That Wallpaper Thing

[galathea]

I am not quite out of my fanart funk yet, but when I come around to finish something, I am at least satisfied with the overall result at the moment. I guess that’s something. *g* I noticed that everybody seems to have moved on to bigger screens and higher resolutions, so I decided to drop the 800x600 format and focus on 1280 and 1024 resolutions for my walls. I still have an old monitor and can’t afford to buy a new one at the moment, but I can work 1280 without too much problems. Everything bigger isn’t really practical for me though. :)



Slippery Slope: This is an episodic piece for Metamorphosis and deals with the boys’ first confrontation over Sam using his powers. Dean feels hurt and betrayed by his brother and all he can see is the fear of losing Sam to darkness. He doesn’t know if he can trust his brother anymore, their relationship seems frayed around the edges, so I used the broken glass and splinter stocks to show their damaged relationship and a mix of cold and warm colours to emphasize Dean’s conflicting emotions. Sam looks back at his brother, hurt and afraid himself, but Dean can only focus on what his brother might become, a yellow eyed monster, and ignores Sam’s distress.

I am quite happy how this piece turned out and I plan on making a companion piece that centers around Sam’s point of view.

Slippery Slope

1024x768 | 1280x800

Triptych: This is a conceptual piece I made for ehlwyen’s challenge about numbers. The wallpaper revolves around the number 3. In biblical numerology the 3 represents unity and so I opted for creating a triptych (greek: threefold), which is a work of art that is divided into three sections, but together these sections build a thematic unit. The thematic unit in my wallpaper is the death and resurrection of one Dean Winchester. The design is based on the idea that men are made of three parts (soul, body and spirit), a derivation from the idea of the holy trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each of these parts corresponds to one of the three elements of fire (soul), earth (body) and air (spirit).

In the left panel we see the corresponding pair of soul-fire, with Dean's soul being tormented in the eternal fires of hell. In the middle we have the pair of body-earth, with Dean clawing his way out of his grave, breaking through the earthy ground. The handprint that connects the left and the middle panel represents Castiel's divine intervention, matching with the handprint on Dean's shoulder. Lastly, in the right panel I have the pair of spirit-air, and I associated that with Castiel. I added the wings of a dove in this panel, which is not only a common symbol for the Holy Spirit, but also serves as a symbol for the wings of the angel.

For the colouring I chose red (fire), brown (earth) and blue (air) and kept yellow as the continuous colour in all three panels. As for the number three itself: The three panels represent the three columns that make the number three in the roman notation (III). I also added the newspaper that shows the date of Dean's resurrection, 18th of September, which is a play on the number three as well: (3+3)x3 (18) and 3x3 (9).

Triptych

1024x768 | 1280x800

You all know the drill, no posting elsewhere and no pretending it's your own. Just for private desktop use! *g* Resources as usual over at Salt'n Burn!

Comments

[winterevanesce.livejournal.com]

Oh so stunning! They are brilliant as always. I can't help, but love the "Triptych" one to death. I'm definitely going to use that for my wallpaper. Brilliant work!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! :) Glad you like the new stuff.

[fotw-sv.livejournal.com]

Wow! You always make the most amazing pieces. These are both fantastic and well thought out. You are such an inspiration to me and so many out there. I've only just started watching SPN so a lot of your work was beautiful but I never could read it. Now that I see familiar scenes it makes so much more sense. Brilliant work as always!
I've been collecting wing stock for a couple of weeks now in hopes to use them in a wallie with Castiel. I love what you did with him in Triptych. I'm also glad you are concentrating on larger size walls as well since my screens are up to 24".

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you! To be an inspiration is always the biggest compliment for me. :)

I always try to make my walls comprehensible and what doesn't transport via the images, I try to explain in the notes, but of course the pieces hold more meaning if you know the show, that can't be helped I guess.

I would love to offer even higher resolutions, but since my own screen is 1024 working with higher resolutions than that proves to be difficult. 1280 is the only resolution that I can work with without losing overview on the composition of a piece. I really need a new monitor. LOL

[fotw-sv.livejournal.com]

Well you truly are an inspiration.

I hear ya on the hi-res stuff. Before I got my 24" as a gift from my friend, I was only making 1024x768 myself. Most art I made was for my own use and if peeps wanted to use them that was great. Now when I get my hands on hi-res larger photos, I love making something that fits my big screen then I can re-size down.

You definitely have to get a larger screen sometime and the prices are really coming down now on 22" and 24". :) It makes quite a difference!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'll look for a better monitor, although I guess for most episodic art I would still work with 1280 or 1440 max, since screencaps usually have a resolution of 1280x720 and to have really nice quality in your art, it's always recommended to size it a bit down from that. Now, for artwork from promos or HQ shoots higher resolutions would surely be a neat feat though. *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Oooh, arty Chris. I already saw Triptych on BF, but can't remember if I ever told you how much I love it. Probably not - I've been so very absent lately!

