My entries for Round 1 of btvsats20in20, plus extras: (The not really-real) Buffy Summers

[red_satin_doll]

ETA: bangel_4e notified me that my original entries for NS+Mono and Artists Choice 1 were not qualified so I've switched them out. Let me know what you think.

My first-ever 20in20 entries for Round 1 of btvsats20in20 were inspired by the Jo Chen's Cover art for "The Chain"; so I decided to claim Buffy Summers as my subject (no surprise) but with a twist: the "not really-real" versions that populate the Buffyverse: impersonators, dopplegangers, alt universe versions; Buffy reimagined in her own and in other people's dreams.

All icons made by me in ipiccy and Photobucket. Many thanks to bangel_4e and spikesredqueen for their patient and tireless hand-holding.





    Teasers

10 Themes
Strong	Favorite Moment	NS+Monochrome	Comics	Blending
Earth Tones	Provided Texture	Ex.Close Crop	Smile	Focused
5 Category |BLACK AND WHITE
Cat 1	Cat 2	Cat 3	Cat 4	Cat 5
5 Artist's Choice
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

Alts and extras to be posted separately.

WANT? TAKE, HAVE, ENJOY! - But give proper credit always!
DO NOT alter, claim as your own or repost to other websites without my permission.
If you snag an icon, letting me know is always appreciated. Feedback feeds the savage fan artist.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

These are OMG!STUPENDOUS! I am so impressed! Bravissima!



Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

OMG thank you! I'm bowing very very low so you can't see how deeply I'm blushing.

Just one thing - I hit the post button too soon and had to edit the entire post, so you might want to glance at it again, I don't know if you saw the correct entries or not.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

I like the Earth Tones one and the fifth artist choice.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I like the Earth Tones one and the fifth artist choice.

Thank you! Both were among the first ones I did for this set, and AC5 was literally the last entry I chose.

[spikesredqueen.livejournal.com]

These are excellent and great batch for your first entry at a 20in20!

My faves are ex close crop, strong, smile, focused, cat 1, 2, & 5, and ac 2, 3, and 5! Great work!!!!

[debris4spike]

Amazing is all I can say!

Strong is great - even though you can't see Buffy's face you can feel that stake going in.

Wow - what a brilliant concept for the NS/Monochrome ... I love it.

I don't think I have even seen that fractured effect that you used in Comics ... the image itself shows a "fractured" Buffy, so well worked. I love the contrasting pink colour of the lines.

That's a great font |(and use of it) in Earth Tones. I love the 50:50 crop as well.

The texture image - wow, that looks as if it took forever to make, yet is very effective.

I love the cut highlight on the B&W of extreme crop ... beautiful cropping ... such a sad image of our heroine, but beautifully tackled.

I love the soft colouring you have achieved in Focus ... again it has a lovely crop.

In the Cat's I love 1, 3, 5 ... such a great range of tonal feelings, but I love the image you chose for #2


Wow, great AC's ... I really love 3, 4 & 5 ... the colouring is stupendous!! AC4 is an amazing image, that I keep going back to look at. AC5 has just an amazing quality to it - both in the choice of image and then the colouring ... such a soft overall glow to it.

They are great - I am so pleased you did them ... and think I might as well withdraw mine from voting!!

Well done.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

and think I might as well withdraw mine from voting!!

First things first - THERE WILL BE NO SUCH TALK IT WILL NOT DO *HUGS* (of course you're joking but still...*more hugs*)

When I asked for feedback I never imagined anything so wonderfully detailed as this THANK YOU so much sweetie! I have to go to work this weekend and don't have time to reply but I'm printing this out so I can read it during the day.

I love the comics one as well - so so much. Discovering the "photo collage" effect in ipiccy was like opening a door for me in terms of what I can do with icons.

I had to switch out AC1 and revised NS+Mono, I don't know if you've seen the new ones.
http://red-satin-doll.livejournal.com/43859.html

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

My dear I promised to respond properly to your comments about my entries, please forgive the delay! Being out of sorts is no decent excuse. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

you can feel that stake going in.

Perfect description! I've learned a lot about the importance of maintaining physical connection between two characters in the image. I didn't realize until I read your comment that that icon is divided perfectly into thirds, with Buffy's arm crossing the divide. Nicolas' expression is just wonderful there. I kept going back and forth on entering this one and nearly rejected it but it kept insisting on staying. Not my decision *lol*

NS+Mono has been my second highest vote getter of my entries, which is funny, its not my favorite! But I had to remake it at the last minute and was in love with the brick wall, which the light effect obscures a bit. I'm not objective.

I don't think I have even seen that fractured effect that you used in Comics

I really am incredibly happy with how that came out. The person in the image is another Slayer pretending to be Buffy (the comics retconned TGIQ, so Buffy was never in Rome dancing with the Immortal, it was another girl meant to fool Buffy's enemies. That makes no sense to me but then neither does anything else in the comics so far.)

I don't think I've seen the effect used elsewhere either. It's called photo collage in ipiccy but it doesn't work well with very realistic photos, it goes best with ones that look more like drawings or are somewhat abstract. I had to color the frames, the images inside the frames and the background bits separately, then added a light leak atop for that hazy effect at the corners. A lot of fun to make!

