Oh my goodness I won second place in btvs_hush! THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who voted my WIllow/Aly Hannigan icon 2nd place in round 279 of btvs_hush! I really was not expecting this at all. It's my very first award in btvs_hush (on my third try in this comm) and my first second place award in any icontest. Congratulations to the other winners teragramm and pickamix - two artists who inspire me. I'm really honored. I would be lying to you if I didn't admit that seeing my name alongside their's didn't thrill me - and it's an especially sweet surprise coming at the end of what's been an emotionally turbulent weekend for me.**

And thank you dragonydreams for the gorgeous banner - a masterclass in understated elegance and simplicity.


I swore I wouldn't have time to enter this contest, and furthermore how could I enhance such a beautiful photo of Aly Hannigan to any degree of justice? But it was so pretty, and such a high quality image, I couldn't resist. I took a similar approach to it that I did to the S5 photo of Sarah by Greg Gorham, pushing the soft "glamour" effects to gild the lily. This time I used a pre-existing clouds "texture" in ipiccy and altering the coloring for a soft rose tonality. I worried that I was being a wee bit cliche, to be honest (maybe it's time for me to retire cloud imagery for a while before y'all get sick of seeing it?)

But I was having fun and I wanted to make something pleasing for my Willow/Aly Posse, most especially velvetwhip and snogged, who I had in mind while making it. I can definitely see the flaws in my entry, all the things I wish I had done differently (I wish I'd been bolder with the rose coloring around the border, and gone for sharper definition) but overall I surprised myself and succeeded in what I set out to do.

Here are my entries, including my first ever Angel/DB icon! *yawn*  (Sorry, but the dudes just don't excite me the same way the ladies do.)  All snaggable with proper credit. (And frankly, if you can make 2 or 3 better, have at.) With the Sarah icon I was apparently trying for an antique or "Renaissance" era look.

      01-03

So what did we learn this time? PAY ATTENTION TO THE DARN RULES. Ok, I already knew that one but apparently I am extremely dense and require sledge-hammer treatment.  I was ready to submit two icons each of the Aly and Sarah images. Including some with text. Yes, that's right. I spent a good bit of time getting the text right on some icons and was ready to submit them until I remembered..its called btvs_hush. For a reason. Oops. (That's actually the second time I've done that.)

   04-05

#4 is probably my favorite icon of this entire set. I very nearly submitted it and spent a lot of time trying to get the text right on it. I like the subtle overlay barely-there effect of the dark lettering; #5 has the same font but the lighter text isn't as effective. The inspiration for the phrase here was twofold: Willow's "We changed the world" was mashed up with Coldplay's "Carry Your World" from the Buffy fanmix eilowyn made me were swirling together in my head. "Your world" felt more personal and intimate than "the world", and it felt right with this image of her looking into the skies, looking forward into the future.  And ever since pickamix advised me on the use of elegant, slender fonts re: my Etymology poster, I've pushed myself to achieve results I hope she'd approve of in that regard, even as I've becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the narrow range of fonts in both ipiccy and PB.

   06-07

I didn't have time to show these to wickedbish for beta advice because I made all of these at half past the last minute but thank goddess I didn't submit 6 or 7.  It's the same cloud texture but more "literal" and wandering dangerously into cliche/camp territory.


    08-11

I almost submitted one of these instead of #3 above. I made the choice to go with #3 after looking at past btvs_hush winners and seeing that they've tended to downplay "special effects" or heavy textures. I'm not sure if making my selections based on that is a good idea, though.

It amuses me that I get my hands on a high quality image of Sarah for a challenge and my first impulse is to break it down, grunge it up; try to make it look like a drawing or painting. I used a texture from Encompass-Rose for  #8 for an effect that reminds me of an aged fresco painting; the icon is terribly flawed and the definition is not good but I don't hate it. Sue me. I used ipiccy's pencil drawing filter in 8-16.  And yes, 12-13 made were before I remembered that text isn't allowed. It's ridiculous to think of the time I put into trying to get those two right - and not succeeding. But, hey, practice and lessons learned.

12-16


17

Angel alt, a little more saturated. *shrug*  Instead of the pencil drawing filter I used one of the light textures on the Angel icons that provided the "brushstrokes".

Want? Take, have - but give proper credit! If you wish to alter, add your own text, etc, please just check with me beforehand.

**Long story short: Dark thoughts and despair, not worth discussing, except I did voice them to my sweetheart who gave me the thing I needed most: she held me, and that was enough to remind me why I love her and why we've been together for 17 years, however difficult our relationship is - and it is, very. You'll never find us on the inside of a Hallmark card.

I Procrastinate, Therefore I Pimp: Otherworldlyrics, Slayerstillness, and Other Good Stuff

Vague disclaimer: I did not submit entries to the challenges pimped below, ergo I feel free to pimp and promote with impunity.

1) dragonydreams has reposted the entries for otherworldlyric Challenge 180 , because three entries "disappeared", unitl two of my personal favorites. (If I've told ya once, I've told ya a thousand times, kids - don't leave the screen door open!)  All fixed now, so if you already voted, please vote again; and if you haven't voted yet, well, what are you waiting for?

I'll wait until after the winners are announced to state which are my faves this time. Let's just say I have my suspicions as to who made #3. Perfect, witty pairing of image and lyric that makes me laugh out loud? I have a short list of suspects. What? Don't look at me that way. Let's get real, that's almost half the fun of voting in these things for me now, as I become more familiar with individual styles - and with the how-tos of techniques.

Entries for Challenge 181, "Eye of the Tiger" are due Friday August 15th. (I remember that song when I was growing up. The '80's - power ballads, Tom Cruise and Ahnold, big overmuscled manly action stars, the Reagans, the Iron Lady, shoulder pads, hair frizzed to the 9th circle of Hell, high school, and my second ex-step-father...I DO NOT MISS THAT DECADE. Yeesh.)

2) Vote in slayerstillness Challenge 29 "The Freshman" - 10 lovely icons to choose from (and this time? I'll be honest, I can't tell who the heck did what. They're just all terrifically pretty.) Because of the small field, there are fewer placements - vote for your top TWO icons plus Best Color and Best Crop.

I remarked to starry_night not long ago that the fields of any given icontest challenge often have an "all of a piece" aesthetic quality to them, as if all the artists were on the same wavelength. That was certainly true in the "Hair Porn" and "Whiter Shade of Pale" Challenges and is very true this time as well. The focus is entire on Buffy and Willow and where Hair Porn entries tended to be neutral or earth-toned, this group is quite delicate in it's coloring- pastels balanced by saturated jewel tones and brights.

Challenge 30 is another "free for all" round, and the entries are due August 22. (My mom is going back home on the 20th, so I think I little icon-makeage will be just what the fangirl ordered.)

3) Check out xlittledreams's entries for Round 3 of btvsats20in20, "Buffy Summers." So, so lovely, very bold and graphic, rich colors and strikingly clean and "modern".  I can't choose a favorite, although AC1 is damned nifty. How is it possible to achieve such gorgeous image quality and clarity?

That leaves just one person who has yet to post their entries: moi. For the THIRD TIME IN A ROW.  This is beyond comedy and well into pathetic.  Deadline is tomorrow midnight and I'd damn well best get them done and posted, because I'm not going to have time to make icons once my mom comes to town. So what the hell am I wasting time for? Excuse me, Lady Tara awaits.