DavidK, you said: "Don't be offended but I know of one wall you uploaded that didn't get in Lecrayon. It was rejected because the image looked like it had been enlarged from a smaller one. It had that pixelated low res look when it was viewed full size, the image quality deteriorated too much. Also, although it was a creative jumble of unrelated objects, it was judged to be an idea that could have benefited from more work in the composition to be an effective desktop wallpaper"
And jafo, you said "As DavidK also mentioned, resolution detail...pixellation of the image is also important to its 'success' as a wall.
A brilliantly superb 'thumbnail' will never be a wall. The most common resolution in popular use is 1024 x 768, so ideally every wall submitted 'should' try to look its best at that res. Better still, if the image is upped at 1600 x 1200, down-sizing won't impair its 'quality', whereas an upped one at 800 x 600 being enlarged to 1600 will usually suffer"

I used uleads' PhotoImpact 7 program, I started from scratch, size 1280 x 1024, transparant background, 144 pixels/inch. After thinking that it was reasonably completed I saved it to Jpeg file interchange format, preset jpeg Q90 Progressive, mode progressive, subsampling YUV411, quality 90, true colour. Smae size 1280 x 1024, as I recal that was asked in uploading WP's..But my memory maybe refreshed on that point... Also I saved it as a windows bitmap, again same size, which was added to the zip by Object zip...I don't know what kind of "quality" you look far as far as it comes to x number per inch...What did I do wrong there then?

I am really pissed off by that JAFO statment in thread "I am aggravated". I have said enough about the wallpaper selection here. I have tried to shift people from positions and look different at works. All I got is basically: go away idiot you don't even know what you are talking about. I haven't responded to those, because it is non professional behaviour. I haven't got answers on even how to IMPROVE my work. see above explanation. I do have some fine comments about 2 skinners about the submission of Homeward Bound wallpaper. And one of them is ALWAYS in the download top 5. Somehow, you are not allowed to call people by name here. BLAH, are you from the FBI or something. This community exists only for the benefit of those who make money out of their work, whether it is skins or programs that make skinning possible. I really thought it was about sharing things, well this week has cleared up a whole lot of things to me. It isn't about sharing, it is about selling. To me, especially JAFO, stands naked because of his comments. YUCK. Well done JAFO.

Well...I viewed the 'preview' jpg....and noticed 'jaggies' particularly around the white 'thing' bottom left, and the red 'thing' on the right.
Both appeared to be a very rough mask cut-out, or drawn with a stubbed pencil.
So, giving the artist the benefit of the doubt, I downloaded the file....2 meg plus and checked the bmp...and voila....same thing.

The rough-cut gives the work an un-finished appearance...it's crying out for a little blending at the very least.

And...there's one other criteria for submission rejection....that of 'hey, check this out...couldn't wait to upload it...I know it's not finished...yet...but....'.

If you wish for more dialogue...email me....

no jafo), TOO LATE

i HAVE EMAILED YOU BEFORE, NO ANSWER NO NOTHING. NO HELP, NO NOTHING. YOU HAVE DEFINITELY HAD YOUR CHANCE AND YOU BLEW IT.
Oops, sorry for the caps.

Either you apologize or it io done with for me, as far as I am concerned.

And I want you to apologize publicly, not by mail.

JAFO, my last comment here about your last post.

1. I don't know what jaggies are.
2. After communication about the rejection of that piece, it was my pride to make it better. Nothing like, hey check this out, what do you think. That is really an insult again. Yes, you seem to be good at it lately.
3. I begin to think that you don't know anything about art, and that you haven't looked at famous artists. You even didn't comment about the email I sent you regarding Alber Namatjira. As an Ozzie ( ) you should know about him.
4. Mondriaan for instance didn't "blend" his work, he glued paper on canvas, painted it over, gave it different colours, glued some more, and so forth. It isn't always about smoothness. It is about how it looks.
5. You just don't like it. Your personal taste, I think, is tending towards being a great clicker and applying nifty effects on different items, basically, how to get the most out of a paintprogram.
6. I don't believe anymore that you know what a collage is.
7. I happen to like the rough look it has. The composition is good too.
Now, how I made this:
As some readers don't want to read all the history above I will begin where it begun.

