Here's what I'm currently working on..I can't seem to connect all the elements..please give me some suggestions..
thanks...^^

Well, i'll be honest, this needs a lot of work. i think that the main reason why the different elements of your wallpaper aren't coming together is that you haven't fixed the lighting, and that throws the whole thing off. what i mean is, you have to take into consideration that you're working with a background that is supposed to be at night (admittedly a very bright night with all those stars) but roy and riza are not shaded accordingly. the scan is bright, which would be good for a daylight scene, but not okay for the background you've made.

another problem is the reflection of the mountains in the water. for one thing, it is too clear. a lake would not reflect an image the way a mirror would. there has to be some blurring/distortion. that would look more realistic. also you have to think of the angle. the way you made the reflection, it's as if the moutains go right up to the edge of the lake, putting the mountains and the lake at a perpendicular angle to each other. actually, i think it would be more likely for the lake to reflect more of the sky (and maybe a bit of the mountains, but don't give yourself unnecessary headaches, go for a reflection of the sky)

on to the subject of the sky, it's too full of stars. a real night sky doesn't look that way. the stock photo you used looks like a picture taken either from a weather sattelite or from outerspace. either way, there's no way you can see that many stars here on earth without a telescope, not even out in the country where there are no city lights (we drive home to my father's hometown in the province every year, and i've never seen a sky like that) i suggest you try to find yourself another stock photo.

Thank you very much for pointing all of them out..I really need them..^^

I noticed the sky's had too much stars but I'm quite tired for the day so I'll fix that maybe tomorrow..Btw, the sky's not a stock photo..I made it..(that's why it's so unfitting..I quite made fun of myself after I did that..^^')
I actually planned for a daytime version..but I really don't know how to make a good daylight sky..that's why I shifted to the night one..Is it fine if I continue this version or the scan would very much fit a day ambience?

If so, do you know any tutorials on how I could make the sky and the mountains (for the daytime)?...I really don't know how to make them..and 'bout the reflection in the lake, d'ya know how to make it distorted? pls pls teach me...

First off, i'm not the best at making walls and such, but I did find some things that I highlighted which may help the layers go together more.

Secondly, this PC doesn't have photoshop on it, so I edited the pic in paint and saved it... aka its going to look pretty bad/pixelated bad.

With that being said, here it is:



1. The edge of that gun just seems to stop too suddenly... that may be like that in the scan, or it could be you cut too much... but you may want to see about fixing that in some way (slightly burn the edge or something to darken it maybe, i'll leave that to someone a bit more experienced if it is like that in the scan)

2. That rock looks nice, except where your layer to darken it/add a bit more texture suddenly stops in a very straight line. That will definitely help the overall feel.

3. While I can tell you were trying to create an effect of the mountains having rough edges in the water, it just doesn't work there. It just looks mostly like a big black line going through. Dropping the mountains down a little to be even with the water (and keeping that "rough edge" look if you want) should fix that.

4. (Very edge of the left circle) Simple layering mistake... no mater how far in the distance the mountains should ALWAYS be in front of any stars. Why they aren't I don't know. Are the mountains transparent? That would answer another thing (#8) if they were.

5 & 6. (Should really be one but I JUST noticed they were the same “group”) Extracting Errors. Various pieces of the background of the source left in, 5 is a pretty major offender and the ones marked 6 aren't any better really. Also, on the middle 6, there seems to be some white spec on Roy's pants that just seems out of place along with some of the lines being left in from the source's background.

7. Why does the grass just stop and get very flat? It should still come up and cover that area, along with (which I just noticed again lol) the area in-between Riza's legs and near the rifle. You had the right idea with the rest of the grass, but it suddenly stops there for some reason.

