I've started working on a wallpaper for the Linux distro I run and I've hit a bit of a roadblock. I'm happy with the sky, the pond looks amazing... but the grass still looks video game-y and I haven't even touched the tree yet. I'm posting it in the hopes somebody can give me some ideas on how to proceed. I'd like to get as close to photorealistic as I can. But I want to avoid using textures or custom brushes.

I do have a method I think will work for the leaves of the tree. I've used it before with some success and I think I can improve it with some tweaking. But the bark has me drawing a blank. I don't want to simply cut&paste a texture into the general shape I have already.

The grass looks okay except that it's still a bit too 8-bit for my liking. And I'd like to add a decent looking treeline at the horizon rather than simply having the grass run up to the edge.

There are other details yet to be worked in. I need to add the tree's reflection in the pond and possibly a faint shadow on the ground. And there's always the option of adding something to the sky for further visual interest. The empty space to the left is deliberate... that keeps icons from being crowded out by wallpaper detail.

Anyhow, I'd be grateful if somebody could point me towards tutorials, filters, scripts, or whatever may help me finish this piece. I'm also keen to hear what I may have missed or not thought of yet. I'm sure there's room for improvement in what I've already done.

Hmmm - dark wallpapers are good but I think you need to balance that here - I would say you need a bit more of a light source in here Sasquatch. My suggestions would be to either add a faint glow to the night sky or you could place a moon somewhere off screen and have it's light bathe the scene. Up to you though .

Keep going - I'm looking forward to seeing where you take this.

I'm probably going to add a moon before I'm done. But I need to get the other stuff sorted first.

You need to add just a hint of light at the horizon to keep the total image from messing with our eyes. In addition, I use hair brushes I found on DeviantArt for tree bark. It's the best "I" could come up with for simulating tree trunks without using textures or actual images.

So add a gradient behind the horizon? That's a great idea. I have some hair brushes. I'll experiment a bit. Trying to figure out how to get the trunk round. Can't get the bump map right.

Have you tried any leaf brushes?

http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/re ... s&offset=2

By the way it looks like you have a light source coming from the left side so i would add a texture to the tree. Then add a glow to the left side of it for depth. I just use white paint and set the opacity real low. Maybe also a blur.

I'm really pleased with those brushes Rod mentioned see my post viewtopic.php?f=11&t=14562
also found a great tut on tree making https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHVaFUMQR-c
in Peace RJKD