Update: Also added the WP-PageNavi plugin for better pagination + easier navigation. Maybe I’m starting to get a little too plugin happy here…

The second change is pretty obvious. I removed the “Tweet This” link on single wallpaper posts since the shortened urls don’t seem to be working any more, and installed the awesome SexyBookmarks WordPress plugin to make sharing THAT much easier (and sexier) on Pixel Ellipsis. So share away, because it shows that you care

Walling Art Nouveau was definitely a lot more challenging than I thought. Mainly because the structure is fairly rigid, once I got the initial concept down I had to run with it – there’s not much room for tweaking (AKA getting lazy and cutting stuff out). Also, the framing involved makes cropping all the different resolutions a nightmare. Luckily I had read a couple of Tama’s excellent blog posts on designing for different resolutions, so I had a rough plan in mind for organizing the layers and readying for the cropping of different wall resolutions. As is, I still didn’t do a thorough enough job in breaking out the different framing elements, which made cropping the 1600 and 1280 resolutions a lot more painful than it should’ve been.

Looking over my recent walls, I feel like my walling style has changed. It’s mainly the colors – I use a brighter palette nowadays than before I went on my six-month volunteering trip. Which is mostly a good thing because I’ve always thought that I’m color-challenged. However, this Mokona wall is actually a bit too busy for my usual tastes. Several of the MTK judges mentioned “simple” in their comments for this wall, which I guess it is in comparison to some of the other entries… but the swirly background makes my head spin if I look at it for too long. There’s constant tension going on between my need to make a good “competition” wall AND a good “simple” wall.

Working my new style in with my usual desktop preferences might take a bit of tweaking. But despite my complaining, I do like where the new walls are taking me – and I hope I can take advantage of my current part-time work schedule to keep experimenting with different walling styles, at least in the near future

EPIC SUMMER WALLING COMPETITION GOODNESS for the AnimePaper community, brought to you by Jay and myself. There’ll most likely be three elimination rounds that run from June to August, in additional to two concurrent (optional) immunity rounds. It’ll be lots of fun, plus there is an awesome prize. So what are you waiting for? SIGN UP NOW @ AP!

By the way, Jay and I have been busy working on a big summer project for the AP community. It’s *almost* ready to go, so do keep your eyes peeled for more news on this! We’re both working madly (and excitedly) for the big reveal, so expect major pimpage from me once it officially kicks off

/ One of the best things about comps is checking out all the great walls that come after. All of the first round entries for the MT Knockout Competition can be found here – well, the thumbs anyways. But I thought I’d just give a little extra pimpage here to some of my favorite entries from this round

Welcome To My World by multiple-papercuts

.:Atashi no Sekai:. by erikamirou

You never give me what I’m seeing by Fran

Welcome to My World. Duh by queerisblue

The Great Elsewhere by Gid (She says this wall will be uploaded to MT after IM is finished, so I haven’t seen it in fullview yet. But it’s GIDDERS. It’s clearly and automatically awesome. And she’s my opponent from HELL for round two *WAIIIIIII*)

Wish me luck for MT K.O. Round 2 because I’m going to need it

Anyways, new wall:

For a new walling project:

…time to go hibernate for a month

In all seriousness, I’ve picked up Michiko to Hatchin again and enjoyed it a lot more than when I started the first episode way back when. Maybe it’s because of the volunteering trip that I recently did, but having spent an extended period of time in a developing country I’ve gained new appreciation for how this series sensitively portrays issues of poverty, gang violence, etc. Also as many have pointed out, there are many stylistic and plot similarities between Cowboy Bebop and Michiko to Hatchin. And, well, any series that comes within striking distance of Bebop’s golden standard of awesomeness will get a certain amount of love from me.

In a way I’m surprised that Michiko to Hatchin is so underwalled because of how stylish it is. If you’re not convinced, check out this OP – one of the best I’ve seen in recent years. And in fact I’ve hoarded away quite a few other MtH screenshots from the OP. With any luck, I’ll crank out a few more of them in wallpaper format sometime in the future.

Damn you, yummy-looking takoyaki!!

If you’ve visited over the last couple of days you probably noticed me making tweaks and changes here and there – changes will continue until I get the site to 100% (right now it’s about 80% complete). In the meantime I hope you enjoy the redesign – drop a comment or a rating if you do! I have high hopes that all the different functions that WordPress offers will make the site a lot more interactive and web 2.0-y, while still delivering what crap and I had wanted when we first started the site 3.5 years ago – to own a small spot on the internets where people can find high quality, user-friendly walls.

As to whether or not I’ll be walling again – nothing’s for certain, but redesigning Pixel Ellipsis has definitely made me want to wall again! I’ve been doing a lot of traveling the past couple of months and won’t be completely settled until near end of the month, so maybe there’ll be something then. Maybe with a capital “M”.