8. WHAT is that? That looks like your star field... i'd get rid of it. Also, in general, it seems like (or looks like I should say) that the star field is showing through the mountains with all the white specs and such. It is especially visible in that crack just above the circle to the left. I like the shading on the mountains, but the little dots of extra bright light just have to go, which probably means re-doing the shading on the mountains if that is the star field doing that like I suspect. If, indeed it is the stars, a simple fix is to select the outline of the mountain (ctrl-click on the layer for them works great), go to the star layer, and just delete the mountain's outline from that layer. I’d also suggest contracting the selection maybe 1 or 2 pixels so it doesn’t become a “hard” line where they stop.

Sorry if it seems like i'm picking your wall apart, especially since I don't have that much experience, but those things just seem to really stand out to me, and there are quite a number of them. While they are all little things, even if you don't fix the extracting and just the other things, I bet you will see a DRASTIC improvement to the wall. The eye catches little things, but sometimes the brain just doesn't put those little things to making the image seem to flow better. Overall though, if you fix those, I think the wall will look GREAT.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how did you make those mountains? Was it from a tutorial or just messing with a stock photo? I've been looking for a way to make some mountains for a couple days now but can't find anything that is simple to do, and it all looked much worse then what you did (even with the mistakes). So i'd be grateful if you would be willing to share.


Edit:

maxetal, do you think a big ole moon would help that lighting out? I didn't even think of that. I was going to comment on the "too many stars" things, but i've seen walls like that before that look great. Though they were a bit brighter overall (in fact, "daytime" in make-up but with that ton of stars in the sky at night)

As for a ripple effect in the reflection, if it was a VERY still night then it may reflect almost perfectly like that. If you made that rock like I think you did, using that top texture layer as an overlay (but much bigger of course to cover the water) should provide SOME distortion to make it not so smooth. That may not work the best though for it... but it is the only idea I (personally) have.

Hmm, maybe a moon would help with the lighting. about the stars though, what i meant was that if the background is supposed to look realistic, then the sky really should have less stars. i've also seen backgrounds with stars sprinkled like powdered sugar over a cake, and they do look good, but those tend to be outerspace scenes or surreal backgrounds with planets and comets and stuff. i just think it doesn't work here.

about the water and distortion, i'll try looking for a picture so we can have a better frame of reference of what it ought to look like. be back in a hour or so, i have something i need to do.

edit:

here are the pics. the first one has a lake with a still surface. i think that's the look you're trying for, right?
others have ripples and stuff.

Ooo very nice start ^^ Just needs some work.

-Roy has extraction problems
-Riza is cut off (you should draw the rest of her)
-way too many stars in the sky
-The mountains look so real yet the grass looks so...not-real o.o
-the rock in the grass also looks too real
- like said above try ripples in the water
-Tree next to roy is very blurry looking
-Mountains are also too shiny and sharp looking...like rocks kinda

that's all I can think of for now @_@ good luck

I don't think Riza has been cut off, I think it's just that it seems that =P Because she's covered Riza's leg and gun with a grass brush, looks pretty neat XP Ok so you need to improve your extraction, because there are stil lots of white pixels around the scan, so here it is! A Extraction Tutorial ;D

To try make Roy and Riza blend more into the background, play about with the Layer Style (Overlay, Color, Multiply, Soft Light etc.) And try out this, dupilcate the scan and guassian blurr the lower layer: Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur > 4.4 pixels ^^ And another tip is to clean the scans. Good luck with the rest ;D

Thanks guys..I really appreciate all your help..This wall's kinda off for me even without all of your critiques...dunno what's got'n into me..^^
I guess I'll redo everything..I did this like some kinda experiment for some of the tutorials I've read and just slapped it on a wall..(really not good, right?..^^')

I don't really like the result I have here since it has too many flaws. I'll try all your suggestions...but I'm going to work on this maybe next week..I'm quite busy with school right now so I haven't have much time..
In the meantime, I'll be glad if you could give me more of your ideas..I'd really appreciate it..and maybe I'll read it when I'm already working on this wall seriously..{",}

thanks in advance..
oh and thanks again for those people who posted above..arigatou guzamasu! ^^