This is true. You do make me laugh. I thank you for the compliment. Sorry I commented about your Angel, I am also learning from this thread. Many of the techniques I will try in future compositions. 

Not necessary to apologize...its only my opinion that its awesome the way it is,haha...your opinion is as valid as mine there...vs. say maybe a technical issue which are more cut and dried.(tho still never absolute...this is art after all.Even technical aspects can be thrown out if done for a reason and done well.

Example...a collage type composition where the elements are rough cut on purpose and even drop shadowed a tiny bit to make them look like they are poorly glued down.

Or simulating a childs artwork...harder to do than you might think.

Karen my critiques would have been mostly just opinions about how I would have done a zombie pic...I'm more of a classic zombie man vs your more modern look...as in he looks too alert and intelligent.I like em' mindless and slow. haha.I would have made the eyes more rheumy looking,if thats the right word,and more expressionless.IMO.(like Karloff in Frankenstein)

The slices on his cheeks are odd...too perfect maybe?If they had continued to the edges of his mouth and been a hair more ragged it would look like he opened his mouth wide to feed and ripped his own flesh apart.hhehheheheh. But thats just OPINION.

The technical issues were pretty minor...some cutout haloing around his head,some blurry parts on his shoulder next to his head,and still some evidence of the cuttout procedure around his right arm.

its real nitpickiness but the blood in some places is just too sharp and looks like brushes rather than really on his clothes.(tho still done really well,I'm just pickin')There isnt a problem with brushes looking like brushes...its artistic...but the zombie himself dosnt look painterly...he looks real.(the wounds have the same quality...they are somehow 'better' than the subject,maybe in sharpness or graininess)

It dosnt look bad at all...just seemingly mixed styles(realism vs. painterly)...there are plenty of reasons to do it that way on purpose so dont think I'm knocking the work for that...more of a question of what you wanted to achieve.

Thanks I.R.  I appreciate your input.  The slices on the cheeks were part of the stock, but I could have cloned them out -- I will do that on the next one, and definitely should have faded the blood brushes, you're totally right on that one, as well as the haloing, and the amount of realism/focus/closeness between the wounds, zombie, and blood.  Excellent advice.

As for the classic vs. modern, we'll have to agree to disagree.  I like him a little intelligent, like George Romero's last Living Dead movie, "Land of the Dead" where they started to evolve, and communicate with each other, or that campy, indie, cult movie, "Fido" where Billy Connolly plays the zombie pet. I LOVED that movie!

This is such an inspiring thread!  I SHOULD be working right now, but I couldn't focus on work, without giving this a try, so here's what I did.  I made another layer of the zombie and put a colored pencil/crosshatch filter on it, then made a second layer of the zombie and put a watercolor filter on it, and then put a canvas texture over the whole wall, and gave it sort of an acrylic, hand-painted effect to it.  What do you think?

just found this thread,

my personal critique is this, i think that wallpapers with images pasted in from other pictures is just a tragedy. it looks pasted in and often looks wrong and out of place and well....looks just cheap and bad.

from my own personal experience as an artist, and growing up around people who begged me to teach them to draw, I only have one answer

and that is, if you werent born with the god given talent of being able to draw, you never will. That is harsh, but thats the truth.

Unless of course you take up donna dewberry one stroke, anyone can do that.

there are so many technical issues when you create a wallpaper, you need to have a focal point (brainiac you have too many focal points, and my eyes go dizzy trying to centre on that picture)

there are so many technical aspects to art that there are too many to mention here, but the main one is focal point, your picture needs a focal point. and be careful of images on the sides of your pictures, you need the viewer to focus on the centre, not run off the edges of the image.

its an instict you need to have (im lucky i was born with it, so i can see things others cant when it comes to art)

colour is another issue, is your picture cool or warm?

i would suggest that people who really want to get into wallpaper art that they really study the technical side of art.

you learn so many things, about lighting, focal points, points of referance ect.

i dont mean to toot my own horn, but my rockgod wallpaper is a perfect example. it has point of reference (the guitar placer) the background

smoke forces your eyes to look up and around the guitar player, but then makes you come back to the guitar player, and the mountain of skulls forces you to also look at the guitar player. the picture also deals with lighting.

i hope this helps and dosent offend anyone.

vamp xxxxx

Karen

I love that you are still trying to make it better after it's been submitted to the contest. I'm not sure about the canvas texture. It shows that it's not hand painted and the sometimes the more you try it has the opposite effect. I read a comment ablout the blood above, I agree for the top his head and his shirt collar tab (our left) I much prefer it without the canvas texture, but that's just me. Someone said it was too scary for their monitor but That's exactly what I like about it. Goes Great with Zombie Outbreak.  

make his blood more darker karen, too vermillion sometimes dosent work......

Looking good, karen!

Sorry I have been missing out. I got called away for the weekend at work. Missing Halloween with the kids and dining in my hotel room alone again. Getting a little tired of the 'road thing'. Maybe I will dress up as skinhit or starkers and freak room service out when they show up.

So sorry to hear you are missing out on Halloween with the kids!

Cut-and-paste "can" work, however there are several MORE steps in doing it.

First is to take EXTREME care with choices....light intensity/quality/source is just one of the issues....getting them to match within the overall composition...and it's typically the first mistake made by most.

Second is to understand [in 3D images] - PERSPECTIVE [and that also includes SCALE].  You "can" have more than one vanishing point...in fact Real-Life [tm] DOES.  The last 'proper' Perspective I did [for work] had somewhere around 17 generated.

Third is BLENDING.  Hide the 'cutting'.

Thanks Jafo for making me not feel quite so cheap. I know I need more practice but I also know I have improved over the last so many years. It was a LOON on Lake Louise!

That Loon would have had to have ATC clearance to land on the lake.....

"The mosquitos were so big at Darwin airport we pumped 500 gallons of Avgas into one before we realized it wasn't a plane..."

wasnt trying to make you sound cheap Frankief......i was trying to give the technical side of art advice....... its truly something people need to look into... but jafo is right, it CAN be done....but properly.

It's all good, I have had formal art classes, but doing art on paper and doing art on screen can be a big learning curve and trying to draw with a damn erratic mouse is next to impossible. The tablet was at the top of my list before I lost my job. Had all intentions of getting one and learning how to use it. I am just not feeling too good about myself in general these days. I think I am still in mourning over the job and have recently found out that my Mom has cancer and my little girl is in a toxic marriage and I could go on , but I won't. Back to the tutorials for me!

You could try asking for one on Freecycle. http://www.freecycle.org/   Find the group in your area and post a wanted ad--I can't believe some of the stuffy my group gives away when people ask.  Somebody might have one in storage they don't really plan on using, but since it's still good, they don't want to toss it in the trash.  I got mine from my son who got it from a guy he went to college with who was just going to throw it away.

Thanks Karen, I will definately look into that.

Momma is 85 and it's in her lungs so don't think the long term prognosis is good and her being so far away and not being able to be there is hard. My daughter is in denial and cannot see the harm she is doing to her son by trying to preserve something that is harmful to both of them. I am not feeling so hot about my artwork lately so that outlet that you speak of just does not hold my interest as it should. This too shall pass and I know that.

without predjudice

I imagine this is in reply to my request for comments on 4 Halloween walls that were refused recently, Thanks for the  reply but I don't see anything about the walls in question.  I know you were in Lake Louise, I read it when you wrote it way back when. It's so long ago I can't remember when. I am glad it made you smile. BTW I figured the height from the balcony to where the loon was at 20 -30 feet , so I guess I wasn't that far off, in my calculations. Thanks for that reassurance. What is off is why bring that one up here and now? Is there something you want to add, like constructive criticism, to help me

Thank you for likening my work to childhood school cut and paste, I used to like doing it and the memory was nice, Why are you being so mean and vindictive here in this thread. If you have a problem with me or my art than send me a PM, please, since obviously, my work is not up to standards, That way I can stop wasting my time answering things like this. If you have something personal I would love to know what your problem is. You seem very mean and vindictive towards Frankie, in this thread. The wall was mine, not Frankie's. You are a moderator, I do not believe this kind of behavior is acceptable. I am sorry if I have offended you. I try to follow your advice by just staying away from a person I had problems with, ring any bells? What I see is sheer provocation and I object. I know my opinion and 50 cents won't even buy a coffee, but I am a paid subscriber here and at Stardock and demand a certain level of respect.

Frankie I am so sorry to hear about your mother. I understand very well how you feel because I  saw how my own Cancer affected my family. Knock wood it's over 3 years since my last chemotherapy and I am in remission. If you ever want to talk about it or anything else, any time, yo know what to do. Everyday I pray and I am not a religious person, by reciting the Serenity Prayer.  It helps Frankie. Talk to you soon. 

skyzyk...

I was hardly being mean and/or vindictive.

Your name was not even mentioned in my reference to Lake Louise.

It was/is simply one anecdotal example of an incorrect attention to scale and proportion.

Other than an un-named and unattributed example ALL of my comment was/is intended as GENERAL and affects all who attempt to use cut-and-paste in graphic composition.

This is neither specific to wallpapers nor even to digital art.  It applies universally in graphics.

I did not take anything you said personally, just as constructive criticism in general. I have looked back at some of my early "cut and paste" efforts and had a good laugh at myself. I truly hope we can keep this thread alive without such controversy as I feel it is helpful to note the critiques and apply them to my own work.

I agree %100 Frankie. I only wish I could get some more opinions. To date only one person has has, but in the meantime I copy paste all the recommendations and opinions because I know they will apply to one of my works one day. I only want to learn how to improve my works, as you do. You know little ole  sensitive me, always willing to help others also if I can to help promote the community spirit. No problemo