The Artist Relations Team Edu-Swap

So the AR team decided to do a little challenge where we partnered up with another Gallery Director, and learned about each others galleries. $FallenRox assigned the partners and I was paired with ^archanN The guru of wallpapers!
^archanN spends an amazing amount of time and dedication to the wallpapers gallery. You should go pat him on the back for all the fine work he does

What I learned
When you think of wallpapers you think "simple, desktop backgrounds what more is to it?" Not much in the grand scheme of things,but when it comes to GOOD wallpapers, there is A LOT to consider, and when it comes to deviantART wallpapers, much MORE! Admittedly I'm a chronic wallpaper changer. my desktop is rarely the same for more than a week. What makes a wallpaper successful is its usability as well as appeal.
Harsh colours or too bland might make people bore or take down your wallpaper too fast. a balance is good. Making sure to leave some space around the left and right edges for Icons, and side bars (and the dock on the bottom of macs) is a good idea. Key aspects of your composition shouldn't interfere with those areas on the OS.

Problem Areas
This gallery is plagued by a demon. This demon is ignorance... what did you think I was going to say? Copyright violations? well thats true, but the only excuse for them, is ignorance. DeviantART has ALWAYS had policies in place to protect artists.You can report things and violations are removed with Proof. The community needs to step up and help report, but most importantly, Read the FAQ! I gotta speak my mind here and say, its pretty damn stupid to think its okay to use photos you didn't take, art work you didn't create, and screen shots of movies and animation you had no hand in creating. Its selfish its ignorant, and its against policy. (This means, celebrity photos, screen shots of anime's etc. C'mon now! we all know what stock is, and google ISN'T a stock resource.)
FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?
Give poor ^archanN a break here! He cant spend all his time reporting things you should know just as common sense.

Secondly, the size of your file when you submit to the wallpaper gallery should be one of basic screen resolutions.
FAQ #813: What screen resolutions are accepted in the Wallpaper gallery?
and ^archanN told me that he liked to feature things especially if they can accommodate more than one resolution! Its a good idea to create a Zip folder with multiple aspect ratio's in it for the various screen resolutions available. for someone with a wide screen(ish) monitor, I can tell you; its really frustrating to find a wicked wallpaper, just to find out the aspect ratio isn't right, and it looks ugly with the black bars around it or stretched when I set the wallpaper.


Useful Resources

^archanN posts a weekly news article with features from his gallery. Here is the latest:
Amazing Wallpaper Features! : Volume 98

^archanN has also created a "wallpapers bible" The Complete "Wallpaper Guide" this is THE definitive resource on wallpapers on DA!


Features

these are just some of my favs. I've used them in the past or just picked them up recently
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week, when I teach ^archanN about animation on da