Purple by Sikawtic

[Sikawtic]

I've been neglecting PS lately... so I decided to try and get back in the swing of things.

This one was pretty simple... a couple brush sets. Copied and flipped vertically, set to overlay... repeated with horizontal. Added a saturation overlay.

Update: Thought it was lacking, and decided to add a stock from my newfound favorite game, WoW. Stock is somewhere in the fan art section.

Contemplating adding a tauren on the other side, and switching up the colors a bit.

Update2: I'm really bored, quickly found and worked in another stock, decided I liked the pic of orc that I picked, so no tauren :(. I might make yet another version, I'm not sure. Closed the window with the stock in it already... it's somewhere in the wow fan art section if you must have it xD

Update3: I got rid of the mirrored overlays, and got rid of the hue/sat and redid the coloring with color balance. Tried putting the picture in differently. Brightened her a bit, and made the right fade to black. I also added a shadowy border.

Update4: I made yet another change! I added the fade to black on the left and put the background back to it's more complex step. Changed the watermark up a bit, but that's not all that important now is it??? :D

Yar, so here she is:
[ Original Composition (http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7849/purpleweb0ae.png) ]
[ With NE Stock (http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/4182/purple2web2xv.png) ]
[ With Orc Too (http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7473/wowgrungeweb7xo.png) ]
[ NE - Reborn (http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2565/purplewowweb2uf.png) ]
Latest:
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2268/purplewow2web7uw.png

C&C?

[Mtank]

Well, to be honest, I have mixed feelings about this one.

I do like abstracts, and the abstract bg does look good if you see the top 80-100 pixels, but a huge image with nothing but abstract is very monotonous. The Pic you put does relieve that a little, but not enough. Since it's blended into the background, it doesn't draw too much attention away from it.

Now lets talk about the colour. I would strongly emphasize that you shouldn't try to change the entire colour of the image using hue/saturation. Use colour balance on different layers, or make a new layer and set it to the 'Colour' blending style. That way, you wouldnt have just a single mass of purple. It would be nice to see different colours and shades.

There are too many abstract wallpapers around. Might I suggest that you keep the left side of the bg, erase the main picture less and keep its original colour, and blend the right side of the picture into black. Perhaps you could turn your bg into something that looks like Wisps of different colours in trees, flashes of light behind leaves and such.

And dont add another picture on the right. Best to keep a single focal point in the wallpaper, and its better if its on the right, since most people have their desktop icons on the left.

btw, in curious. Which brush sets did you use?

[hammocksleeper]

The guy on the left looks like that scary painting dude from Ghostbusters II.

[Sikawtic]

Thanks for the review mtank! I'll take into consideration what you said, and work on it a bit (tomorrow that is, it's getting late tonight.)

Hmm... I'll try to find the names of the brush sets, one sec...
*goes through folders*

um, one set is called "abstractfaith1", cannot find the others names...

[BlackHawk]

As Mtank said I think an abstract background is usually good; however repeating it over and over makes the image sort of bland. Maybe instead have the opacity of the abstract lowered so that the colour shows through more and it's not as upfront and harsh.

Now, onto the figures, make them more visible. I didn't notice them until you said they were there and even then I had to strain to make them out.

So all in all I think it's decent, just lower the abstract's opacity and make the figures more visible.

[Zeltaris]

Quick C&C: It is not purple. More like violet and dark red >.>

As for the brushing, well... it'd look nice as a demo for the brushpack, but I won't be caught dead using that as my wallpaper. It looks too dull. Colour balance would rock there, and maybe an extra layer or two in other colours would add some depth to the pic. The stocxkxs are a big no no...

Well, not really. The way the girl/elf/female thingy blends in with the purple would look gosu (YESISAIDGOSUBITEMEKTHX!!!!!!!!:(:(:(:(:(:() in a sig

And please, don't duplicate layers and flip them. It burns... it burns!

But, with a bit more variation in colours and putting the pic in front of the abstract instead of blending it, it'll look rather nice. Just add some more detail, like a border and a sexy pic of Zelt drinking beer. In tight leather pants ftw ;)

[Sikawtic]

Updated, used some of the feedback. I'll be doing at least one more version, where the NE isn't blended in at all... might try making a "wispy" background and will try to implement the rest of your suggestions.

Thanks for the replies!
~Sikawtic

Oh and Zelt, it was entitled "Purple" before I stared making changes to it, and we don't have the ability to rename our threads :(.

[Battlecruiser]

I like the lastest one the best. Looks like a cool wallpaper. I like how the purple fits in so well with the girl on the right.

[Aquarian]

The NE's face looks really masculine.Wow.

The one shown on the thread looks best.I kinda agree with what MTank said.I don't know what else to say.Try feathering the sides of the abstract,to make it end into black.

BUt then,GJ btw!:)

[Mtank]

Better, but the abstract now doesnt look as good. The stuff you've put on top, those strange lines, ruin the wallpaper for me.

A tip: Don't use the wave filter too much. It often ends up looking ugly. My suggestion is to go with brushwork if you want a wispy effect, not filters.

The bit on the right, darkened as it is, looks good, I think, but too much in contrast with the left size of the image. My advice: Lighten the right a bit, but some of that purple back, and darken the extreme left. Make it nearly black on the extreme left, and lighter as you move right.

That way, there wont be so much abstract in the image, which will actually make the remaining abstract look much better.

Also, the bg is still mostly the same hue.



You have rekindled my photoshop interest. Heres an idea: why dont you mail the psd file to me at mtankha@gmail.com, and ill make some changes and post them here, if you desire?

[Sikawtic]

I updated it again btw.

[Leosam096]

i admire the way you mixed colors and made it into something pleasing. :)

[BlackHawk]

I like how the Night Elf or whatever blends in with the abstract, but I don't like the blue-ish glow you gave her on the right. Maybe make the glow purple and see how that looks? Dunno, it just looks out of place.

[Sikawtic]

The blue-ish glow was from the stock :P

[BlackHawk]

The blue-ish glow was from the stock :P

Make it purple. I command thee.

[Mtank]

Well, I tinkered around with this thing a bit. Erased most of the stuff on the left in order to make the focus of the pic stay with the elf. I also gave it a variety of colours, which improved it, i think.

Then I brushed over the abstract, making it look less techy (which didnt go well with the NE, i thought. ) Then I made an arrow like thing on the left, as you can see, which reduced the meaninglessness of the background a bit. I can still see some things that I probably should tweak, but I'll probably do it later.

http://sigs.kupatrix.org/purple2b.jpg

[Sikawtic]

Wow! I like it, the only real thing I can say that I dislike is the way the arrows are... the arrangement there in doesn't appeal to me. I think I'd like them better if they were in more of a pattern, or coming from a center point.. but that's just me.

5/5, you kicked my arse :P