I used PhotImpact 7, a program that is affordable and costs 15 times cheaper than Photoshop.
OK, I opened a new file: size 1280 x 1024, transparant background, 144 pixels/inch, true colours.
I chose to start with a triange. You can opt path drawing, so I chose a rhomb and cut it horizontally in half. I resized that and filled it with a woody look. Gave it a darker look at one edge, and gradually lighter towards the opposit end. Copied them and made a rectangle from it. Copied the rectangle and turned it 90 degrees and resized it, placed it to the right. Then I chose for the sky a dark blue with path drawing tool with 3D round look. You can still see the diagonal line in the right upper corner. Because I wanted to come the light from the right I applied that with the light effect tool. Basically I did everything similar like that, and when I wasn't happy with the teint of the colour I kept on searching for the right one. The screen that goes through the roof was a rectangular resized into perspective, and rotated in 3D mode. Applied a glass effect first and did a painting on edges with a bleuy white. That's how I placed and drew all objects. When I wasn't satisfied with the light I used the paintbrush to make it the way I wanted it. I did that on all objects actually, apart from the blue sky.

If you think you can reproduce this with your proggie from scratch in 5 minutes then I challenge you to try so. Because I believe that was also a criteria.

And finally, I know this is a skinners site and not an arty site. It's what you said. Sklinners aren't arty therefore.
I have looked at deviant.art, it's again basically the same as here. ...there isnt one wallpaper that I would like to look at longer than 1 day on my desktop.
I went to a few others too and I am disappointed really. One site had a FEW good works and that was gifx.com if I recall correctly.

Final conclusion:

I might try someday to upload another wallpaper design, but I can actually tell already the result it will get. Very disencouraging. At least I can use it on my own machine. I think you look wrongly at the way things look, and just want every pixel neatly ordered against each other. I can tell you, many people will find it masterful, but it is boring..It is made by a machine and a machine is cold, dumb, and has no feelings. I have seen people make brilliant stuff which make me want to look at it again and again and again. I would like to have such works on my wall, or as as a wallpaper when I fall back on the desktop after working with a proggie.

And I also want to say that the wallpaper I made was terribly good or so. It is DIFFERENT. Being different doesn't mean bad. I am very glad with the 2 genuine comments I got, that strengthens me in my vision. I am thankful towards them. Thank you guys

oops, a mistake, And I also don't want to say that the wallpaper I made was terribly good or so I meant.

And yes, I still want a public apolgize from you JAFO. That might otherwise fall out of sight in this thread.

Dude...get a grip. Jafo was being "very" polite in the critique of your work. Face it, this site moderates wallpapers. Some of mine have also been moderated. You suck it up and then go on. You want "real" comments on your wallpaper in public? So far you have only showed to have contempt for any comment that doesn't laud the work or tell you "how" to improve it. I'll be blunt here...the work is very amatuerish, shows no flow or order for form. The picture quality is very degraded regardless of the resolution you mention you created it at. There....those are my comments on the work you submitted to be used as "desktop wallpaper". This is not an art site as you well know...if I viewed your work on such a site I would say "Hmmmm, cool but not my style and go on....the same thing I would say about a Botticelli? Most desktop wallpapers *should* be suitable for desktop use, i.e. space for icons and such. A lot of my own work is *landscape* scenery but I still try to make it fuctional as a wallpaper....chill out and practice...for a looooong time. Keep submitting your pieces and grow a thicker skin. It'll come around eventually.

P.S. This is a message board and is not "realtime" like a chat room. Carrying on a conversation with your self is quite useless.

dj

jeesh.... simple fact, I didn't care for your wall Lecrayon. Not because it was 'different', that was actually its best quality. The image quality was not good (textures, surfaces, lines, shapes, fills), the perspective was fouled up all over it, the composition looked more haphazard than planned, The colors though okay over-all were disrupted by several specific elements (the lime green and the dark blue for example). The wood texture wes pixelated and didn't follow the perspective thus defeating the vanishing point concept which seemed to be the focus of the piece, as did the shadow of the wooden thing that looked like a door in the left hand box.

It was left in the queue for comments from other admins, and ultimately I rejected it. In SPITE of the fact that I liked its originality. I just thought overall it was not done well enough to post it. Forgive me if I'm remembering any of the details wrong...

get over it will you? I liked the idea and said I hoped to see more from you. Your crusade against the site because your wall was rejected is pitiful. You're not the first to feel bad because your masterpiece didn't make it into the library but you do win the prize for writing the most words in the message board about it. Spend this effort working on your style and making a new piece or refining the one that you already did and you'll be better off for it, as will we.

