Okay, here we go! Let’s talk about that wallpaper I made of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
So, first off, I was bored, right? Just scrolling through Reddit and feeling kinda blah. Then, BAM! An old picture of Stone Cold pops up and I was like, “Damn, that’d be a sick wallpaper.” The idea just kinda hit me.
Next thing I did was hit up Google Images. I needed a good starting point, something high-res. I searched “Stone Cold Steve Austin Wallpaper” and sifted through a bunch of junk until I found a few decent pics. I ended up grabbing two that I thought had potential – one of him mid-roar and another with him holding up the championship belt. Classic Stone Cold stuff.
Then, I fired up Photoshop. I’m no pro, mind you, just a hobbyist. I created a new canvas, the size of my monitor resolution (1920×1080). Dragged those two images in. The roar pic was my main focus, so I made that the bigger one.
Here’s where it got a little tricky. The lighting in the two pictures was totally different. The roar pic was kinda dark and gritty, while the championship belt pic was brighter. So, I messed around with the levels and curves in Photoshop, trying to get them to match a bit better. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough.
After that, I started playing with some effects. I added a subtle grunge texture to the background to give it a more worn look. I also used a sharpen filter on Stone Cold’s face to make him really pop. Not too much though, I didn’t want him looking like a cartoon.
I wanted to throw in some text, but I didn’t want it to be cheesy. I thought about putting “Austin 3:16” but decided against it. Too cliché. Instead, I just went with his name, “Stone Cold Steve Austin” in a simple, blocky font. I put it in the bottom corner and gave it a slight drop shadow.
The last thing I did was mess around with the colors. I wanted something that was kinda dark and moody, but still had some punch. I ended up using a color lookup table to give it a slightly desaturated, almost sepia-toned look. It sounds fancy, but it’s just a preset in Photoshop.
Finally, I saved it as a JPEG and set it as my wallpaper. Looked pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. I’ve been rocking it for a few weeks now, and I still dig it every time I boot up my PC.
Here are a few things I learned along the way:
- Finding the right images is key. You can’t make a good wallpaper out of garbage source material.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with different effects. Photoshop is a powerful tool, so use it!
- Less is often more. You don’t need to cram a million things into your wallpaper. Keep it simple and clean.
Anyway, that’s the story of my Stone Cold wallpaper. Hope you enjoyed it! Maybe it’ll inspire you to make your own!
