The overall background is black. And, the design will appear larger on the site, but in the same roportions shown. I made smaller screen shots so I wouldn't cause the thread to expand to full screen.

There will be the site name in the top black space, links just below the horizontal part of the design, and then Flash driven content in the large black open space.

Wanted to keep this one pretty clean to drive most of the attention to the content, while still giving it a little flair. :)

Absolutely 2. The edging of the texture seems a little abrupt, so I'd go with the smoother texture.

I like them both, but as a background the texture is distracting. My vote is #2.

#2

I want to change my vote to #3

1.

I like the texture. Both are great, but I like the first one more.

So it looks like clean shaven wins over natural by a 14 to 4 margin.

I second the second.

I prefer #2.

Thanks so much, all! Now that I look at this thread on my regular screen, I did post them at actual size. So, that's the proper dimensions.

Looks like the "glow" one is more pleasing, so that's what I'll build upon.

Thanks again! :)