Death Note Wallpaper

1 year 6 months ago

"Isn't this one of whiteblaze's works?

Even his sig's on there..."
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Trigun Wall

1 year 6 months ago

"There's only two things I personally would modify before submitting this as a wallpaper:

-The Trigun text - It's not exactly very fitting of the wallpaper. Maybe you should check out a site like dafont and look through some other miscellaneous fonts. This one just doesn't seem to be working out.

-The contrast level - I noticed after looking at your wallpaper for a minute or so that there seems to be a lot of contrast difference between the background and the character. Maybe you should try darkening the background a bit to match the darkest colors on the character. Then, you should try to lighten up the light spots there to keep the contrast and overall quality of the background. You have to be careful doing this, though. It doesn't take much to make it corrected, but it takes just as much to make it worse.

Other than that, I would say that this is a very successful wallpaper and it's well on it's way to being a submittable Trigun wall. Keep up the good work there."
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Hit a brick wall

1 year 6 months ago

"I made some changes here and re-uploaded the image to my Imageshack.

These are the changes I've made over the last few days:
-Trimmed back her waist
-Lowered her shirt line ((and waist))
-Rounded off the forward shoulder
-Added some under-the-hair shading
-Made the white chord and amp consistent and even in their outlines
-Removed a lot of the .jpeg artifacting that I had last time ((it was because I accidentaly ran it through 2 filters))

Here's the updated image:



Once again, all comments and suggestions are much appreciated. I've already submitted this as an advertisement for a contest outside of AP, but I would like to submit it here also, so I need all the suggestions one wallpaper can take!

Thanks!"
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Castlevania

1 year 6 months ago

"Most of the mods don't appear really to be on much during the weekend. It's usually during the weekdays that the wallpapers start getting processed and rejected / accepted. It's usualy the same deal with scans, too."
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Castlevania

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, I think it came a long way from the start and you've come along pretty well in the result. I do still have an issue with the texture used to overlay the entire piece. It's a bit too obvious and definitely too busy. I think it distracts a lot from the overall wallpaper. You did do very well with amking the moon a bit less of a strong obvject and making the tree fit into the wallpaper. Your background also loks very interesting, especially with the way that you've altered it from the starting piece.

I hope your wallpaper gets accepted, particularly because of all of the hard work that went into it. *fingers crossed*"
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Music Heart

1 year 7 months ago

"It appears that your lin doesn't work. I went to your photobucket home page and it looks like only the first three attempts that you posted are there.

Maybe there was an issue with the upload?"
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Castlevania

1 year 7 months ago

"Ok...I'm going to be pretty blunt with this one, so bear with me...

First, you've added a lot of stuff to the foregrond that distracts from the overall image. I think you were better off before you did this step. The texture you added over the entire piece is very unnerving and adds way too much chaos to the entire piece. That could probably be done away with.

The next thing that bothers me is that tree. It sits right in the middle of the wallpaper and has no apparent origin or purpose other than to just fill space. That could be a major problem there. You could probably also do away with that from this wallpaper. It would more than likely bump the quality back up.

The other thing that seems to have an issue is the moon again. It's too bright and it sits right where it will attract all of the attention of the wallpaper. You should consider dimming it down with a brigtness / contrast adjustment and make it a little bit larger to give a color effect to the rest of the wallpaper.

On the other hand, the way that you redid the castle in the background and the bridge seem to be working out pretty well, though. You've come along with a successful result for that one. Also, your extractions are coming along much better than they were before. I suggest that you get rid of the overlap textur and the tree for now and try to find a mnore subtle texture for going over just the castle and the sky to give a sense of maybe an eerie fog that sets into the background. I think that might give an effect closer to what you're looking for here.

Other than that, good luck and I hope you keep at this one. It can pull through. It just neds that push in the right direction."
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Castlevania

1 year 7 months ago

"Hmm...there seems to be some major issues at work here...

The first thing I notice is the blurry castle. It looks interesting on the background you created, but it might be a little bit too blurry. It loses a lot of quality there. Maybe you should consider lowering the blur radius and make the edges a little harder to give a sense of shape there.

The next big thing that catches my eye is the bridge. It was nicely altered to fit into the overall wallpaper, but the extraction is very poor. There is blue edges all the way around the railing on the sides and that is a major craftsmanship issue. More than likely, that defect alone would get your wallpaper rejected upon submission. I suggest you give the bridge some time for extraction and try to remove some of the detailing from it, too. It looks too much like a stock photo slapped into the wallpaper to make a background.

