[wallpaper] proposals looking good!

[DFreeze]

I've been one of the many accusing Ubuntu of the bland or dull wallpapers. But the new proposals on the wiki (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas) look MUCH better. I wouldn't complain if some of these made it to the official release. Especially 'flame' and 'redBrownAtomSpin' are charming, in my opinion.

What do you guys think?

[shynko]

wow those are pretty good I have to say that brownfluid is the best

[darksong]

All of them are much better than ubuntus wallpaper. Why not include all of these with the next launch?

[tehkain]

Nice wallpapers.

Are there SVGs of these wallpapers? They all seem to be super imposed, I think they need to use SVGs to cater to multiple resolutions.

[por100pre1]

wow those are pretty good I have to say that brownfluid is the best

Agree. Brownfliud is the best. :)

[Half-Left]

Brownfluid looks best but still below par if you ask me, they need to take ideas from Fedora since their artwork is of a much higher standard.

[Ryoushi19]

These look great, but my complaint is there's not enough diversity in Ubuntu wallpapers. Also, it needs more photographs, for example, we need some natural photos, some city photos, some scientific photos, and some artistic photos. And you could always put cool photo shopped things too. Just vary it up a bit. Because what we have right now is brown, brown, brown, and orange.

[rainwalker]

I say they should bring back the Dawn of Ubuntu wallpaper, it's always been my favorite.

[Hairy_Palms]

that solar wallpapar loooks awesome imo

[lassegs]

Thank god they have finally gone back to the <--dapper colour pallette. Where do I send contributions? You have to be a little carefull when making brown themes, and for gods sake; don't call it brown fluid! How are we ever going to be taken seriously?

Edit: And please, get that palette up some time soon, so we can standardize this.

[Chymera]

I cant say im very enthusiastic.... i much prefer lighter themes... but... to each his own. The only thing that i could generalize it that there's no place for grungy wallpapers in an os which emphasizes simplicity and usability... so leather and brown atom spin are out of the question

and "waves" is just "flame" with a cheap effect on top

[likemindead]

I'd prefer something more crisp. I like the reasoning behind using earth tones, but all the images don't have to be so grimy and boring. How about some variety? Maybe a photo in sepia? Some public domain art prints that match up? Who knows... :)

[rainwalker]

I'd prefer something more crisp. I like the reasoning behind using earth tones, but all the images don't have to be so grimy and boring. How about some variety? Maybe a photo in sepia? Some public domain art prints that match up? Who knows... :)

That's what I'm talking about when I say they should bring back Dawn of Ubuntu! It was good-looking, and the colors fit well with the Ubuntu color scheme

[RedSquirrel]

I like that redBrownAtomSpin.jpg but I'd have to see how it looks full-screen. I find quite often that something that looks great in a thumbnail just doesn't work out when I try to use the actual image.

[Frak]

I'd like the brown fluid (no pun intended)

[smartboyathome]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-800.png
I personally like this one the best.

[Frak]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-800.png
I personally like this one the best.

=D>

[rainwalker]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-800.png
I personally like this one the best.

+1

[Frak]

@smartboyathome
Do you have a higher resolution image of that?

[rainwalker]

That image proves that brown CAN look great, if used correctly.

[durand]

The foresight-like one looks great and so do the latest animal skins...did the author really make the whole wallpaper from scratch?

PS: I still think that they should bring back dawn of ubuntu with a new look and a make over. In my opinion, it was the only ubuntu wallpaper I would actually keep for more than a few minutes...

[Frak]

The foresight-like one looks great and so do the latest animal skins...did the author really make the whole wallpaper from scratch?

PS: I still think that they should bring back dawn of ubuntu with a new look and a make over. In my opinion, it was the only ubuntu wallpaper I would actually keep for more than a few minutes...
I agree, the dawn of Ubuntu was the first Ubuntu wallpaper I had (Breezy) and it was truly the selling point for me.

[smartboyathome]

@smartboyathome
Do you have a higher resolution image of that?

The person who posted it posted a 1650x1050 version https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-1650x.png

[durand]

The person who posted it posted a 1650x1050 version https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-1650x.png

Surely there must be an svg version of this...it seems like it was made in inkscape and svg would be the best format for this type of wallpaper. This one will work really well with gutsy..

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=bubbles_2.png

This is a pretty good one too...The only problem here is the colour scheme.

[por100pre1]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=borders3-800.png
I personally like this one the best.

No wonder why. It's really nice. :)

[kostkon]

I prefer the Lion. It really stands out!

[durand]

I like the lion one too, that is, this one https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Gutsy/Wallpaper

[damianvila]

Hi everybody!
Let me introduce myself.
My name is Damian Vila. I'm the designer behind the animal textures wallpapers.
Sorry for appearing so late here. With everybody on vacation in Spain and some other job I have finishing art for a movie I've been very busy (but not enough to drop a couple of wallpapers... :) )
I'll be happy to reply to any question you may have about the designs.
Regards,

Damian

[glotz]

Good show!

