I AM, THEREFORE I PROCRASTINATE: BUFFYVERSE TOP 5 NOW OPEN + MY FIRST BUFFYVERSE ICONS FOR 2014

[red_satin_doll]

Buffyverse Top 5 is OPEN today through January 19th for recs of any fan-created Buffyverse works either started or continued during the past year. (Check out the posting guidelines here.)

As I'm still kicking myself for missing the October Classic round, I'm determined to participate in this round with some meta and vid lists, especially as most rec lists consist entirely of fanfics. I'd also love to do an artwork rec list, or at least hoping other folks will be similarly inspired to do so as fanart. Meta , videos and artwork need love too! That said, I'll probably rec some of my favorite female-centric stories as well, because this has been a rich year IMO.

ETA: petzipellepingo just posted a top five meta recs list!  BLESS.

Searching for vids and meta from 2013,  I noticed that fannish activity is scattered or diffuse: fiction on LJ as well as ff.net and AO3: gifsets/animations and artwork on tumbler: meta (nonfiction) of all types including rewatches, analysis, love letters to the Buffyverse & et cetera scattered on Blogger, Wordpress, and various websites scattered hither and yon. This fandom isn't "dying" by any means, IMNSHO - it's alive and well and living on the internet.

And now for something completely different: my first (visual) love letters to the women of the Buffyverse for 2014. For the longest time I couldn't figure out how to make text that was actually legible in iconson the Photobucket editing suite. I played around a bit and finally came up with a few things today I'm halfway pleased with, although I'm still not satisfied with the sharpness of some of these. Feel free to take any you like but give proper credit as always. ADVICE, FEEDBACK & CONCRIT IS WELCOMED AND ENCOURAGED.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

The first two of these I think of as "mini-metas" in icon form:
#1 from Band Candy: I'm intrigued by how much of the Summer sisters' personalities come from their parents, especially Joyce - including a proclivity for kinky sex and bondage games. Just sayin'. The Summers women like sex; it's unfortunate that Joss and the writers' hang-ups prevent a truly empowering sex-positive message for women. *le sigh*

#2 came about when I realized a few months ago that the destruction of the Buffybot in "Bargaining Pt 2" called back to Spike's promise to Dru in "School Hard"; but I couldn't bring myself to use the image of the actual moment the 'bot was pulled apart by the demon gang. I also realized that there are some intriguing parallels between Dru and Buffy as "madwomen", "seers", symbolic mother figures, and as Angel and Willow's "masterpieces" that I think deserves further exploration.

And of course #10 because there aren't enough Tara icons and I love that image, that moment from Bargaining. Like Buffy, Tara is a woman who overcomes the fear and shame of believing she's a "demon", finds astonishing layers of strength, is a protector at heart and "filled with love".

Comments

[ruuger]

I really like the "Evil is in everyone" one :)

I don't have any proper concrit, but I do have couple of tips: If you want the text to remain sharp in the final image, save the icon in PNG-format - that's what most icon makers use, since it doesn't compress the image. And if you want to use a 'real' image editing software instead of Photobucket, Paint.net and GIMP are both free and very good (GIMP is the better one of the two, but Paint.net is easier to use).

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I really like the "Evil is in everyone" one :)

Thanks! That image just jumped out at me today - I love simple images that have very strong contrasts and shadows, and that allow me to do close-ups on faces; and the First's expression is so different to Buffy's. I think I got the quote from The First!Joyce right from BoTN but I didn't double-check for accuracy.

My partner tried Gimp on our (her) previous desktop but couldn't get the hang of it (admittedly, she didn't try very long. and she was already used to Photoshop anyway.)

I haven't tried Paint.net but we are trying out Pixelmater free for 30 days; it seems to be a simpler form of Photoshop, and she'll probably buy it for $30. (I think she'd like me to use it so I won't touch her Photoshop programs, which are "off limits" - not that I ever have.) I'm going to try to recreate one of these icons with that and see what I can come up with. (I have a lot to learn!)

[ruuger]

Gimp used to be very difficult to use, but they recently did a complete overhaul of the UI, making it more like other image editing software. I've never used Pixelmater, but I've heard that it's one of the better low-cost alternatives to Photoshop.

(I personally use Paint Shop Pro, because I've used it since the late 90's - not the same version, though, my current one is *only* 8 years old ;) )

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

my current one is *only* 8 years old

Which is like 70 in tech years, right? *lol* I hate it when they "upgrade" or "improve" programs and it's nothing of the kind - for geeks and techies, maybe, but for the rest of us? Not so much. I like to stick with what works.

I was playing with Pixelmater today and I still have a LOT to learn, but I managed to bumble through it this morning to create a new icon - I spent far more time playing with the text layers than the actual image; it was fun being able to continually click and change the text layers up until the point I actually saved the finished image. (Still didn't get it quite right but oh my, this program is addictive!)

there are a couple of effects functions that don't have a sliding scale to adjust them such as "comics effect" which is too bad, and of course tons of things I'll never use.

And I took your advice from yesterday about saving this in PNG format: