new XS wide-screen wallpapers

[hoax]

I recently replaced my old tablet and needed an excuse to play around in photoshop to get better used to it.. so I thought of making some new XS wallpapers... I am going to add more versions soon, but here is the first one:

V2:







comments/criticism/suggestions are appreciated

Update:

V3:







Update:

V4:

[Soulburner]

That's really cool. I'm saving the 1920x1200 version.

How do you make something like that?

[wwwww]

When I see your wallpaper I think, resistance is futile.

http://wprime.net/xswallpepper.jpg
I reckon my widescreen wallpaper seems more friendly, and welcoming.

[hoax]

thanks a lot man

its definetly easier to do it then to explain it but I will try...

first I must say that I can't draw.. period... if my life depended on it... just can't do it.. so for something like this image, I just did a google search for some b&w schematics... then added them together on a blank canvas and changed their blend mode (since they are all black on white either multiply or darken work nice)

and this is how it looks:


at this point, instead of merging the layers what I normally do is hit crtl+a to select the entire canvas, then crtl+shift+c (adding the shift makes a copy of all visible layers, instead of only the current active layer) then crtl+v to paste everything into a new "merged" layer.. that way you still keep the originals handy in case you need any of them, and you can just move the new merged layer to the top of the composition as your new "background" and keep working

then its all about masking and adding color. you can use things like Select > Color Range on this new layer for some nice quick masks that are perfect for this type of work and are completely effortless.

i.e. if you do Select > Color Range on the above draft, and just click on any white pixel and click ok... then hit crtl+shift+j to cut the white background into its own layer. and leave all the black lines nicely merged on their own layer. (this only doesn't work on locked background layers)

Then apply hue and saturation to the white layer to pick a new color for your background (with colorize). then do the same thing and change the black lines to a new color, and do another "copy all visible layers" (crtl+a > crtl+shift+c > crtl+v)

Then apply different layer effects, things like hue/saturation, or overlay layers with solid color with different blend modes, play with the image levels, with the saturation, add gradients, invert some colors, turn it into shades of gray again, go nuts.. then redo the copy all visible, and delete all this weird looking layer effects to go back to where you were, but now you will still have the merged copy of this effect in a new layer.. hide the layer for a bit and repeat a few more times trying to get different/nice looking effects (in time you start to know what is going to work but its always about experimenting..and variety..the more the better)... once you have a few variations, unhide them and start changing their blend modes, change their order, scroll thru blend modes, add gradients, use select > color range only on the highlights, crtl+J to dupe it, then smudge, distort, change opacity, merge it all back etc..

then repeat until it looks right

I realize how this could sound very confusing, if it makes little to no sense please say the word and I will write a better explanation and add some images to illustrate the steps

[hoax]

When I see your wallpaper I think, resistance is futile.

http://wprime.net/xswallpepper.jpg
I reckon my widescreen wallpaper seems more friendly, and welcoming.

hahaha very nice! that made my day, thank you

[Mortal]

I love the simplicity of it. The lighting is really nice on the traces. It kind of looks like a loading screen to a game.

[Aerou]

i really like it, great pice of work
- its pleasent, its widescreen, goes well with XS IMO ....

[hoax]

thanks a lot for the very kind words guys...really appreciated

[hoax]

not too sure about this one but if I trashed it without posting it, you guys wouldn't get a chance to help me figure out why it sucks







will try to make the next ones a bit less weird

[NickS]

Thanks man, liking v3 here

[hoax]

Thanks man, liking v3 here

cheers Nicks, thank you

[ChaosMinionX]

Using V2

[kiikkuja]

Any chance getting them in 1280x1024. Both V2 and V3 would look really nice in my desktop!!

[Grafton]

if i could get one in 2048*768 (of v1), and advice on how to stretch it over to monitors on ati drivers

[hoax]

Using V2

Any chance getting them in 1280x1024. Both V2 and V3 would look really nice in my desktop!!

because of the different aspect ratios the only way to avoid making it look stretched is by cropping the sides... I stretched it a bit so you don't lose as much information but there is no way to avoid cropping:

if i could get one in 2048*768 (of v1), and advice on how to stretch it over to monitors on ati drivers

thats too different from the original aspect ratio, the only easy solution was to mirror some parts and split it into two images... I am currently using just one monitor so I couldn't test to see how its going to work:

Part A


Part B


To stretch it over two monitors you could use UltraMon:
http://www.dual-display.com/pages/posts/ultramon11.php

instead of stretching it allows you to set different wallpapers for each monitor

[kiikkuja]

Thanx Hoax for pimping my Desktop!! Using V3 at the moment.

[Martijn]

To stretch it over two monitors you could use UltraMon:
http://www.dual-display.com/pages/posts/ultramon11.php

instead of stretching it allows you to set different wallpapers for each monitor

I got duals as well and this is how I do it:

Open up MS Paint/CS2 -> new canvas 2048/768 -> paste both backgrounds -> save -> background properties -> stretch.

It works

[Grafton]

when i do the whole new pic/stretch thing it squishes the 2048-768 image into 1024*768 on both monitors

[hoax]

Thanx Hoax for pimping my Desktop!! Using V3 at the moment.

hehehe thanks mate

I got duals as well and this is how I do it:

Open up MS Paint/CS2 -> new canvas 2048/768 -> paste both backgrounds -> save -> background properties -> stretch.

It works

wish I had a second monitor handy to test this...but just out of curiosity..this also works on XP or are you using Vista?

when i do the whole new pic/stretch thing it squishes the 2048-768 image into 1024*768 on both monitors

so not even ultramon works?

[hoax]

UPDATE: V4 in 2 flavors - light & dark:

[illidan]

V4 dark... awsome!

[Jaivan]

Thanks a lot been looking for a new wallpaper.

[[XC] serlv]

Nice! Thanks for the images.

I'm liking 2 and 3. Looking good at 1920x1200.

[verndewd]

cool

[safan80]

What no 2560x1600 support