Letter from the Editor
What with the advent of summer, frozen drinks and rainbows, June has been a hectic month. As such, we are presenting the very first
While often falling second to color and technique, placement is the key to creating movement and focus in walls. Esteemed colleague GoldenApe shows us how to utilize the
Meanwhile, resident master of everything art-related, Nysha stops by to chat with aqi about her famous wallpapers that have captivated an entire generation of wallers and netizens.
And finally, I spend this month mulling over what makes monochrome walls so appealing. Beginners and veterans alike have been beguiled by this timeless style, but its high time to assess what takes this style beyond the superficially charming.
With the World Cup culminating in an affair of pure excitement and epic proportions, what better way to celebrate than a
Editors: vitaamin
Writers: Kritty
Last Month's Who Said It?
Features
This month I will be covering the
The most common use of the
In Umboody's wall, the character's eyes aren't visible but are still located near the top-left intersection. As a result, the wall's main subjects--the girl--are aligned to the vertical line, accentuating their height and importance. The points of secondary interest--such as the boat, sun and lighthouse--sit at the top right intersection, giving off a strong presence due to their location and breaking the otherwise monotonous horizon.
Depending on the scene, the
Alternatively, you could go for something
In creating movement, it is important to let the viewer see where your subject has been, where it is going, or what it is looking at. By placing your point of interest at the 1/3 mark, you automatically create the amount of space needed to weave a story for your viewer. Incidentally, it also leaves ample room for desktop icons.
Nysha is able to construct a delicate but touching story by utilizing the
Now that I've covered the elements of your wall that can benefit from the
Waller Expose
Nysha, our newest VW staff member, is a prominent figure in both Minitokyo and Animepaper. Renowned for her brilliant technical skills and her keen eye for colour and composition, her gallery is a showcase of high quality art. Despite her well-recognized artwork, she remains a mystery to wallers and admirers alike. Luckily, I received the opportunity to learn more about the person behind the most famous scenic masterpieces.
Nysha’s relationship with art has been a longstanding one. She began building her foundation as an artist at a young age. Between nine and seventeen, she received private instruction in classic mediums--oil, acrylics and coloured pencil. Having grown up near a forest by the ocean, Nysha was fascinated by the local wildlife which is now the subject of her more traditional artwork.
As an accomplished traditional artist, the transition into digital art was not particularly difficult. "It’s just a new way of looking at pieces," she says, simply. Whether it's mixing colors or layering, constructing composition or creating movement, the art-making process remains unchanged. The best thing is that her dorm mates won’t get angry at her: digital art doesn’t make such a big mess!
And so began her quiet ascent to the top. While small in size, her gallery showcases well-composed pieces that have resulted from weeks, or sometimes months, of careful planning and patience. From choosing a scan, testing various angles to the actual painting, every step of her process is carefully considered. But these technical aspects are only secondary to originality. "To me, originality doesn't really mean 'Wow, I've never seen that before'," she stresses. Even when extending scans and painting backgrounds, the waller has his/her own ideas. "You want to aim for an original visual style, for walls that no one else can replicate if they tried. [That] wall will be uniquely yours."
While many may be intimidated by her professional wallpapers, Nysha wants to encourage new wallers to ask her questions. Having been inspired and motivated by the works of her peers, she hopes that she can do the same.
Some of the comments on my walls have been "omg I could never do this, I'm so sad..." well that makes me sad too! I don't want to discourage others from trying; rather I hope to inspire, like others have inspired me
Despite my initial shyness and though she claims to be "naturally awkward," we somehow ended up talking a mouthful before I realized how late it must have been for her--especially given her hapkido practice the next morning. During our two hours together, I discovered a capable artist, a rolling ninja and even a science nerd. I even learned about her habit of destroying any stationary that came into her hands during art class, among other quirks that shall remain just between the two of us.
Features
The Monochrome Craze has captured every audience, from the occasional lurker to the most experienced wallers. Expressing strong motifs of longing sadness, light in the darkness and even the impossibly seductive, the iconic black and white color scheme is simple yet powerful and universally understood.
In exploring what separates the great BW compositions and their lacklustre siblings, I found that monochrome is often used as an afterthought, to ease the difficulties that come with coordinating colors. It is easy to "reinvent" an image by desaturating the colors, but at the end of the day, your message and intent should be communicated through this style rather than created by the style.
Most monochrome walls suffer from poor contrast and lack of lighting. Without complementary colors in their arsenal, wallers have to understand that making monochrome walls depends on utilizing the full spectrum of grays and blacks to create movement, focal points and "color" composition. The power of monochrome is in its simple expression of strong emotions, but a wall can easily fall flat when mood is absent or otherwise confused.
A. Thirst
Deto15's wall utilizes a dark, amorphous background to frame his muse in an almost blindingly bright light. With her alabaster-skin illuminated, the subject is alluring, with a touch of venom.
B. Sublimity
While this piece is more subtle, the lighting on her face and upper body work with the forced perspective to draw attention to the colored accents. The result is a wonderfully innocent wall that is as seductive as it is vulnerable.