I'll take that as a man. Sorry guys, I went too far. I apologize and will try harder next time.

cool...

drama..............

Indeed.

Lecrayon, there is a concept that is important to learn: Leverage.

Jafo has it, you don't. I realize you apologized (which is good) but the thought process that led you to think that Jafo somehow owed you something (an apology or even explanation) represents a lack of understanding in the concept I mentioned.

Moderators can reject wallpaper submission arbitrarily. If they don't like them, they can simply delete them without any sort of notice. This may seem unfair but we get so many wallpaper submission adn there are so many wallpaper sites that we feel it's best to be picky. I can say that I would ahve rejected your wallpaper if I had moderated it. It is not a good wallpaper. It is a fairly unique concept but not executed well enough to make it good art and even then, it's not necessarily a good wallpaper which is what the section is for (it's not an art section).

Lecrayon...I guess I need to respond, as you appear to demand it of me.

Put simply, my suggestion to continue this via email was to spare you the public airing of comments virtually exactly the same as you now have here, from DavidK.

I was respectfully intending to keep the 'bull-shit' private.

BTW...as an Architect, I quite liked the 'wrong' perspective...


There are two things to remember here...in a skinners' environment.
1...the Wallpapers here should show finesse of technique so that they 'properly' match the qualities inherent in the skins they are intended to 'enhance'.
and...
2...they are 'walls' first, and 'art' second.

Now, me having an eye for 'art', the 'wall' most likely to adorn my screen would be one of Nuvem's [in particular].
I guess the difference with his work and that of a lot of 'mere-mortals' is that you can look at it, and look at it, and look at it....but STILL be damned if you can work out just how he DID it.
His work is not 'digital art'....compartmentalizing it like that does it, and him a disservice.
It is ART, pure and [not very] simple....

Now, were I personally wholly responsible for what was, or wasn't included in the wall section, yes, in all honesty, a few more that are up would go, but I personally have accepted quite diverse 'styles' of work...[the unfortunate thing about moderating is that the artists with consistently good standards of work are not moderated [as such], being able to upload direct so I have to go look for them to enjoy]....just in Bryce and Terragen walls there is quite a range of 'expertise' shown, and often it is the 'arrangement and balance' that lets them down...

Now, to have you declare that there is nothing at DeviantART.com... I have looked at deviant.art, it's again basically the same as here. ...there isnt one wallpaper that I would like to look at longer than 1 day on my desktop...where there is NO moderation and the displayed works run the full gamut from absolute crap to brilliant....strikes of 'it's not mine, ergo it is no good'.
I have walls of mine there on Devart but not here, because here I would moderate them...[even though I personally consider them to be better than yours].
Put yours on Devart, then, when you browse through the 100s of 1000s of works there you will be able to find at least one that you can look at 'for more than a day'.

The difference between you and me when it comes to Art appreciation is that I know there are many, many people out there that are better than me at what they do.

It's called 'humility'....

Wouldn't it be great if skins were moderated also? Just imagine the drama! It would be great

Davad....they are...for copyright/rip reasons...and to keep out the photo-skins [WinAMP] in particular....Britney plus Skinmaker equals WinAMP skin....

Yes, I was thinking of moderation in the same sense that the wallpapers are. Quality, etc.

LeCrayon: I am contacted on many occasions by artists who have had their images moderated, and many of them complain as bitterly as you are doing, but at least they have the decency to do it by e-mail and not come in to the message board and speak about us as if we don't know what we are doing!
Who the hell do you think you are?! You upload one crappy wall and then scream for a week because it doesn't get in!
Deal with it!!
It's people like you that are making me want to give up my position at WinCustomize. Maybe you would like my position?
Well if you do, work hard for three years, create things that people want to download, get moderated hundreds of times, hone your skills and your craft and maybe then you can have my position as moderator.
Now, I am no doubt going to get into trouble for speaking to one of our users this way, but I don't really care.
If any of my fellow moderators wish to take me to task for this reply, I have no doubt they will do it by e-mail.
See you around..........maybe...............