Gyaaahh~ >:D

my 3rd wallie ever since i finished my summer class... still not done with my other wall im working on about vectoring and im still learning, so that has to wait.

Anyways, i saw this nice vector at MT, by Ayasal... and i started to make this wallie (\_/)..

As you can see, its not really good right now, so hold the harsh words for later. And i really need some help to make this better. I try to make it as mystical and dreamy as i could. I put some ripples to make it look like she's walking on the lake... and i feel something is lacking... so heeeeeelp :=[

EDIT: I put added some clouds above and mist below.. then mountains and reflections... more stars and glitters... put a new layer of blue fill to blend Lacus to the night time - she's too pink...

and i made her glow a bit to make her a lil dynamic

i didn't put planets coz i want this wallie to look mystical and seren for Lacus.

Suggestions are very welcome

thanks a bunch

first of all, that moon stands out too much (and not in a good way). It's too realistic, especially since Lacus doesn't have much shading on her in the first place. You can either put more shading on her by painting over/vectoring over, or, use a less-realistic moon. Don't use stock images or photographs. Try to find a moon like from an anime screencap or something and vectoring it, or vector over that stock image moon you have, reducing the colours to like 2 or 3.

The cloud there looks too smudge and randomly placed. I don't think it's necessary, so take it out.

I like the swirls by Lacus' feet, try to extend them a bit more, or even have some in front of her.

The pink brushes look very random. Either take them out, or brush them in a pattern, like circling her going up or something. And get rid of the weird glowy effect around it, or at least change it to make it more subtle.

The reflections of her feet look fine, though I think htere should be a reflection of that strand or ribbon at the back of her dress too. Also, try doing the same ripple effect you did with her on those mountains.

Also, I wonder if you can make the shadows on Lacus darker, because at the moment it looks very very flat (you can hardly see the shadows on her dress, and her skin is almost shading-less). Things at night should have even more shadows.

hope that helps!

Like MapleRose said, the moon stands out too much. You can either paint it, or add a texture to the Lacus vector, since it is smooth and it doesn't really blend in with everything you've got in your wallpaper.
Some small waves wouldn't be bad, so you can clearly see there's water there - right now, she almost looks like she's floating on air. The reflection is ok, you can eventually lower the opacity on it a bit so that it is barely visible.
Also, add some shadows to the vector. I don't recommend using vectored shadows, since texture-less vectors usually require a clean background, and the picture is more "fluid" here, if you understand what I mean. Instead, you can use the Burn Tool to make the shadows stand out more.
Good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out!

Gomen ne, but i can't use textures... its too heavy with all the lines of the vector. But thank you very much for the help and suggestions... i changed the moon and put a starfield and removed the clouds. I chnaged the glitters and added a reflection of the back ribbon of the dress. oh yeah, i changed the ripples for a bit...

this is actually version 7

and can you pls teach.show me hw to make the shadows... im clueless with making those.

thanks in advance

I agree with Maplerose, Lacus needs (more) shadow. I suggest, take a paintbrush with darker pink or blue-ish dark pink and paint over her dress, like on the folds. And also, the skin and hair, just use darker colour of the base. And then smudge them alittle.

The stars are too many, which make them look flat without perspective. Try reduce them, and their glows. No need to put to much glows on stars anyway.

The moon... is like trying to hit Lacus. o_O I think it's big, smaller might be better. Would love to see it glows too.

I like those swirls and ripples. And I think they are more attractive with glows(again?).

i painted some darker pink on the dress... do i have to smudge it?

The dress is better with the shading
Also, you can make the sparkles glow a bit more. And place some extra lighting affects on Lacus, as if the lighting from the sparkles is lighting her dress. I know that the last phrase wasn't too clear, but I hope you understood what I meant.
The moon is better than last time, but I also think it would look better if it were smaller.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the rest, it looks fine to me.

^^9th version...

i tried to make more glowy - but it'll just appear washed out... is the moon better? ^____^

You removed the mountains? O_o I think they looked nice, I really had no problem with them.
I know I might sound annoying and all that, but isn't it a bit too dark?

ehehehe... the mounatins are still there, i guess you can't see it coz its too dark...

there, i adjusted the levels... 10th version

that moon is really bothering me

I do like the idea that the ripples are pink.

The stars were nice how you used the tutorial that Grey Matin made. They're really helpful. Though I think you might've erased the stars too much and they're too big. Try to resize the stars and change the eraser to opacity 25%and be patient with erasing some of the parts of the stars.

Mountains are alright, but the moon I must agree that it's still borthing me, try painting it then add glow to it.

The reflection on Lacus should be about 50% transparent because the reflection isn't always the exact colour, it can still be tinted with blue due to the depth.

Last I think that it would be nice if Lacus was brighter a little. But I always just exaggerate it.

It looks better with shades, now. I agree with Moonescape, the reflection seems too clear. Try reduce it's opacity, and paint some blue-ish colour on it. And I think the ripples' layer should be on top of the reflection.

I think the problems here are the starry sky, and the moon. Try reducing the stars, and don't put too much glow on them. The moon; I don't know what to do. Maybe the glow didn't work well here.

Wow, this piece has really come a long way since you first submitted it. I like the elegance and simplicity of it but i love the detail you added to the dress, very pretty~

I do agree with people who have mentioned the reflection before me though. Perhaps it could be skewed, like on an angle or something rather than directly below her?

Also, the moon was a bit too sharp in the original but i think that now it is too dull. the background looks kinda barren. maybe if the moon was larger it would add more to the piece.

argghhh... i made it back... finally

anyways... version 13

changed the stars... i tried
made the moon again... (o_o)
uhh... remade the reflection of Lacus... made blue-r
made the shades of Lacus a bit darker

how is it?

The moon looks much okay than before. The stars shouldn't be too much, like near the mountains, you shouldn't put much stars though.

the sparkles bothers me O.o it's a bit tad much ^^"

Yeah, now the moons better.

Must agree with gaara that the stars are too much. Maybe they either need to be distant because there's too much glow. If you were to add stars the water would have to reflect it too.

Sparkles can be bothering, but it must be because of how it's flowing. though that's not the main problem so it doesn't bother me as much.

Hmm... i'm not the best at giving out advice so i'm not sure if this would work, but you can try to glow lacus and the moon. can either try using outer glow, or you replicate lacus, put the replicate at the bottom, then gaussian blue (about 10? just experiment a lil). and yeah. as for the moon, just use outer glow should be fine (and i think it needs to be brighter). lacus can also be more contrasted. try duplicating her (this time the layer is on top), then overlay. usually i would play around with brightness and contrast. you might wanna try gaussian blur the overlay image (i normally put 5) to give a more mythical feel.

by the way, please realise that usually when you have a moon, your stars are not very visible cause the brightness of the moon will cover up the star. (not that i'm saying you should take out all the stars, but reduce them, especially those closer to the moon) and make the sky more contrasting so that the stars are more prominent.

yep ^^ hope that was useful.

i tried to do what you guys said... and here it is...

the others said to put some lighting... so i tried how it will look. O.o

The glow on Lacus is kinda too much, and if you put this wall on desktop, it's a bit eye-distracting. Maybe try reducing it abit.
And for the moon, try give a slight blueish tone to it cause grey doesn't fit the colour range here.

version 15

i tried a different version... a bigger moon
version 16

which one is better?

I prefer the 15th version, cause although the 16th one looks abit more balanced, the moon's quality is much lower.
For the 15th version, the moon's glow is too bright and makes the moon stands out too much from the rest. I guess as usual, reduce it a little.

alright

version 17