kyudo wallpaper:HELP!

[MistressPookyChan]

I'm a bit embarrassed about asking for help on this one because 1) it's not good at all right now and 2) not a style I've worked with in awhile. I am going for a simple, monotone-ish, sophisticated-looking themed wallpaper. This wallpaper is very personal for me because I will be testing in kyudo in the next couple of months. So, I want to put this on my desktop for inspiration. Cheesy, I know, but something I've been meaning to work on for a while. So, here is what I am asking from you.

1) the background: Right now it is the target and the "principals of propery archery" that is in most dojos, including my own. I would like to keep both in the background, but am still open to changes and additions.

2) more text? Somewhere I wanted to add the kanji for "kyudo" and then in English "the way of the bow", but I have no idea where to put them. Would it be too cluttered?

onegaishimasu!

[Cantelope]

In my opinion, the target offsets the japanese texts used here. It's too bold, your target, compared to the texts. You need to either strengthen the text or make the target a lighter gray. I suggest just making your text stronger with a couple duplicated soft light layers or something.

As for how to make the whole monochrome thing work, I can't really suggest anything, because I've never done one before. Maybe you should desaturate the whole stock, and then use your history brush to recolor one area, for a good focal point. However I don't really see that working in my head either, but it may be worth a shot. Good luck with the piece.

[EternalBlue]

I also agree that the target is too bold for the japanese on there.

I'm not sure about monochrome, since I've only done that once and thta was just playing around xD. But for the text, if you can fit, stick kyudo in the center of the target, and the english on the ring around the center, so that it curves with the ring. Just a suggestion, not too sure how it'll look, but it's definitely worth a shot ^^

Good luck on the test

[Raven]

It's pretty good, but the target is way too big and dark, it overpowers the front image. Maybe even try another color besides black.
As for the text, the idea is nice, and you could try placing it above her shoulder near the bullseye, it might be too cluttered, but worth a try.

[MistressPookyChan]

The target *is* black, so I'm not going to change it to purple or some other color. I'm trying to keep this psudo-traditional, so I don't want to go changing the color of the target, or doing font in comic sans. I made it a large part of the image because it is what you focus on while in kyudo, but is it too big? Less target, more text?

ch33zy: darker text, with maybe some light shadows?

EB: I was thinking of doing text around the target, but I thought it might be incredibley tacky looking. however, I'll give it a try. do you know how to write in a curved path on PS CS? I only ever did it in illustrator. ^-^;

[LavaBug]

out of personal preference i´d put the text on the left in the middle or a little lower...
i dont think the text you plan will look good going "around" the target...
guess it wont look bad just putting it over the stuff that´s already there...
(if it looks too cluttered let the english text away maybe?)

besides some extraction things on the chara and the text looking a little like it´s been enlarged from a smaller source image, it´s good the way it is....

if you want to make it monochrome, you might wanna try another color than white for the bg (maybe with a texture like linen or something..but i dont know about your sport and so i´m not sure if it´s suitable)

hope that helps...

[MistressPookyChan]

I like the linen texture idea, so I might try that. You suggest flipping the target and the text?

The text was enlarged, but it is just temporarily looking like that so I can get placement. Same with the minor extraction issues. Yes... I'm very lazy.

[Xian Pu]

Here's an idea- Highlight the target layer- select the lasso tool, select about half of the layer- right click- feather- anywhere from ooooooh I don't know 55-85%, then ctl x the layer- that should cut out a portion of that layer. Okay, now do the same to the kanji only do it on the opposite side of the layer. IE the right side of the target and the left side of the kanji. And yeah, you might want to drop the opacity down just a little on the target. Then, yeah, a linen look would totally offset this thang. ^_^


BTW- good luck on the test. *crosses fingers for you*

EDIT- If you don't have Paintshop Pro- you can email me the PSD and I can make the wall monotone with PSP and do some other tweaks to help you achieve the look you're going for. Lemme know something mayn.

[EternalBlue]

Hmm I never really tried writing text in a curve before. Normally I just take each letter(well character considering everytime I do curve writing its in Japanese) and rotate 'em to what I want. Sorry I can't help more on that ^^; I think the linen is a great idea ^^

[LavaBug]

photoshop has (among other options) a function to curve text,
but i dont think it´ll work on this one...
we´ll see :P