The other thing that I notice at first glance is the colors of the character. Against the original plain background, it looked nearly flawless. Here, on the other hand, your extracted character needs some color readjustment done in order to use him here. You definitely need to darken the colors to match the dark theme at hand here. That could be easily handled by just adjusting the brightnes with some adjusting to contrast. You also might want to reconsider your use of the gargoyles at his feet, too. They seem to just be there to fill space now because you wouldn't expect to see gargoyles on the ground in front of a bridge. I think that would have worked out better if you had tried placing the scan at the top of a castle wall. Maybe something like overlooking the landscape...

Other than that, I would say that you're definitely onto something here. It just needs some adjusting to meet the quality needs of acceptance. Good luck with that!"
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Hit a brick wall

1 year 7 months ago

"

Nanuk

I don't mean to be overly harsh, but are you sure the art is of the acceptable quality for the gallery? The hips look a little disproportionate, and the shadow by the lip seems a little odd

That's the response I get a lot from people, but I think it has to do with one major thing - it's an odd position. She's standing at an angle and her shoulders are angled down towards her guitar, so that makes some things look out of whack if you don't see it that way. Otherwise, she's just a big-chested anime chick without hips and guysihly broad shoulders.

The other thing is that this is a wallpaper done entirely from pen sketches. In other words - I had to clean them up and vector them from just white blobs with outlines. It doesn't exactly come out to perfect, but you're looking at a good 40 hours worth o work there, if not more. I don't know for sure. I don't keep track.


I'm not trying to sound defensive or aggrivated about anything. I'm just trying to get some feedback as to how to make some last minute changes to bump up the quality."
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Hit a brick wall

1 year 7 months ago

"Alright...

I deleted my previous work from imageshack and uploaded a more current version of what I've got so far.



You've really got to let me know what you think here. It's going in as a project tomorrow for a graphic design course, but I'm still planning on submitting it here at AP, so I need some feedback as to any changes / work that need done before I submit.

In case it matters, there was no original scan that I used. Everything here is hand-designed either on paper or drawn directly in Illustrator via my wonderful USB pen tablet."
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Shinn Asuka Reaching Out WP

1 year 7 months ago

"I still think that you should try to add an object or two between the character and the background. I think that would help develop some sense of dimension between the foreground and background."
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my first wall

1 year 7 months ago

"No problem! That's what I'm here for."
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my first wall

1 year 7 months ago

"Ok-

What is a scan you ask? It's a high-resultion scanned image scanned by anyone that is an art piece done by the creators of an anime. It usually doesn't consist of fanart ((or at least here at AP)) and can be extracted for the character portrayed to be used in something else.

As for the extraction...it means the way that the characters are removed from the original picture and placed into yours. It usually has to do with blurry / missing / jagged edges around the character. This wallpaper has a lot of those. Take for example Mugen on the left there. His sword has extremely jagged edges, just like the mug shot of Mugen on the right. His hair has extremely jagged edges, as if both were extracted using the magic wand tool. ((just for starters - don't use the magic wand tool for extraction. Use a pen tool or the eraser.))

As for image quality...some of your pictures of Mugen look blurry. That would be because you used a small image and either tried to enlarge it or just use it as it is. That usually doesn't work out too well. The ideal idea would be to use a very large resolution image and scale it don to the size you want it to be. That makes the image quality much higher. Take for example the little image of Mugen in the bottom center. It looks extremely blurry. What you want is a large image and then to resize it to a small one to keep a high resolution quality.

Then...for the quality ((and most likely the reason behind rejection))...this doesn't exacly meet to the standards of a wallpaper here at AP. Why you ask? Because there are a number of things at hand here. One major thing would be the stipulation between your "own design and just a slapped together piece with a bunch of scans. The admins aren't too friendly towards those who just put scans together and submit them. It signifies none of your own work. What the admins are looking for is something that you have designed a significant portion of yourself and used that to make the character significant. That is the major thing in determining acceptance of a wallpaper.

All of this and more can be found in the AP Guide. I definitely recommend you to read this important document because it's the core regulations for everything here at AP, including the wallpapers, scans, and forums, along with a FAQ that you may find useful.

Best of luck to you and keep trying. There's no such thing as a failure unless you give up."
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suggestions needed (recently edited)

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, there's two things I would change here to bump up the quality:

-The character needs some more work before being placed on the wallpaper. She's very blurry and that alone would get this wallpaper rejected from the galleries. Maybe you could also work on smoothing out some of the extraction while you're at it. There seems to be some spots of uneveness where there was most likely justa twitch of the hand, but that can be taken care of. It's nothing big.

