I must admit that Falcon Hive cannot be continued without the support of my good friend, Tiyia Beach. She hears my every plan without full understanding, but just keep encouraging me to move on.

So here is the wallpaper I designed over 24 hours in October, just for her 19th birthday. Let’s see how this is made and you can learn something from it!

Brainstorming and Mind-mapping

The first step of creation is indeed brainstorming and mind mapping. This wallpaper is harder to brainstorm as I want to make this a surprise for Tiyia, so I got no specific information, but just rely on common understanding that colors and graphics she loves.

As she is facing the challenge of completing her degree in UCLA, I decided to make wallpaper that contains message about faith to encourage her. I checked Holy Bible and saw many great words like ‘Nothing is impossible’ and ‘Faith is the substance of something unseen’, and finally think out a phrase in an afternoon walk- Future Arises In Tiyia’s Hands.

Designing Process

I have asked Tiyia through some questions in mail and got her favorite color and theme, which is blue and freedom. Then I started to find the resource online, and Vista Aurora effect is my favorite.

I reviewed and updated mind map, then started to create wallpaper in Photoshop. Tutorial 9 and PSD Tuts are good places when I have no skill on my hand, and I refer also Abduzeedo and Design Flavr for graphic inspiration.

Wallpaper Option

After 20 hours of creation, I have finally got some weird and interesting composition. Here are some option:

I chose the 3rd option to do the final enhancement. I have tried to insert anything but it seems only blur the topic or decrease the center focus, so I decided not to add anything but just focus on background effect.

I created a difference cloud layer and applied radial blur on it as a sunray, and the final output is fine and fantastic that I can close this project happily.

The wallpaper is best viewed with 1024×768 resolution

Tiyia Beach, a name you would always see in the future

This is the first wallpaper that I have seriously worked on, and hope also the best gift that Tiyia received in her 19th birthday!

Besides, I have started to invite her to join our Falcon Ministry in January 2009. I believe that with her encouraging attitude and desire of loving everyone with God’s love, she would be a very good listener and consultant for all your comments and questions!