EDIT: What do you guys of this one? Just found it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503024073@N01/508071/
full view at http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/508071_7a575c9792_o.jpg?v=0

[graigsmith]

personally i like the elephant and lion skin in brown. those look cool. and the smooth glassy ones could look good with just a little work.

all the ones with brown fluid and brown fire look cheap. plus you dont want people to think they are on fire while using your operating system. Besides fire is something from like, the 50's. the only thing you ever see fire on is automobiles and dodgy desktop walpapers with scantilly clad people on it. and thats what i think of, and it almost never looks professional.

the bottom ones could be good with a ubuntu logo. not sure. needs more work.

[graigsmith]

I say they should bring back the Dawn of Ubuntu wallpaper, it's always been my favorite.

agreed, i like that wallpaper, i think it should be at least an option. is it still somewhere on the feisty install somewhere?

[oomingmak]

I think the kwwii wallpapers look fantastic! The animal textures are also very impressive.

While the animal texture ones are not really my style, I still think they're beautiful and incredibly well made. It's also clever the way that they tie in with the Ubuntu / African concept while still being sufficiently abstract. I'd be more than happy if these were included by default in Ubuntu (they're way better than that disgusting default wallpaper included in Fesity).

Is there a full size version of the 'brown fluid' wallpaper available for download anywhere?

[RedSquirrel]

agreed, i like that wallpaper, i think it should be at least an option. is it still somewhere on the feisty install somewhere?
Go here:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/x11/edgy-community-wallpapers

and download edgy-community-wallpapers_0.5.orig.tar.gz

[Yizi]

Great deisgns keep up sending stuff like this.

[lassegs]

Hey, im the creator of the borders series. Thanks for the kind words.

Ive been working on an update of this, making the brown a little more red, (like the early damianvila lion thing), and fix the swooshes so the get a little more sophisticated.

I just tried one of them out on a widescreen dell screen, and suddenly i realized that the standard resolution isnt 1650x1050, its 1680x1050. Ill fix it as soon as my ISP fixes my internet connection (if you decide to move to Norway, dont go for Nextgentel, their prices might be low, but so is the quality).

Please people, i need feedback. Without feedback, i suck. Tell me what you like and what you dislike about my wps.

BTW: Damian Vila, you are really great! Love the elephant.

BTW-PS: If you want to do your own thing to any of the Border-wallpapers Ill gladly share the .svg (again, as soon as the ISP fixes my connection)

[durand]

Ahh, the artists join the thread :)

I like most of the proposals on the wiki page, but the animal skins with the ubuntu logo added subtly really stood out.

@damianvila How exactly did you make those wallpapers?
@lassegs I'd love to see the svgs :) Were they made in Inkscape or some other vector program?

[FuturePilot]

Wow those wallpapers all look awesome!

[damianvila]

Hi lassegs!, hi durand!

@lassegs: I really like the last one!
If it where my desicion, it would be included in Gutsy. So simple, yet so powerful! :)

@durand: I have to confess a sin first: I'm still using Photoshop. The switch to an open source alternative has become a longer journey than expected. So I'm really a dual-booter (WinXP for Adobe apps, Ubuntu for the rest)... shame on me...

Basically, I've looked for a picture with a nice contrast. Large areas of black & white with an interesting shape. I discovered a nice B&W picture of a beach on a cloudy day with sun rays protruding from the clouds that suited what I was looking for.
So, I gathered a bunch of pictures of lions (mostly close-ups). I used a nice one as the background, a profile of a stunning male lion. Erased the ears and eyes using the stamp tool and set it in soft-light mode against a solid brown (opacity at 35%).
Then I used a second picture, resized it to 50% and used it to create a non-repeating pattern. Set it also to soft-light, over the first picture (of the lion mane) at 35% opacity.
I put the picture of the beach over the composition, to add lights (that's why you see a clearer area at the top) in overlay mode at 100%
Finally I added a dark brown border using the brush tool with a big soft brush, to direct the eye to the middle of the image. And "branded" the wallpaper with a small ubuntu logo in white (opacity set at 15%) and a black "glow" to make it stand-out of the composition.

I repeated the same procedure for the different animal skins, adjusting opacity (and in some cases the layer mode) as needed, with the main idea being to make it distinct but not distracting, and with enough contrast to make any icon stand out (I've always thought that dark or light wallpapers work best at bringing out icons than "mid-tones" ones).

If you'd like the original Photoshop files to have a look at how they are made, just let me know and I'll send them to you.

D.

