Tsunami of Polls: We moved back into the restored apartment....

[red_satin_doll]

......and my first "official" act in fandom was to:

[Poll #1965322][Poll #1965322]

And the correct answer is....


#5! Yup, a massive, massive fail on my part.  Actually, all of the choices represent a massive fail on my part, except for the last choice for which I DO NOT APOLOGIZE.
(She was mentioning how a character in her new novel has an opportunity to mindwipe the memories of another and doesn't because he respects her too much and it's not what she would want. Also, she just began watching btvs S1 at my urging and is NOT impressed with Angel or Xander. At all.) I actually spent hours making icons for slayerstillness challenge #22 "A Room Full of Emptiness" (Negative Space)" ("Ooh, I can do this one!"); hours dithering over which to chose before deciding to actually ask my beta wickedbish for help; and then failed to send him the link to the Photobucket folder so he could actually see the icons. By the time I figured out my mistake, it was too late to enter the challenge. (And I'm a little pissed at myself, because I think I made some good icons and really enjoyed getting back into the creative flow for the first time in weeks.)

But at least I manage to vote as the deadline isn't until tomorrow (midnight your time) hence still time to vote and pimp it - so there's a penance, at least.

And entries are being accepted for the latest challenge #23 (deadline Friday) so there's lots o' time left to enter. Yup, lots o' time....

The only fail more massive is #4 - I have NOT gotten around to congratulating all the winners of the Willowy Goodness Awards, including velvetwhip, snogged, foxstarreh, clockwork_hart1, tiny_white_hats, and snowpuppies amoung others. Congratulations to all the winners (by which I include "Runners Up" aka the silver and bronze medalists). I actually did vote in that one too and cheese on a cracker did you folks make it painfully hard to choose!

ETA:  ALL credit to the amazing eilowyn for urging me to watch Orphan Black, which I'd never heard of until she mentioned it.

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

That laugh is one of my favorite gifs but like a lot of things in the series, it only became special in hindsight. *hugs Buffy*

Which is one of the things I love about the buffyverse, as opposed to 99% of tv shows I've seen over 40 years that are meant to be consumed like potato chips and forgotten.

The delicacy of the coloring makes it special though - I didn't notice what image it was until almost after the fact.

And hey I noticed your just another day icon of Buffy walking away from Revello Drive in EP, a scene I have made tons of icons of lately and am kind of obsessed with and HOW did I not notice it before? Because the cheerful gossamer veil of pink overlay and the text on it are so at odds with what is actually happening. I ADORE irony in icons.

And your VM icons reminded me that's also on my must-watch list. So many shows....

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

lol are you stalking my icons silly? I nearly submitted this one to otherworldly but ended up posting something else I think. I really like how it turned out.


VM is a **must** - although new!Who is also pretty great. (VM is more important, better writing, better show all around but shhh! don't tell anyone I said that. I think you'd like the way VM confronts Feminism and class warfare especially. While Who... just completely fails on that point.)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

A couple of months ago my friend Kerkevik was complementing my new icons and I thought wait, how can he see that?....oh, you can see anyone's icons by checking out their profile. So, stalking icons is now one of my favorite pastimes!

And agreed, that icon turned out beautifully - and it works well even here on my journal, which shrinks them down to 75 pixels. Yours I can still see the major details, the assymetrical composition is strong and the text is completely legible (it's a thing with me.)

I did some icons on ipiccy btw and tossed them all out except a Tara icon was that was really reworking one I'd already made and added some effects; now I'm stupidly fond of it. I'm sure it's really crude but I never had that "handwriting" overlay effect to play with before, and I love letters.


And Lexi told me that VM and OB were MUST-SEES and I love her and trust her recs so that's actually next on my list after/along with OB. (I tend to rip through entire shows, then move on to the next one rather than watch simultaneously, the way I read books - I don't stop reading just because a chapter ends.)

While Who... just completely fails on that point.

And I think that's one of the reasons why I haven't watched it yet, although ten years ago a friend of mine was a #10 fanatic and I know it's very popular; also I "know too much". I went into Buffy blind (except for Tara's death) and that was a good thing, I think. I'm going into Orphan Black the same way.

Also why I haven't watched AtS yet - I know too much and what I know, I don't like. (And it's harder for me to get into shows - or books or movies - with male protagonists. It just IS and has always been that way with me. I don't have the same identification and I don't want to see the same old- same old narratives.)

My Doctor in college was #7 and his companion Ace, the surrogate father-daughter pairing who preceded Buffy and Giles for me, except the power balance is quite different; but it was the first of the old Who that delved into feminist themes and felt very fresh to my friends and I in college. So, twenty years on, new Who should be building on that and very different, right? No?

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

(I stalk icons sometimes, too.)

and the text is completely legible (it's a thing with me.)
I have a hard time with text because I don't like it to overwhelm the piece and I also want people to be able to see it? however, I prefer dimmed/blended words because they tend to fit into the piece better. however, that's unfair of me because I know that some of the concoctions I've made are difficult to read. otherworldly is difficult for me mostly because text icons bother me and I find most of them unattractive - unless the composition is completely wholistic and nothing feels out of place.

