as well as hamster. Is the current shade of the ocean not dark enough already? Oh, BTW, the font suggestion did wonders. I can't believe I didn't think of something so simple.

~*~*

Jeez, if I knew this wall was this problematic I would have just left it in the depths of my computer from which it came. Honestly, you're all suggesting all these good things, but I'm too much of a novice to know how to do most of that (e.g. waves, ripples, etc.). You'd think I'd be able to work the water, but meh. I'm much too slow for that. @_@

While I go look up some tutorials, here's an updated version with fixed text and a somewhat darker ocean. Seriously, all you senior wallers are going to have to start giving me directions, because my n00bness is taking over.