It's been such a rush doing this wallpaper.
This wallpaper is probably the most difficult one I have done so far. I was highly motivated... probably most ever. I had a Dec 1st deadline and I loved the scan. It was a lot of fun although it was also painful getting waller's block.
The scan took FOREVER to vector. It took about a month working on it almost every day. I scraped a lot of renders and spent a lot of time thinking. I went through countless layers, masks, and delicious GRADIENTS. The hair took a really long time. I rendered every single strand. I wanted her hair to be somewhere between hundreds of hair strands and just gradient hair because I think neither extreme would fit her.
I really wanted to do the matte background. I had a lot of trouble doing it. Eventually I was able to get in rhythm and do it without drinking my own tears and blood. I liked how it faded off the edge of the scan so I kept the extensions minimal. The original is of course made of neutral and muddy colors. I liked it a lot because it makes the character's colors stand out more. At the same time, it also pushed me to add more color.
Her eyes influenced me to create a "sunset" version. Her eyes are normally blue but in the scan they were redish and purplish. If you need a wallpaper size that isn't provided you can pm me and I will upload it. These are just preliminary resolutions and more will be added upon demand.
The major change was the lighting. Since a lot of people starved for color it was a no brainer. I increased the red lighting strength by ~50% (Fill/Opacity 10-15% to 20-25%). Yellow and orange lighting was added to some spots to give off a more late evening feel. A straight edge shadow was added in the top left to increase contrast. That pesky door creating such a hard shadow! Hair highlights were changed to yellow with a white gradient on the second layer of it. This is to reflect how the setting sun behaves and it was in the original scan.
The last change involved adding more detail to the floor. It's not the best render but I didn't want to sit all day drawing curves. I still like how it turned out though. There are also 2-3 new colors of the 'detail' to the floor to add a more non-static feeling.
Note: 1680x1050 is blocky due to the file size being too big I imagine. Report to me (by pm) if there are any other blocky resolutions. I will upload them to imageshack.
Progression Chart:




Sunset Version:



Vector/Original:
__THISRES__266109.png)
__THISRES__259020.jpg)
EDIT & UPDATES:
12/1 - Uploaded the max res. It should fix itself soon. Thanks for feature and heads up!
12/2 - It seems I forgot to upload the other aspect ratios. All ratios are available now (4:3, 16:9, 16:10). Enjoy.
12/8 - The wallpaper has been renamed 'Relaxation' to 'Sunset Mantle' to better reflect the wallpaper. New version released to replace default. More colored lighting and floor detail has been added.
This wallpaper is probably the most difficult one I have done so far. I was highly motivated... probably most ever. I had a Dec 1st deadline and I loved the scan. It was a lot of fun although it was also painful getting waller's block.
The scan took FOREVER to vector. It took about a month working on it almost every day. I scraped a lot of renders and spent a lot of time thinking. I went through countless layers, masks, and delicious GRADIENTS. The hair took a really long time. I rendered every single strand. I wanted her hair to be somewhere between hundreds of hair strands and just gradient hair because I think neither extreme would fit her.
I really wanted to do the matte background. I had a lot of trouble doing it. Eventually I was able to get in rhythm and do it without drinking my own tears and blood. I liked how it faded off the edge of the scan so I kept the extensions minimal. The original is of course made of neutral and muddy colors. I liked it a lot because it makes the character's colors stand out more. At the same time, it also pushed me to add more color.
Her eyes influenced me to create a "sunset" version. Her eyes are normally blue but in the scan they were redish and purplish. If you need a wallpaper size that isn't provided you can pm me and I will upload it. These are just preliminary resolutions and more will be added upon demand.
Sunset Mantle Description
I got really bored of looking at my wallpaper. I never used the original version after release and only used Sunset. Yet Sunset was lacking to me. The floor detail was boring to me. Using the comments thrown at me I have made the new version! I did not implement all the comments because I have personal preference but I am sure the wallpaper pops out a lot more.The major change was the lighting. Since a lot of people starved for color it was a no brainer. I increased the red lighting strength by ~50% (Fill/Opacity 10-15% to 20-25%). Yellow and orange lighting was added to some spots to give off a more late evening feel. A straight edge shadow was added in the top left to increase contrast. That pesky door creating such a hard shadow! Hair highlights were changed to yellow with a white gradient on the second layer of it. This is to reflect how the setting sun behaves and it was in the original scan.
The last change involved adding more detail to the floor. It's not the best render but I didn't want to sit all day drawing curves. I still like how it turned out though. There are also 2-3 new colors of the 'detail' to the floor to add a more non-static feeling.
Note: 1680x1050 is blocky due to the file size being too big I imagine. Report to me (by pm) if there are any other blocky resolutions. I will upload them to imageshack.
Progression Chart:

Additional Resolutions:
Sunset Mantle (Non-listed and/or Fixed Resolutions):


Sunset Version:



Vector/Original:
Read more... (click to view)
EDIT & UPDATES:
12/1 - Uploaded the max res. It should fix itself soon. Thanks for feature and heads up!
12/2 - It seems I forgot to upload the other aspect ratios. All ratios are available now (4:3, 16:9, 16:10). Enjoy.
12/8 - The wallpaper has been renamed 'Relaxation' to 'Sunset Mantle' to better reflect the wallpaper. New version released to replace default. More colored lighting and floor detail has been added.































