Postby Yumie » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:37 pm
I really wanted to include this on the front page, but, it would have been way too long and no one would be able to see the chat announcement anymore. But! Better here than nowhere! So, our the contestant who placed second is: Glitch1501! Congratulations to you too, Glitch, for coming really close! Now, here are the summaries that Myrrh wrote out for us. These will be great for anyone who submitted a wall, constructive criticism and praise from someone as excellent at designing as Myrrh will be quite useful for your future designs. So, enjoy!
[quote="Myrrhlynn"]
Shao Feng-Li
Good use of contrast between the white and the black areas. There’s a lot of emotion in this wall which is a good choice for a black and white composition. It is a little strange that the top black border has sharp defined lines while the bottom one is blurred. The pixelness on the white squares in the background bothers me a little though.
Orenji
Lacks a definite focal point. The leaves are very cool (I love that other picture you hid in them) but they demand too much of the attention because they take up too much of the wall. The words were a good choice for the series and the wall in general. The text looks good on top of the leaves, but it gets lost over the lighter gray area. Maybe giving the text a darker outer glow would help them stick out more on the lighter area?
Uriah
Has a lot of good stuff going on. The angel is perfect for a black and white wall! The thick lines and strong screentones make him stick out well, and all those features behind him are wicked cool. The feathers don’t seem to blend so well into the tree leaves though. The text, although it is cool, is too big. (It’s covering up the cool angel!) I think if it were smaller, and maybe more centered on that black space of leaves, it wouldn’t demand so much of the attention.
The Last Bard
Whoa, nice extraction of that image, it’s looks painfully hard to cut out. The character looks good with the grass, and I really like the brushes you used behind the text to make it stand out more. Oh and excellent choice of font! The leaves are a little overpowering though, since they are such extremes in shade. I think the blurry leaves in the very far background work well, but they are getting beaten down by the black and white leaves.
Yumie
The fancy border is an interesting touch, it’s simple and yet not simple at the same time. It really goes well with the picture of the too. The background leaves… something about them bothers me. I think it’s because they are so blurry but the rest of the wall is in such clear focus it makes the leaves look as if they aren’t part of it. I kind of like how the word Tender disappears into the white. It works well on a black and white wall.
Mangafanatic
This wall was poisoned for me because I saw the red colored version first. Argh! The unique arrangement of the image and text sets in apart from other walls in general, and it definitely works well in this case. The large expanse of black is offset strongly by the spotlight and Rue. Unfortunately the image of Rue has some problems with jagged looking edges (looks like it was in the original image that way L ) and it looks like the jaggy disease spread to the words Fairy Tale. The font is cool though, an it fits in well with the series concept.
Esoteric
Very, very cool font and use of the text. Blending in those lines on the top and the bottom was a fantastic idea too. It makes the sharp edge of the main picture less obtrusive. I like how the small Ichigo’s head is in the picture while his background is blended in. It doesn’t really work as well for Rukia though, since it makes her torso disappear in the the big Ichigo’s hand. Her pic works well with the emotion of the main image though.
Jack Bond
Cool idea to do a sort of character outline/silhouette. The large tong with the fat border was a good choice as well. The pic overall though is suffering from an attack of the jaggies. The jagged edges work ok for the small details/specks on his clothes. But in this hair and face they are distracting. If you were to try tracing part of this with the pen tool, it would take forever, but I’m sure it would turn out even cooler.
Snowangel kamui
The picture is interesting with lots of attention to detail, but it’s sad that it’s only on one half of the wall. Also since this is black and white it’s hard to tell if that is suppose to be blood or ink spots (or something else?) I really, really like how you faded out the edges of the picture. I think that if the picture had been big enough to cover the whole wall, this wall would have been absolutely amazing. Right now though, all the whitespace is pulling attention away from the main image.
Soul alive
Ah! The bottom of this wall is not black and white! It has some other colors from blending! *gasp* Well… I’ll forgive you this time though. I like how Aoshi’s feet disappear into the fog wisps at the bottom. With a dark background like this though, you need to be very careful with the extraction of the images. The little bits of white that got left around his hair and trenchcoat are a distraction. The text choice is a good one for Aoshi-sama. It might be a bit too… defined of a font for this wall since everything else is blurry, but since you faded it out, it’s not that distracting.
Black Rose Misao
Um… why is the thumbnail something different from the wall? The foreground image of Kenshin is cool (and not one you see all over the place, which is a nice change of pace). It’s distracting though how the white of the background transitions to a gray as it goes to the right. You could fix that with some Brightness/Contrast adjustment. Also the background pic meshes too well with the foreground pic, although I’m not sure what you could do to fix that.
LostChild
What is with almost everyone in this contest putting the text on top of the characters? Unless you want the text to be the main focus, it should always go behind, and be smaller then the main image, otherwise they compete too much. The cow print in the background is perfect for a black and white contest (and a Haru wall in general). I like the white border you put around Haru, it helps to set him off better, but I do not like how he gets blurry from the neck down, it’s too harsh. If you want to make him look blurry, try using two layers. The top one can be normal and the back one can have a lot of motion blur on it. Try it and see what you think!
USSRGirl
Nice work on the star background, actually I think you should have enunciated the star background some more (like put the text directly on the stars, especially since you used that nifty shooting star with the text).The text seems appropriate from the little I know about this series, so good job choosing it. I have no idea what graphics program you used, but a trick to make the starlight/glow from the top of the screen to blend in better with you starscape background would be to make it on a separate layer and then change the layer property to lighten.
White
Good choice of pictures, they are great quality, and you arranged them in a nice way that allows the eye to move easily across this wall. The text is appropriate for the movie, and the font is a good choice too. My one complaint is that the girl is the lower left (suddenly can’t remember her name). Because she is so light the stark font is a little too harsh on her, and I’m not sure why you put the text in two rows in only her panel.
Souba
I only have one big complaint with this wall and this is that you blending everything so well that it’s hard for me to tell what is going on. I like the funky borders at the very top and very bottom, and the sort of melted metal effect on the left and the right are really cool too. This wall makes me want to go and find a site where I can learn more about the game!
Ashley
Humm… I definitely like the pic with all the emotion. The text (and font of course!) go right along with her expression. It does feel a bit to crowded though. I think it’s the lower left that’s the culprit, since it suddenly goes to lots of dark spots there but the rest of the wall has lots of gray and white in it. I really like the brushes you used, especially the ones in the top left.
Nanoikore
Usually screenshots do not work at all on wallpapers because of the lack of detail and quality, but you got away with it rather nicely in this case. I like the grungy background, but if you look at it long enough the back that it’s repeated across the wall starts to get distracting. Nice text choice, I like how you chose a font that would blend in well with the background.
Faithfighter
Oh, that is one cool picture. But the coolness of it sort of gets lost to all the gray on the sides. If you ever want to wall this pic again, here’s an idea for you. Erase/cut out the clouds behind them, and then put in a photo of real clouds that will fill the whole wallpaper, since they it would just look like they are standing on a high hill above the viewer. I really don’t know anything about this series, but the text choice seems to fit in well with the pictures you used.
Heart of Sword
Ok I haven’t seen this movie yet, but when I see this wall my firs thought is … “what’s going on?!?â€
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.