-The other thing would be the text. The text lines don't exactly seem to fit the charcter and the font used is very generic. You should look into downloading a unique font from a site like dafont.com or fontfreak.com. It might make the text appear to be part of the background instead of standing out so much. Also, not too many people like it when there's a font and text that contrast the wallpaper. It's a quality issue that a lot of wallers overlook.

Other than taht, I think this wallpaper seems to be coming along pretty well. Your background looks nice for he most part ((although the entirely two different part background I'm not so sure about...)) and you've got a good sense of keeping the color scheme together. Just keep at it and maybe this can come together to a gallery item."
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To Heart wall.

1 year 7 months ago

"I think you might have gotten off to a wrong start with this wallpaper. There seems to be a lot of quality issues. The biggest one is the character. The extraction needs a lot of work. The edges are all sharp and disoriented, as if you use the magick wand tool for extraction. That's not a good idea at all. The other thing about the character is that she's very blurry. That usually happens when you try to enlarge an image that's too small. You should try using a large resolution scan and compress it to a smaller size instead of enlarging it to fit your wallpaper.

The other thing that seems to be an issue here is that lens flare. It's too bright and seems to be just placed to add something in an otherwise empty space. That's usually an issue that will get a wallpaper rejected from the gallery for less-than-par quality.

Maybe you should consider taking this one back a few stages and keep what you've got for a background and start with a new character scan. Other than that, I think you're on the right track and well on your way to creating a well designed wallpaper."
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Hit a brick wall

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, I've been working on and off on this wallpaper for two weeks now and I've finally hit a dead end on where to go with it. As of right now, I've got two different versions of the wallpaper, but I think I'm leaning towards one of the two style designs. Here's what I've got so far:



I really don't know where else to go with this. I mean, the entire wallpaper design was hand-drawn by me and it's a vector design taht I've been making entirely from scratch, so I really need some help in where to take this.

Any preferences and / or suggestions are more than welcome!"
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My 1st vector-Haruko

1 year 7 months ago

"It looks good so far. There's only about three things I have to point out:

One - Around the hand there seems to be a lot of craftsmanship issues. There's a lot of little spaces where there should be black, but somehow a skin-tone ended up there. If you can't figure out where I'm talking about, look aound the fingertips. That's where it's at.

Two - Color choice. Almost the entire vector has great choice in color except one spot. Right under Sasuke's face and his neck. The skin tone should follow the colors already used here for the highlights and shading. Maybe you would be better off changing that to the shading color for hios skin-tone.

Third - A lot of the lines are too choppy. I understand that using the straight line tool has it's limitations, but some of the lines are just too broken up. It's impossible to see from the thumbnail, but the full size view it's so obvious that it stands straight out at you. Maybe you should try patching area with the brush tool or the poencil tool instead of filling each gap with a straight line. That might make the lines look smoother and more like the original art instead of a choppy style vector.

I also discovered that, through my own version of Adobe Photoshop, the arc tool doesn't exist there. So, I made you a quick "tutorial" on making arcs in photoshop.

1. Make a straight line with the line tool.
2. Pick the "Add Anchor Point" tool from the drop down menu near the line tool ((it looks something like a pen))
3. Make an anchor point at the center or wherever you want a peak in the curve
4. Use the "Direct Selection" tool ((it's just an arrow pointer that's white)) and pull the anchor point to where you want the curve to go to

And that's it! Hope that helped at leasta little bit!"
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Music Heart

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, I do have to say that the colors agree a good bit more. The only major thing that stands out to me still would be the character. The image still looks blurry ((not as much as before, but it still does)) and it's not going to be accepted like that. It really looks like a small image was blown up to use here where what you really want to do is scale down a large image to make the quality look seamless. One other thing that might hinder this from the gallery would be the way that it's laid out. The character still looks like it was just placed over the background and left as it is. Maybe you should consider trying to make the large resoulution character look a little bit more like the background to make it fit in. I would suggest making her larger and only using from the face down to maybe the waist for the entire left side of the wallpaper and move the heart over to the right a little bit.

Otherwise, I think this has come a good long way and is getting close to a submittable version. It just needs a few more tweaks. I do have to say that the background has come along nicely and I think I lke this blue theme to it much better than the original yellow / goldenrod type colors.

Keep it up!"
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Music Heart

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, if I might siggest, I think that the wallapper has a number of quality issues.

First:
The character and the background don't go well together. The colors contrast too much and it makes the wallapper very uninteresting. I think that could be vary well done differently by changing the theme color from yellow to a navy blue or black. It would agree a lot more with the colors on the character.

