I find that this piece corresponds very well with the season. It's very dark and spooky; eerie in a way.

The twisted branches and mangled underbrush adds to the effect of the scene, making it a classic holloween scene.

At first, I, like a lot of people thought this image was too dark. So I adjusted the brightness all the way. It was still too dark. So I just went in and did a gamma correction, brightening the whole thing by maybe 10%, and its perfect. I actually quite like this render now. And I get a lot of comments from my co-workers. When I got home I put it on my LCD and it was perfect as is. Great image, I gave it a 9, I don't give 10s easily because it'd just water down the rating system if I gave a 10 to every image.

Like a poster above, the thumbnail looks great but on both my monitors all I see is the face.

this is another awesome wallpaper... triscreen in time for halloween?

I like the picture, but it is just too dark for an LCD screen. The suggestion of a moon to lighten the background and ground is a good one.

Hi , love the new halloween pic , my fav though is two pumpkins jack , doesn't scare the kids as much but gets the halloween message across perfectly.

I like it alot! :) I agree that it's quite dark, but how about adding a moon in the background perhaps to be able to add some more light?

First of all, in my humble opinion this is your best Halloween wallpaper yet. I think the expression on the scarecrow's face is just fine. It is dark enough that the amount of detail I can make out depends on the angle at which I view the screen. That being said, you mentioned that you had done an earlier version that featured the moon, but that you did not like that one. Is it still available to put in the pickle jar, as you had a pickle jar version of last year's Halloween wallpaper?

A proper pic for the incoming holiday.



9/10

I have a LCD monitor at work and I can't make out any details. I can only make out the pumpkin (I think that's what it is).

First off, I think this is a wonderful image. Very atmospheric and detailed. I somewhat agree with others that is might be a touch too dark. But my question is why is the thumbnail image considerably lighter than the full size? Is it a different render or something? I can easily see the details in the thumbnail but not in the full size.

Keep up the great work!

Well if Ian likes it then I gotta give it a thumbs up too :-)



Nice job AGAIN !

would love to see this in triple screen format 4800x1200

Finally, this is my favorite halloween background. It's actually creepy! I like the very dark imagery and the fact that there's a lot of dead trees and stuff. The lantern face could be scarier tho! All in all a delight :P

I love this one. The glowing eyes on the birds are fantastic. It would be awesome to see the scarecrow moonlit from behind though.

This is a nice piece, i love the glowing and the overall foreboding of the image, i do agree that the face of the pumpkin could do with more detail (tho would anyone put that much work into a face just to place it on a scarecrow in the middle of a field?) and the grass could be a bit darker with more glow placed upon it.



But as it is i love it, it gets me right into a Halloween mood and is by far the best Halloween background i have seen that isn't "typical" of what I'd expect, great work Ryan.

His face looks like it's been kicked in.

Love the composition, elements, and the colors. Not so sure about the face of lantern, looks a bit too simple.



Overall a very good piece, as always from Ryan.

Oops, that last sentence was supposed to be: "Making the grass darker, maybe with some of the orange on it glowing from the Jack-o-lantern..."

I love it!



I do agree with previous comment about grass needing to be darker. I read your description about it "possibly being too dark" and I don't think that is it at all. Making the grass lighter, maybe with some of the orange on it glowing from the Jack-o-lantern...

"btw All Hallows Eve was REALLY dark on my crap monitor at work but on my iMac it's plenty bright. I kind of liked it darker. heh"



Mac's default to a higher brightness than PCs, so I would think it will be really bright on all Macs unless you calibrate it similiar to a PC, which is what I do.

This is my new favorite Halloween piece. Really well done.

how about someday doing a really creepy werewolf?

along the lines of this one



http://www.forsaken.camarilla.org.uk/



(I didn't even read the content so don't hold it against me if it's weird or something)



btw All Hallows Eve was REALLY dark on my crap monitor at work but on my iMac it's plenty bright. I kind of liked it darker. heh

VERY good,

the only thing i can mention, is that the grass could be a little darker :)

The best Halloween effort I've seen, mostly because it's understated instead of laden with cutsie junk. It manages to break out of the cliche that Halloween images have become, but is nonetheless using common elements. I'm not really too entusiastica about Halloween; it's mostly just a bad night for the dogs, and I leave the lights on the front of the house off to signify my non participation--call me a jerk--I don't care. So maybe I'm a little mystified as to why I like this. Maybe it simply hits a nerve of memories from the Halloweens I remember from the mid 1950's in a small town. This is pretty crazy.

Perfect. I love it. Thanks Ryan

Hope yo got a little something for that extra FOV perhaps similar scare crows in the distance or a horse rearing.

I think it's pretty awesome. I like dark desktops.

Maybe some random glowing creature eyes below to add some light for the ones who feel they need it?

Indistinct cloud covered moon. whatever

cool for me as is

Very nice, but I'd like to see a bit more light. I think an out-of-frame light source would make the scene even spookier, for example:



(a) the waning glow of red/purple twilight in the background, or



(b) the light from a full moon, casting cold shadows across the ground. I'd *love* to see the shadow of the scarecrow ...