As Nysha mentioned two issues ago, a good black and white photo will contain all the shades between black and white. Thus, more realistic creations require patience with shades to provide an interesting image that doesn't fall flat. While colors give you a range of hues within the shade intensity, monochrome affords no such luxury. Great monochrome walls understand how to differentiate between shapes by using various shades will draw the viewers eyes towards the center object.
A. Don't Disappear
Simplicity of message reigns in more ways than one in this piece: with only four entities, a girl, a boy, black feathers and white feathers, dalarty clearly delineates a theme of darkness versus light. While she uses many different shades, she maintains a clear distinction between the darker figures and lighter figures. The end result is as striking as it is tender.
B. Cradled in Darkness
While dalarty's wall utilizes a contrast in colors to achieve its mission, this wall uses a difference of detail to communicate its nostalgic and pensive mood. Although she is lying in water, the spare use of ripples to frame the character focuses the viewer's eyes on the feast of details on the dress, body and hair. While certainly a master of technique and detail, asa succeeds in this wall precisely because she knows when to put down the Photoshop pen.
Abstract monochrome pieces are also defined by the waller's ability to define their shapes through color. However, the BW style offers you a unique opportunity to express your personal style, as there are no colors to distract the viewer from your line- and shape-art.
A. Whoosh! city
Kalico's popart creation presents a cool blend of scenic and abstract expressions. While the New York skyline and character act as focal points, the clouds provide much needed movement to create a sense of freedom. These aspects, however, are only accomplished through Kalico's easy-breezy shapes and lines. Consequently, despite the industrial backdrop,
B. Gaze of the Abyss
This wall demonstrates, yet again, Deto15's ability to transform the simplest of compositions into a creation full of meaning. The silhouette vectoring succeeds precisely because of his simple but flowing lines that draw attention to a suggested inner conflict--Zero's heroic facade and Lelouch's selfishness. Additionally, the mix of contrast lineart (white outlines) and regular lineart allows Deto15 to utilize less shapes and effectively preserve the ease for which his vectoring is famous.
Monochrome actually means "of one color," not merely grayscale. While many veteran wallers have dabbled in BW renditions, few have made the leap to using other color-tones. And even looking beyond the classic mono- and dual- tone compositions, lessons learned from monochrome walls can be applied to create similar themes and moods.
A. Colour Blind
With its techno-inspired style, Kritty's wall contains a rather ominous and almost apocalyptic message. She succeeds by choosing monochrome in dark blue tints which are more evocative of the futuristic motif. Meanwhile, drop shadows effectively draw attention to the various characters and create a more chaotic composition.
B. Akuma no Te
In this DGM creation, sjade1 draws upon her previous experience with monochrome to create a piece that calls upon similar themes of loss and calamity. The auxiliary objects are accentuated by their well-defined shapes against a white backdrop, while the center object stands out with its detailed composition and dose of color. More importantly, in contrast to the classic dual-tone walls,
If there's one thing to take away from these (and other) brilliant examples of monochrome pleasure, its that, like all other styles, monochrome is not an excuse for creativity when you reach a roadblock. Great monochrome pieces are created through understanding the undertones associated with the style and resolving these associations with your message.
Announcements
I tried to tie this months meme with the world cup in the spirit of team work. It occurred to me a lot of walls are the fruit of not just the artist but the people who offered advice, tips and critique while it was a mere work in progress.
This is your chance to thank every one who has helped you with your walls. Whether it be helpful critique, technical advice, collabs, encouragement or even inspiration, show the love people <3
Pick a 5-10 of your walls and write a sweet Thank You to those who helped you. Remember to include what how they helped and how much it meant to you!
Rules
(1) Image must be 1200px wide and no more than 1500px high.
(2) Meme will be resized to 615px wide to post in the archives as preview format.
(3) Must include the above logo somewhere in your meme. It should be big enough as to be legible in the preview format.
(4) Must write your name below Thank You With Love.
(5) Must label your walls and somehow credit the original series/mangaka.
(6) Submit to the Issue Thread. These are the only memes that will be uploaded to the archives.
Shining Artist | May 2010
Welcome, Chaosby alenas
vitaamin: "Graceful" often comes to mind when describing alenas's neutral creations. The tilted perspective and open sky give this wall a great sense of movement. Meanwhile, alenas demonstrates her clean and elegant painting style at its finest, with the right touch of complexity and colors. The well-rendered texture gives this wall a roughness, accentuating the tranquil color scheme that softens the raw energy of the scan.
Nysha: Alenas's polished painting style and effective composition work together to bring the original manga panel to life. The strong focus of the character and perspective of the scene are particularly brilliant. He stands out triumphantly against his post-apocalyptic world, which is painted beautifully "subtle" and provides the perfect backdrop for him and your desktop.
Deto has reworked an overused vocaloid scan to create a piece that is unique and refreshing. The sepia colour scheme and the chaotic typography gives the image a whole new dimension.
Perhaps sjade's most thoughtful pieces, Lady Love draws on a Parisian elegance to illustrate beauty and obsession. The background bursts with movement and chaos, but above it all she stands, delicate, composed and untouchable.
Even though brown is one of the most under-appreciated colors, jns proves that she can totally master it. Subtle patterns and textures give this wall an extra something that makes everything work perfectly.