I think that Tara icon is lovely.

VM is totally worth it. I think it's the best.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time with text because I don't like it to overwhelm the piece and I also want people to be able to see it? however, I prefer dimmed/blended words because they tend to fit into the piece better. however, that's unfair of me because I know that some of the concoctions I've made are difficult to read.

I wrestle with all those issues as well. And I've worn glasses since I was a kid so for me the text has to be legible or not be there at all. But I've admired (envied) the ability to make fonts translucent over the image, to adjust the opacity of the letters so the text is intergrated rather than plopped to the side.

The tara icon is an obvious exception - using illegible "handwriting" as an effect in and of itself was delightful because I'd always wanted to do that. I liked the idea that Tara was, in her act of courage, fulfilling a prophecy (or going against one); or maybe it was a letter to or from her mother. We don't see Tara writing in the series that I recall but I always assumed she did - journals, letter, poems, spells etc. I can see that as another thing that connects her with Dawn.

And thank you very much for the feedback on it! that's quite a compliment as you know I admire your icons so much. I didn't go in with a concept on that one, I was just playing with it, so - serenedipity.

The other exception of course are "comic" or meta icons where the text really is the point.

otherworldly is difficult for me mostly because text icons bother me and I find most of them unattractive - unless the composition is completely wholistic and nothing feels out of place.

I wouldn't have guessed judging from your entries, they seem entirely assured. I've been extremely impressed by the overall quality of OWL entries lately (and by the female-centricity of the submissions). I've been looking at some of my "older" icons lately and deleting them because they look ugly to me now.

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

I've worn glasses since the first grade and understand wanting it to be clear.

I really love that handwriting effect in ipiccy. I used to use it all the time. Unfortunately I think all of those graphics were lost in my recent laptop breakdown. I lost my hard drive completely :(

The other exception of course are "comic" or meta icons where the text really is the point.
I always like these, but have never attempted to make one of my own.

Thanks for all your lovely compliments!!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I think all of those graphics were lost in my recent laptop breakdown. I lost my hard drive completely :(

Given that our desktop and two external harddrives were lost in the fire last year I SYMPATHIZE. Oh boy do I ever. (I had a rough draft of a picspam meta comparing Dru and Buffy in School Hard/Becoming that I doubt I'll be able to reproduce *sniffle*)

So you don't have an online storage then? That's what I like about Photobucket, or what I used to like - it had the fotoflexer editing suite (now it has a different one that I don't like as much) and it stores photos. I need to back my stuff up to my own external harddrive in case the site crashes.

That's the benefit of PB - all my pics are there so when I want to make an icon and have an off-the-cuff idea, it's all in one place.

BTW, comlodge introduced me to pixlr-o-matic, which has some fun effects but I haven't really mastered it yet. (I like the grungy effects like "worn" that makes a pic look like it's under a piece of badly scratched glass). You can apparently download it.
http://pixlr.com/o-matic/

And comedic or meta icons - I have to be in the mood. Which usually means "incredibly snarky about something someone in fandom said" or else I'm just amusing myself.

And the compliments are no trouble whatsoever because they are all entirely true! :)

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

(I had a rough draft of a picspam meta comparing Dru and Buffy in School Hard/Becoming that I doubt I'll be able to reproduce *sniffle*)
picspam metas are my very favorites and this sounds so lovely!

I ... am inconsistent with online storage and backing up my stuff. I dump into googledrive occasionally (usually at the end of semester - but since that's no longer my timeframe?) but nothing bad has ever happened before so... it was a hard lesson learned.

I lost the Introduction to my thesis.

I hate PB because the site is so slow and I am not savvy enough to organize myself there in a productive way. #lazy

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

picspam metas are my very favorites and this sounds so lovely!

It was actually - but I was adding meta paragraphs as well (you know me) and that was the biggest bitch of it. I think I was trying to bite off too much at one go. Breaking it down might make it easier for me but that's how my brain works. (this is maybe why I do well with icons in that I have to FOCUS on one image at a time.)

Speaking of, I adore your Dawn and Tara icon - the assymmetrical composition? The delicate wash of colors? YES PLEASE.

I lost the Introduction to my thesis.

!!!!! So sorry hon! Were you able to re-create it? Trying to remember something written is always a bitch and for me a little terrifying.

I learned that lesson myself in college btw - before there was any such thing as icloud or whatnot twenty years ago and we were converting from floppy discs (very easily damaged) to hard discs (also apt to go wonky). Staring at a blank screen realizing I hadn't backed stuff up.

And you are not wrong about PB. It is creaky - and I don't like the new editing suite as much (but now I don't like the old on anymore either, and I'm too lazy to go back and forth between two or more sites just to make icons.)

#lazy

Wait, what? I'm constantly looking at what you post on your journal and wonder how the HELL do you get so much done (because that's just the journal and not including school ,work and everything else you do) and feel like a freaking SLUG myself. If you think you're lazy how do you think that makes lazy people like me feel? *LMAO*