Can you make the birds eye glow color red perhaps? Would remind me a bit of a horror show I saw once...though I do not remember the name.

The small version of the image above looks fairly bright to me, and if that's Ryan's intention, pretty good.



On my DVI monitor the 1600x1200 version is much darker, even with the brightness turned up all the way.



The amount of contrast between the scarecrow and the sky behind it is quite different.

Gave it a 9, would be a 10 for me if the face was a bit more sinister looking.



Also not too dark on my LCD. Just right actually.

Top job!

If you can't make out anything other than the jack, then you seriously need to calibrate your monitor.

The only issue I have with it is the expression on the pumpkin's face. Is it just me, or does he look like he's smiling in a dorky kind of way? It's like he's trying to be mean and is about ready to burst out laughing.



I think the light in the scene is perfect.



Very nice job

looks perfect to me. i dont understand why anyone is complaining as i see nothing wrong here, but of course, different monitors and settings will create a different look, so thats nothing against anyone who is saying it doesnt look so great. just saying, looks perfect to me!

On my monitor it almost looks too bright. I have an LCD monitor with a DVI cable and it won't let me change the brightness or anything, but to me, the light on the ground seems too bright and I think that because of that it makes the grass and sticks on the ground look fake. It makes it so that there is not much contrast on them as far as shadows and stuff. I don't know the exact reasoning though.

Jack's facial expression made me laugh, I really like this for a Halloween image.



Well done sir, and contrary to popular opinion.. I don't think it's too dark.



-bohb

I just added this to my mac and the dead branches are too dark to see. I think a moon would be perfect for this. The scarecrow is pretty hardcore sweet though. Reminds me of Sleepy Hollow.

if its too dark, an easy solution is to open the jpg in any moderately advanced image tools (Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET) and increase the brightness a little.

It's not a very effective scarecrow, is it? More likely to scare away little kids. . . Good thing though, because the way the crows' eyes glow is really cool. I'm not sure why so many people feel this image is too dark. . . I can see plenty of detail on my dusty laptop screen in a well-lit room. If anything, I feel this image could be even darker to add more of a sinister atmosphere.

I agree, it probably wouldn't be as atmospheric if there were more light. I didn't mean to give the impression that I don't quite like the picture as it is!

Maybe you can add some moon light - just a sliver of a moon, but instead of being in the image just have the moon light come from in front, or directly over the field. You are adding some light for the field in front to be as light as it is.



Just my two cents.

It's dark enough that it's... boring. Any way to raise the lighting level? All I see is a jack o' lantern, and even that not very well. I can't tell how big the picture is or what's supposed to be in it.

The level of darkness looks just right on my monitor. Makes me feel chilly now though whenever I look at my monitor - best get out those autumn/winter heaters ;)

nice theme, though. Maybe it is just a problem with my own LCD setup, but the image is a bit too dark to my liking.



(N.B. what about a PPC theme?)

I absolutely love the moss on the branches and the hanging stuff from his arms.. This one is quite amazing. I can't even imagine how hard this image was to create.



And I agree that dark is good once in a while, especially for people who work in darker conditions.. I think having details that are partially obscured by haze or darkness is what makes it look more realistic.

.. a version with a full moon? or something loony like that? not sure how that will look, but moons kinda go hand in hand with scary :)



Love the wallpaper, btw.. i give it an 8

I love the darker images, my "day" job is doing CAD/CAM for a woodworking company, and I sit in my room with window darking treatments, lights off, and one of two bulbs removed from the tasklights that I use to see the blueprints. At home, I've staked out a good half of the basement as my computer "room" and work in dark lighting as well. I love how awesome this looks and can't wait for the triple screen version!!

I actually like the dark themes. I use the XP Zune Theme on the PC and am always on the look out for a dark wallpaper. I occasionally use a bright one but that is rare. I think it is because I work at night a lot so anything bright is pretty hard on the eyes.



Having said that I am an aussie and we don't have Halloween :) But I like the wallpaper!

...it's too dark. Love the pumpkin-headed scarecrow, and the evil-eyed crows, but I can't hardly see anything else. What's the point of having creepy tangled branches if you can't see them to appreciate them?

"Midnight Trooper" is still my favorite of your halloween wallpapers, but this is a close second. My only complaint is that it's a little too dark. I like most of your dark wallpapers (e.g. Arboreal), but with this one, it's hard to make out details even on my LCD monitor.



On the other hand, the contrast between the darkness and that lurid jack-o-lantern is pretty cool :-)



8/10

I always love the halloween papers, I guess I'm just a creepy girl at heart, but I feel like this one is far to dark to give off that "awesome wallpaper" feel. I can hardly see any of the details. Forgive me if it's just the settings on my PC, but I think if I could just see a little more, I'd get those great goosebumps.

... maybe I shouldn't rate this one, because I'm from Europe and Halloween doens't mean a thing to me.



But apart from that, I like the dark, spooky atmosphere and the shining pumpkinhead is well done.



Still this one doens't catch me; to be honest I even find it a little boring.



6*