Desktop Wallpaper

[SPWA]

So, as I got my new pc recently, I wanted to make my own wallpaper. I really like the steampunk style, so I thought I'd head along those lines. This is what I have so far. I plan to use the piece as an ongoing thing and adding/improving elements as my skill level improves. Apart from the BG, I pen-tooled & fx'd everything myself.

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[Inkz]

Damn fella...

This is really nice. Couple of things, the reflection is too hard, soften it up by giving it a tickle lol, and the drop shadows need a little distance from the cogs.

Other than that, it's a tip top desk top lol.

Oh, I forgot, the text looks great.

 

[ibclare]

Nice. I agree with Inkz. The other thing you might consider is making the gears resemble the insignia in shadow and even a bit of the highlighting, but in a subtle manner. The gears have a very deep all around shadow effect and to me, they just seem really separate. Perhaps if the shadows were less,making them seem more BG and less 3D so to speak, they wouldn't overwhelm the emblem in the middle. But as it is, they pull my eye away from the central image.

That said, I love the varied textures, and the individual pieces are well done and very interesting!

 

[chrisdesign]

I like it ! You've done an excellent job on this one. Though I agree with Inkz and Clare.

 

[SPWA]

Thx for the comments

Made a few slight alterations based on what was said. It's always good to get a fresh pair of eyes to check for something you may have overlooked.

Updated OP image.

 

[Paul]

This is really nice work, do you think you could do a short tutorial for all of us please?

 

[egosbar]

like it , i might even be inspired too do my own wallpaper

 

[SPWA]

This is really nice work, do you think you could do a short tutorial for all of us please?

Thx Paul. I would love to say yes, but I sort of hashed most of it . It was a case of drawing the shapes I wanted, then just playing around with masks & blending modes, & layer FX. If something didn't work, I tried something else.

Most of the pen tool work was done in Ai, then imported. The cogs required 3 layers to get the desired look I wanted, so I just applied different layer fx to them.

The scan lines is a small repeating pattern, with a gradient mask on to lighten the centre. There is a flat blue layer behind the screen with 2 further clear layers on top given a Bevel & emboss with varying blend modes & contour settings. The scan lines are masked over the top. I added the highlight on a layer above the rest of the screen, then used Overlay to blend it.

The outer rim of the screen is on the bottom flat blue layer, and is just an outer bevel, colored gold, with a very busy contour setting.

The background I used had an adjustment layer over it to change the color. I also ran an unsharp on it to bring out the shadows.

Basically, I created all the separate elements then put them together on 1 image.

I'm not quite ready for in depth tutorials yet, but that was the basics. I linked a couple of basic tuts I refered to while working on it.

 

[Paul]

That's usually how the best images evolve mate, thanks.