Second:
The character still looks blurry. Maybe it's the scan that you're working with. You should try running it through a filter that will simplify the edges a bit and maybe that would help reduce the fuzzines. You could also try turning the character into a vector art and do all of the cooring yourself to make more crisp and clean edges.

Third:
There doesn't seem to be a lot of planning. The background looks like it got all of the concentration and the character was just a detail in the texture. Maybe that could be changed by working with a layout design that will emphasize the character by incorporating that detailed background into her art. That could be done by maybe trailing that detail into her outlines, almost making her form from the cleff notes.

Last:
That texture in the background. It's too busy. Maybe if it weren't such a dull color on a bright color it would work a little bit better, but, as it is, it's too distracting and takes up too much of a percentage of the wallpaper. That could be taken care of easily by making the character take up a large chunk of one side of the wallpaper and make the background trail away from there. I think that would also help bump up the quality a good bit.

Don't take me too negatively though. I only meant to help out with making improvements, not shoot you down. It could really take off into any direction, so just take suggestions with an open mind and look for the positive in the worst situations."
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My 1st vector-Haruko

1 year 7 months ago

"N arc tool is like a curved line tool. Maybe it's just something unique to Adobe Illustrator ((thats what I use obviously)) but it's much ,ore useful than the straight line tool, especially for vectors. It should be something near the straight line tool if it does exist in your program and it should just look something like a quarter of a circle. It's not hard to use, you just click, drag, and rotate to create sequential curved lines that make smooth shapes. If you check my user page, I've got a few walls in progress that are purely hand-made vectors using pretty much nothing but the arc tool and a straight line.

If you don't use Illustrator, maybe you can download other tools online for your program?? There's always something for everyone online. It's just a suggestion."
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Shinn Asuka Reaching Out WP

1 year 7 months ago

"I would have to say that the major thing that stands out to me here is that the background seems a bit too distant. There seems to be way too much contrast between the background and foreground. Maybe if the background weren't so blurry it would look a good bit nicer. Also, you should look into adding an object or two between the character and the background. It would make the character look more interesting and give more importance to the necklace / pendant / shiny thinger there or whatever you want to call it. Other than that, I'd say you've got a good start and you're pretty well off with heading in the right direction with this wallpaper. Keep it up!"
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My 1st vector-Haruko

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, once again, the image loks very nice overall, but it needs a bit more color yet and the lines are too choppy. I think you should look into trying to utilize an arc shaped tool instead of straight lines all of the time. It would really make thinks look a bit nicer. Other than that, I think you're really getting the hang of vectoring. It's a very time-consuming process, but it makes everything work out in exacly the way that you want it to for wallpapers."
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why this one rejected..

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, being that it is a vector I still stand by my original post here:

myself

I would say it's probably because of two things here. One being the logo at the top. It gets cut off in a strange way that seems like just a craftsmanship error. The other thing that appears to be an issue is the simplicity of the wallpaper. It may not quite be considered your own work because it looks like a one-tone background with a live trace layed over it. For most people, this involves about 5 minutes worth of work and a scan. That could easily be the reasoning behind rejection, but I'm not exactly the expert here.

You should maybe give some thought to adding a few elements to it to create some interesting movement and really consider dropping that logo so that the whole thing is part of the wallpaper. I think it would help create an interesting sense of movement throughout the entire wallpaper and bump up the quality quite a bit."
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Shakugan no Shana Wall (Closed!)

1 year 7 months ago

"The character still falls into the background because there really isn't enough contrast between foreground and background...

Maybe you could try experimenting with textures to make the character stand out some more. If you try making a diffrent texture for laying over the figure, it may define her so that she stands out and gives her just enough contrast without changing the overall layout of the entire wallpaper. I don't know. It's just a suggestion, but I'm not sure if I even make sense, so I hope that helps some."
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My 1st vector-Haruko

1 year 7 months ago

"Well, the lines are a bit chopped up, but it looks original, so that's not too bad.

I would say that ((even though the left eye's unfinished)) there needs to be more white into both eyes. The eyeball is skin-colored in both and that doesn't work too well.

Another thing I would suggest working on would be to increase the smooth transitiooning between line segments. It's a bit too rough here and somewhat detracts from the qualtiy of Haruko's face.

Other than that it's coming along quite well, particularly for someone who's new to the process of vectoring. I would say to just keep at it and see where it goes. Who knows - maybe this vector could end up turning into a nice wallpaper!"
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