Anyway, I love it. Both walls are beautiful. It's good to see you arting, even if you aren't totally out of the funk yet.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! *hugs*

Man, I miss you over at BF. It totally sucks that you have no internet at your new job. :( It already feels like I never get to see you anymore and it's only 1 week! /sigh

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I miss talking to you, too. I'm so tired this week! Learning all these new processes - I've only been office based two days, and only touched a computer for the first time this afternoon. Evenings when all I want to do is collapse just isn't enough time to catch up on all my friends and fandom stuff...*G*

PM me with any random comments. *G* I'll pick 'em up when I'm home, and that way we can sort of chat, ish. And we can fangirl tomorrow night, hopefully. *hugs*

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess catching up on a completely new area of work is pretty exhausting. Once you'll developed a routine though, you'll feel better in the evenings. *hugs*

I totally count on a fangirl session tomorrow. In case Small calls in a sleepover tomorrow, just drop me a line. Otherwise I'll be online for a chat. :D

[shawn-anne.livejournal.com]

*drools* I was particularly(and still am) impressed with "Triptych". I can also say that I can't pronounce it's name to save my life. Nor write it. Hence the copy/paste. *pokes* Tutorial? *smiles winningly*

And "Slippery"... I found it brilliant. I was rather taken with Sam's expression in it, and Dean's... but mostly Sam's. But I'm Sam-obsessed. So there's a reason.

Also, I'm lacking coherency *happily drools away over the lovely wallpapers Chris finally presented us with*

Update more often

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Heh, thanks, Ari! *hugs* I have no idea how to pronounce Triptych either LOL but thankfully I don't need to say the word, only write it. *g* ROFL there's really nothing particularly difficult about Triptych that would require a tut. But I am planning on writing a general tutorial from concept to realisation of a wall over the Christmas hiatus and put it on my site. I hope I'll get to realise that, so I can put the tons of tutorial requests to rest.

I love Sam's expression in the wall as well. For Dean I tried to find a cap where he looks pained but accusatory and for Sam something where he looks hurt but defiant and I think it transports well. I really love this wall. :) I love Sam in S4 more than ever and I hope that companion piece to Slippery Slope works out.

ROFL I would, if I had something to update with! *sticks tongue out*

[shawn-anne.livejournal.com]

*tilts head* Well, I really don't mean to be rude, but I rather think Dean looks constipated. But that's just my brain making unnecessary connections to a scene from my own novel. Which is stupid, but I won't start questioning my sanity. I'll probably come out lacking anyway.

And *hears her brain screeching to a halt* HIATUS!!! There's a bloody hiatus??? Until when? *tries hard not to cry*

*fails* That's just SO unfair!

And YAY for tutorials! *happy dance*

[joans23.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the 1280x800 size! My laptop LOVES you!!
And sdfsfdfsfsg, Castiel in the 2nd one! *dies*

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I gathered people with laptops/widescreen monitors would appreciate the service! *g*

Glad you like the walls! :)

[francy-m79.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous walls, hon! I already told you how much I love the tryptich one...and the other one is beautiful as well! :)

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Francy! :) I am quite happy with these as well.

[too-rational.livejournal.com]

Wow, gorgeous! *wide-eyed* I especially like the Triptych one.

It's fascinating, but there's so few artists in this fandom that use vivid colors of any kind, or sharp and 'clean' images. I don't know if they're trying to recapture the feel of the show to the exclusion of everything else, but it's a bit frustrating when it's all you can find, you know? Your artwork, on the other hand, is just my type -- clear images, lots of color, and blending and image combinations that are just incredible! *flails*

Oh, sorry, I started babbling. *blush* Love the work, keep it up! =)

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the great feedback!

Well, while I love the show's washed out colouring, I use colours in art as a means of conveying meaning or emotion, you know, warm colours for positive, affectionate scenes, cold colours for negative, angry ones and/or using the symbolism of coulours in art. Since fanart is 2-dimensional and static, I need that means more than for example a vidder. My colouring doesn't reflect on the show, but on what I want to say with my art.

As for sharpness, I have the impression that a lot of PS artists in fandom are not very experienced with the tools of the progam and on how to brighten caps up, enhance their natural colour and just generally touch them up before working with them.

I prefer a clean look in my art as well, simply because personally I often find texturing very distracting, sometimes even overpowering the images itself and hence weakening the feeling I want to convey. So, I very rarely use textures in art nowadays and mostly in promo pieces or alike. :) That's not to say that I don't love artists who use textures. I know some people who can do incredible things with texturing, just I can't do that. LOL

Look LOL now I started babbling as well. *g*

[too-rational.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're welcome. I love enthusiastic replies to my feedback. ^_^

And I know what you mean about texturing -- it can be awesome, if used well. If not, it just looks like a Jackson Pollock painting with something lurking beneath. Weird.

Just one more thing: I'm sucky with leaving feedback, so in the future you can just assume I've seen and loved whatever you did. I have more of your wallpapers saved than any other artist in the fandom. ^_^

See you around! :D

[helpspb.livejournal.com]

OMG!*thud* Slippery slope is just fantastic.I adore it.Funny thing I´ve been making wall from the same epi and scene.Didn´t finish it,though but quite luck^ Annyways both of them are stunning.Love it ♥

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am happy you like the piece, cause I am really happy with it as well. Hope you get to finish your piece. Sometimes you just need to let it lie for a while and then get back to it with a fresh eye. :)

[helpspb.livejournal.com]

Yes,you should be happy :) It´s really stunning art.Love everything on it.I dunno,but your art seem to me so epic and vivid.Like it really express something,which I absolutely adore.
I´ll see what can I do,didn´t made any art lately,but now I have two days off,so I might will get some time.Just school sucks,you know.
BTW,wanted to ask about cw logos - did you find some resource of pics where isn´t logo or do you erase it on your own? :) thanks for responding
Take care^

Wallpapers

[neenj61.livejournal.com]

Stunning!I love them all.You are very good at what you do.I wish I could make a wallpaper like that.TY so much for sharing your art.

Re: Wallpapers

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey there. :) Thank you. I am glad you like my art. Unfortuntaly real life keeps me from fanart these days, but I hope I'll get back to it as soon as things are more quiet around here. *g*