[ignaciouy]

I really like the furry ones and those that look like curtains from 70s :) much better than the blandness that comes bundled currenly

[siralphred]

Personally i think ubuntu should move toward a more vibrant wallpaper because a lot of times i get people to try out ubuntu and the first thing they ask is... why is everything so brown and dull? then i show them my desktop and tell them it can be changed and customized... also if ubuntu intends to get a lot of kids (9-15yrs) and dare i say females using this OS a more colorful and vibrant wallpaper will go a long way to achieve this...because its the first impression and like they say "there is no second chance for a first impression"

[durand]

@damianvila Oh, I don't really care that you are using Photoshop, they look so realistic that it looked like they were complete animal skins from killed animals. Sorry!
You've really done an awesome job with making them look right, great techniques used too...The method you've described seems to be pretty easy to duplicate in The Gimp though ^^. Anyway...

@siralphred I kind of agree with you about a more vibrant and brighter colourscheme. Being a kid, it would look way cooler than the dull colours they see to be using at the moment though I gotta say that most people I know would probably change the default wallpaper anyway so I don't think its that necessary to change the wall just for one group, but it would probably help everyone if they did :) Besides, once people have seem the ubuntu desktop live rather than in screenshots, it would look more appealing... Gutsy does seem to be getting more colourful but adding a few lively colours wouldn't hurt. You can't really ditch the ubuntu brown look but I guess you could make it more vibrant by adding colours that complement the brown shades...

[lassegs]

@Durand: Sure you can have the .svg. I'll be happy to send it to you, once i get home (got my internet connection back up). Yes, its made in inkscape, although it was imported to xara once because inkscape was lagging me up, big time. Then I was told from the good people at #ubuntu-artwork to compile from svn, and that made everything smoother. This is my first project in Inkscape, and coming from Illustrator, I like this a lot.

@DamianVila
You have to stop cheating :D. If I can make the switch from Adobe to free software, then everyone can. And GIMP is good, you just have to realize its going to take you 4 times as long , because in the beginning GIMP seems very not user friendly. But it grows on you.
I love your work, and I wanna see more animals!

[durand]

You don't need to compile from svn. You can get daily svn builds from the inkscape site. Thats what I do every now and then.

[Aesir09]

good job!

very nice!

[Xan63]

Hi folks!

I'm pretty interested in reading with this thread, because I'm getting bored of browny-ubuntu theme and so I have completely changed my theme.

I was wondering if it could be possible during the ubuntu install to have a panel choice of many different themes and/or wallpaper? (glossy, minimalistic, ...)

Not a 100 would be needed, only between 3 and 5...

With a such customisable OS, it would be a shame if it was not possible...

Regarding the wallpaper, I'm suggesting to keep the basic ubuntu colour chart, but to draw it a little bit shiner, because such darker wallpapers as Lions are not very attractive for newly ubuntu user. (even if these wallpapers are beautiful)

I was pretty impressed by this wallpaper (http://sunfox.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/ubuntu-hello-cthulhu.png)

and this one (http://people.ubuntulinux.org/~mako/4.10RC-images/screenshot-gdm.png) (maybe the people could be a little bit more weary :rolleyes:

I'm suggesting too to include the ubuntu logos, in order to show up the distro-name and logo.

[Lord Illidan]

I'm wondering, what do you think of this wallpaper : http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=663 (http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=663?)

It's not my work, I took it from InterfaceLIFT: High-Resolution Widescreen Wallpaper (by date) (http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/)

but I think it looks really good, and besides, it fits well with Ubuntu. Perhaps Canonical can contact the artist here : http://interfacelift.com/portfolio/1739.html ?

I also like this : http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/downloads/01366_alljungensweden_2560x1600.jpg

[Xan63]

Yay, I'm really impressed by this wallpaper!
I'm trying to imagine what could be the rendering of the same light effect with ubuntu logo...

*I'm still convinced that ubuntu wallpaper should carry its logo :-P*

Ubuntu could ask this artist if he could do a wallpaper in the same style as the one you've showed.

[durand]

Xan63, I love this wallpaper! http://sunfox.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/ubuntu-hello-cthulhu.png The artist did a really good job. Do you know where I can find a higher resolution image for it?

Lord Illidan, That wallaper looks good but its not creative commons so ubuntu couldn't use it unless the artist gave permission to...

[Lord Illidan]

Xan63, I love this wallpaper! http://sunfox.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/ubuntu-hello-cthulhu.png The artist did a really good job. Do you know where I can find a higher resolution image for it?

Lord Illidan, That wallaper looks good but its not creative commons so ubuntu couldn't use it unless the artist gave permission to...

Yep, that was what I am aiming for...

[Xan63]

Yip,
you can find the wallpaper here (http://sunfox.org/blog/2006/09/26/ubuntu-hello-cthulhu/)

Don't know if it is free or not...

Any comment on my proposal for wallpaper install choice?

