It’s always a great thing to see how a designer works, it’s a great way to learn and also to progress with your own skills. Now I wanna share a case study from Ralf Krause aka Falcon White, who did this piece for Desktopography 2011. I hope you will enjoy it and free your mind on new knowledge.

To know more about Ralf Krause, you can check out his website at FalconWhite.com or check out his Behance.

In Ralf’s Words

Like all the other elements, I cut out the main image.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

For the hair I used a masked picture of a woman.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

A cracked texture, some colour corrections and increased contrast came into play.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

I opened a second document to build the background with 2-3 ocean pictures that where blended together by masks.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

More rocks and a ship where added and on some spots I brushed some „Fog“ and turned the whole background to orange.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

Time for a third document. There I placed the skull and the background scenery in front of a green coloured cloud layer and started to add some smoke behind the skull‘s hair.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

Cut out pictures of a neck and a knight‘s armour completed the fog walker. Birds appeared in the back and the skull got a green coloured touch.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

In this step some shadows where brushed and using Dodge and burn I increased the contrast. The palm leaves where placed and a little bit more fog moves in.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

Time to place the parrot…

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

that went through dodge and burn. The skull also got a little bit more hair..well, actually it‘s feathers. Then I made everything darker and gave the whole wallpaper a more violet colour…

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

That changed in most spots into blue…

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

and ended up with a green color mood with flat black tones.

Antonio Bay by Falcon White

This wallpaper “Antonio Bay” was inspired by the movie “The Fog” – a true ‘80s classic by John Carpenter. By the way you’ll find a lot of great wallpapers on Desktopography.net initiated by Pete Harrison.