Wallpaper of the Week (21st-27th April) - The Result!

[Jernau]

This weeks vote was an incredibly close one... right up until the last minute it could have gone one of two ways... but I can announce that Zwopper's 'Dark Metal Mint' just managed to squeeze out the one extra vote needed for the victory!

Dark Metal Mint - by Zwopper:


Congratulations to Zwopper (who is now running two for two)!

Thanks also to everyone who voted.

We are still working on setting up the 'Wallpaper of the Week' section on the mintART site - we'll make an announcement as soon as its up.

[Zwopper]

Thanx everybody!
What else can I say...
I'm glad you all like my stuff as much as you do!

Well, credit where credit is due!
These images are really a team effort.
Jernau did the original background which I did some modifications to and cathbard did the original logos that I also modified somewhat!

[cathbard]

Rigged!! I demand a judicial enquiry!!!


Just joking.
Congratulations Zwopper.

You did that with Photoshop didn't you? Are you running that under wine? I have an oldish version of Photoshop that runs ok under wine. I hear the newer versions are still having some problems.
I used inkscape and gimp on mine. I prefer to use open source software when I can but sometimes you just need the tricks in Photoshop, hey?. I have the layer effects plugin in gimp, but it's still got miles to go before it's comprehensive as Photoshop. I used that plugin to create the shadows because doing it in inkscape would have been a pita to do because of how the leaves were drawn (edited clones of a grouped object). It would have made the whole thing intolerably slow to refresh too. The gimp plugin works ok but it doesn't give you dynamic previewing so it takes longer to do right. Still, give it time I guess.

[Zwopper]

I for one thought that you're great stuff was going to run circels around the other entries this week, but then again as I stated, You and Jernau have a BIG part in "Dark Metal Mint" becoming a reality, so stand proud!
No photoshop for me thank you! It's all GIMP, I wouldn't even know how to open a file in photoshop , I "grew up" on PaintShop Pro using versions 4-9, from then on it was GIMP on windows (and in OS X) and more recently (last two years) GIMP on Linux and a dabbling or two in Krita.
At this site there are some nice plugins, I tend to use plugins "the wrong way", for instance if a plugin is designed to make something shiny, pull some parameters to the extremes and it will most likely be something completely different, in the case above - rough, jagged and distorted, I use A LOT of layers, when I discovered how to use layers some three years ago it changed the way I construct images totally, I ALWAYS try out new stuff on a separate layer, adding masks and whatnot... Some of my Mint backgrounds have up to forty layers, that said, it's REALLY important to name your layers properly.
Enough about GIMP, I'm really interested in designing some KDM-themes and pack them into Deb's like you have done, do you have any tips on as how to get started packing stuff...?

[cathbard]

I learnt how to create kdm's and gdm's by hacking ones I liked from kde-look. Now they are mostly hacks of previous ones I've made.
As far as the debs. I had somebody talk me through it because the documentation around on the subject assumed too much background knowledge and left me baffled. I grabbed the source code for a couple of debs and then went through the process step by step with somebody that knew what they were doing. I could probably talk you through it too but it would be far easier over irc than here.
Which brings me to another question - does the art team have their own irc channel and if not, why not?

[Zwopper]

OK!
I put together two KDM themes of this weeks "Wallpaper Of The Week".
They can be found here!
GDM theme is under construction...