[Lord Illidan]

Personally, I don't like that cartoonish style :P

[RedSquirrel]

I'm wondering, what do you think of this wallpaper : http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=663?

You might want to remove the "?" from the end of the link. ;)


I also like this : http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/downloads/01366_alljungensweden_2560x1600.jpg

Both of these are nice. The "Ghost Fog" one is a little dark in the top left corner for my taste, but I'm using the "Alljungen - Sweden" one right now. :)

[Xan63]

You're welcome Lord Illidna ;)

When I was asking about Any comment on my proposal for wallpaper install choice?, it was regarding this proposal:

I was wondering if it could be possible during the ubuntu install to have a panel choice of many different themes and/or wallpaper? (glossy, minimalistic, ...)

Not a 100 would be needed, only between 3 and 5... ^^

What do you think about it? Any user could choose the wallpaper which fits the best to what he/she likes...

[durand]

Thanks for the link, Xan63

[Lord Illidan]

You're welcome Lord Illidna ;)

When I was asking about , it was regarding this proposal:

^^

What do you think about it? Any user could choose the wallpaper which fits the best to what he/she likes...

Oh! Yes, in that case, I certainly support what you're after.. the default set of images in Ubuntu is too low.

[xl_cheese]

Lighter flavor of the rootbeer wallpaper here:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=65460&vote=good&tan=96095543

[rdwtux]

why brown?

i like the colour, but there should be some variety... Ubuntu has been that same brown since the start... colours added to the new releases would help make them _look_ new.

[Frak]

why brown?

i like the colour, but there should be some variety... Ubuntu has been that same brown since the start... colours added to the new releases would help make them _look_ new.
Ubuntu will always be orange and brown. Its just never going to change.
Its what seperates it from other distribution artwork.

[lassegs]

Take a look at the Springer series[Work in Progress] at the wiki
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas
Tell me what you think!

Cheers

[kwwii]

There are no SVGs of those images as they were made with the GIMP

[durand]

kwwii, what do you mean? If your talking about the springer image, then it was made in Inkscape and its an svg....

[oomingmak]

Wow,

I LOVE the new Joseph Connors wallpapers (they're very much my kind of style).

:cool:

[xl_cheese]

Make any wallpaper into ubuntu Brown.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=545286

[pferraro]

I say they should bring back the Dawn of Ubuntu wallpaper, it's always been my favorite.

It's still there, in the edgy-community-wallpapers package...

[justin whitaker]

Good to see the artists jumping in.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/GutsyIdeas

I really like John Connor's stuff, particularly the images marked 2013 and 2039: there is this cool "surface of another moon" sort of feel to them that is really appealing.

John, link those somewhere will ya? :)

I really like Troy's solar flare idea, although it would have to be a solar flare over the ubuntu logo to make it work as a default wall.

Damian's Elephant wall is all sorts of win...I was thinking, as a default wall, that the logo should be a little bigger...it might also work better as simply the logo without the words...it would be really slick of the logo looked like part of the skin...

I also like the springer wall from Lasse, but I have a natural aversion to anything that centers on the left, since it might be filled will all sorts of icons.

Great work all!

[oomingmak]

The Solar Flare is genius. It manages to be so evocative and atmospheric while yet being so simple and unfussy. The positioning is perfect, it adds interest through being asymmetrical while placing the most prominent part of the image away from the screen edges (where icons tend to go). It even has a little dark area to the top left of the image that almost looks made to house the default Desktop icons.

I'd perhaps like to see just a touch more 'zing' to the flare (sort of camera lens flare like) as it currently looks a bit foggy, but that's just nit-picking.

[melaren]

So I haven't been the biggest fan of the brown theme, but it's mostly been because of the default wallpaper.

This wallpaper really caught my eye on DeviantArt. ...just wondering what you guys think. I lost the link to the original on DeviantArt, but if you want to try out the full resolution version you can get it here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/melaren/Wallpaper/photo#5111344844129352178

[sunfox]

Yip,
you can find the wallpaper here (http://sunfox.org/blog/2006/09/26/ubuntu-hello-cthulhu/)

Don't know if it is free or not...

Hello, I'm the author of the hello-cthulhu wallpaper, but the original comes from here : http://www.chipx86.com/blog/?p=189

The Cthulhu I added is free, under creative-commons-by 2.0.

[Baby Boy]

So I haven't been the biggest fan of the brown theme, but it's mostly been because of the default wallpaper.

This wallpaper really caught my eye on DeviantArt. ...just wondering what you guys think. I lost the link to the original on DeviantArt, but if you want to try out the full resolution version you can get it here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/melaren/Wallpaper/photo#5111344844129352178

The lines should be smoother for my taste and the colors a bit darker.

[durand]

Hi sunfox, great job on the wallpaper, using it now.