It's been some time since I've tried my hand at a wallpaper and I'm trying to get back into the swing. I've put together a little something featuring Misaki Nanaha from Tactical Roar. I was going for something with a kind of sky/sea feel.



It doesn't quite feel finished and I wanted to get some opinions on a couple things. On the character image itself, I think it could still look better. I played with overlays and blurs and other things but that's about as good as I could make it look though it still seems a bit grainy, particularly on the skirt. The tech lines have a small aqua outer glow that I'm not sure I want to keep. It looks fine to her right but the left side...not so much. The main background also feels a bit empty. It's nice and simple but it still feels like a lot of open space. Any suggestions what I might be able to fix, move or add would be great. ^_^

I think you've got a pretty good idea goin for a paper but the scan isn't looking too good in my opinion. One thing you could do to make it look better is to try vectoring it (doesn't look very complicated so vectoring might be the best idea). Or you could try cleaning it. You said you tries cleaning it before but there are other ways of cleaning it in photoshop.

http://www.imanimetions.net/tutorial/tutorial.php?view=clean
This site is one of my favorites for cleaning stuff cuz its quick and easy.
Hope that help/Goodluck

The scan is a bit too blurry for my taste and indeed the cleaning needs to be redone on her skirt...

But about the background... I have an idea... It made me think of some submarine cities with some corridors all made of glass where you can see the fish around the city... See the style?
So it could be neat to add just some metallic structures around and some submarine background... It would make an awesome wall I'm sure! And REALLY original.

But of course not sure it's suiting the manga.. :-s

But anyway it was an idea! :D

Good luck! ^_^

King, that tutorial method is (essentially) one of the ones I tried to clean it up. Results were okay but not as good as what I have now. I'm trying to work up a vector and while it is not complicated as far as the picture (as you said) I'm having some challenges trying to actually learn the vectoring techniques as this will be my first try. I've looked up a few things here at AP and I think I'm making decent progress.

Zazou, I know exactly what you mean but I'm not sure about adding my own elements just yet. I think that may take a bit more skill than I have at the moment. Once I get this vectoring thing under my belt I'll probably try to head down that road.

Thanks to both of you...I'll post an update once I finish the vector.

For the beginner its good, but like other said the quality of the scan is rather bad, maybe you need to find a better quality if you not really sure how to vector it ^^ And the bg is rather empty, maye you can add some techno or abstract brushes.

Good Luck