I sent in the castle one but it got rejected, which is completely fine, I would just like to know how to improve. What am I doing wrong? The second one I know most people will think it does not have enough color, but personally I love just two simple colors together. C=

(I wasn't sure how to put these huge pictures on here, so I used Imageshack's thumbnail option....I hope that's alright....)

Ahh you are right, I had noticed that, and I can't remember why I didn't fix it. At first I think I didn't realize how to fix it, but now the answer is obvious...I can just edit>transform and play around there. Silly me =P Other than that, I guess I'm asking about textures and colors. The clouds are a brush...I hope that's not cheating...

Thank you

I reviewed your Castle one, and like I said in my comment, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's empty. I feel as if you've tried to compensate for the lack of images with brushes, and that's not the way to go. I actually find the stained brushes to be obstructive to your scenery. And there should be something more added next to the bridge. Maybe small, grunge boats?

Honestly, I don't think there's much wrong with the first one. The right side seems a bit empty, and if you couldn't think of anything to put there you could've just done away with that part of the image and not made it a wallpaper. Or just used bigger images.

The second ond just looks like a bunch of brushes plopped down on a plain canvas

Ahh for the first one, I've never been much of a real artist. I can't create, I can only manipulate. Creating boats would be extremely, extremely difficult for me. I use stock photos, brushes, and textures.



>.< ahhh, you're right. I love some brushes :D This background was for a friend, I just wanted to see what people would think. I usually hate the idea of using people in images (that's just me) but I love silhouettes. If I added some difference in color, you think? Maybe not everything should be navy blue?

For the castle one, the boardwalk looks like it's leading.... kind of to the right of the castle, not directly to it? I guess that's the perspective/proportion thing. I don't really like the yellow stain (?) brushes on top of everything; to me, it doesn't fit with the rest of the wallpaper.

A really easy way to make the bottom right part seem not so empty would be to add text (maybe something in black on a soft light layer, if you're using photoshop?). Or, since you have birds in the upper right area, you could add ducks or something in the bottom right area. But you don't want to completely fill up the that area, because people still want space to put their icons and everything. I like the birds, by the way. :D

In the second wallpaper, the pattern really stands out. It looks pretty sharp. I dunno if that's just my computer screen, because it tends to do weird things to colors and sharpness, but I would suggest maybe lowering the opacity of the pattern? Your focus isn't on the pattern, but on the two people, so following that, maybe you could also lighten the other stuff (the rose and such), or partly desaturate it. Just some ideas.

I like the first one a lot; the colours and concept are attractive. However, like the others have said, I think it's a bit empty. Text would do you some good for that one, and maybe fiddle around with the composition.

The second one...I understand what you're getting at, but it's not very well done. I would have probably just gotten rid of the cutout and text altogether here, since you've got more going on (and these are backgrounds, or desktop wallpapers?) If you're insistent on keeping the cutout, though, I would advise having one that's sharper. This one looks like it's been feathered, and it looks low-quality. The text bothers me, and you've spelled "friendship" wrong as well.

Keep working at it, I'm glad you're open to ideas!

Exactly. The first one is nice, its just so empty. The second one feels a bit.. sloppy? Keep working at it though.

add some boats or something to the 1st

and add just one more color to the second one. like a different shade of blue or a red of sorts.