The font on Earth Tones is Princess Sophia in PB. I used to think it too fancy but I'm getting better I hope with working with it. very regal and elegant, nice contrast to Buffy in her braids, she's such a little girl here and yet so elegant and regal in her own way, so determined.

that looks as if it took forever to make

Thanks! Actually the simpler ones like Earth Tones, Focused and AC5 were MUCH harder because I was trying to remove the pixilation from her face; Texture was easy by comparison: three effects in ipiccy laid atop each other (the texture, a light effect, and shine) plus bump up color and contrast. I wanted the feeling of something gone haywire. Poor Buffybot.

such a sad image of our heroine

Right? the sadness didn't come across as much until I downsized it and lightened the cap, and then it was striking. It's what's hiding beneath the attitude when she opens her mouth. The prompt was for detail and I took that very literally.

Focus took many many tries, I got it right at the last minute - I am becoming the worlds foremost expert on the tip of Sarah's nose *lol* The dark caps from seasons 1-3 are easier to work with and lighten better than those from s4-7. Cat 2 the Amends icon is proof.

You named all my favorites in Catagory. Poor #4, its my least favorite of all of my entries. The way the texture of her skin and the sheen of her hair in the Amends cap made me super-happy; I was going for the horror of the expression and yet it's so pretty.

And I'm glad you like AC4 another favorite of mine. It doesn't exactly fit my claim but her body is being taken over so it's kind of a cheat. I combined the texture and shine effect and really bumped up the color. I could not have planned for the way the purple goes straight into her eyes and traces her chin.

[endeni]

Oh, wow, the comics one is so awesome (and the variants too)! ;)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The comics ones are two of my favorites I've ever done - I have more variants, but discovering the photo collage effect in ipiccy was like being handed the key to a door I'd never been able to open before. And it's a gorgeous image to start with anyway,

[kikimay]

You should totally read The Chain. It's the best issue ever.

This time I think that the white and black icons are the best. Especially Cat 1, 2 and 5. Also focused is very very pretty, I love the profile, and AC2 is maybe my favorite.

I can't wait to see the extras.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I'll have to keep my eyes open for it, thanks for the rec, and thank you for the feeback, sweetie!

I think you'll like some of the extras; your favorites in the B/W catagory are my favorites too. I debated for the longest time about putting the Amends icon with the NA ones but it just came out so beautifully - her hair and skin are so luminous. The color versions are just as beautiful. (I did some more from Amends I'm eager to show off.)

I'm glad you like focused, I really worked a lot on that one and worried it was too grainy. But sarah has such a fascinating face to play with, like a lady in a 15th century italian portrait.

[endeni]

Sorry, butting in, but, oh, The Chain it's totally the best issue ever, I couldn't agree more. I don't read the comics anymore, I started season 8 and then get bored after "Retreat, Part II" but I'm so grateful I got to read The Chain, it just fixes everything about the Ats ep. "The Girl in Question". ^^

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Wow! These turned out really cool!!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly, sweetheart! They're not so bad.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

These are gorgeous! I particularly like the coloring in the Artist's Choice ones, and the fractures in the Comics and Blended ones.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm surprised at how my first ten entries tended toward earth tones because I love richly saturated colors, as you can tell by the AC ones.

and the fractures in the Comics and Blended ones.

Thank you! I made the blended one at almost the last minute and I was really nervous about that one, I worried it was too unsophisticated - I had a couple of other ones for the catagory, but that icon just popped when I put it in the template table.

And the effect in the comics icons is photo montage in ipiccy - the day I first did that I felt like someone had handed me the key to a door I'd never been able to open before. And it was exactly what I wanted to emphasize the fracturing of identity and personality. Fun.

How are things going with your Summer of Giles fic, isn't tomorrow the deadline? Have you submitted it?

Friday June 6

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User audela referenced to your post from Friday June 6 (http://su-herald.livejournal.com/727469.html) saying: [...] Faith/Wes. M. [Images & videos] Icons: (The not really-real) Buffy Summers [...]

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

Snagging AC#5 for realsies.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

*HUGS YOU TIGHT*

I worked so hard on that TYG icon sweetie (I call her La Belle Dame Sans Merci after Keats' poem) and made so many tries that I tossed out you have no idea how happy I am that you snagged it. By all means, and with my blessings and hugs.

I have no idea why there aren't more icons of those two episodes. That dream sequence alone has so many stunning images to play with.

[chic-c.livejournal.com]

Amazing entry! These are really great and I'm glad you made it!
My favourite ones are: strong, monochrome, comics (awesome effect!), extreme close crop, smile, cat 1-2-5 and ac 1-2-5. <3

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you sweetie! The comics one is my favorite too - I made the comics series before I had decided to enter and that was the ONLY icon in the set that I was going to enter come hell or high water.

[bangel-4e.livejournal.com]

Amazing, wonderful entry hon!!! I absolutely love ns+monochrome (I love the texture used here), comics (so creative), extreme close crop, smile, cat 1-3 and all the ac ones..especially 1 with the blending..great work!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sweetiepebbles.livejournal.com]

I love your theme- very interesting!

My favorites are extreme close crop, focused, cat 1 and ac 2 :D

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! It was a fun theme to work with - and you named some of my favorite icons too.

[starry-night.livejournal.com]

Excellent idea with the claim, and these look great! I love strong, NS + monochrome, comics, earth tones, smile, cat 1, cat 2, cat 5, ac 1, ac 2 and ac 5 :)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you stopping by to look and comment! A lot of these were a joy to make.

[undeny.livejournal.com]

These are all so creative! I like Comics the best because it's really cool. :D

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The comics one is one of my favorites that I've ever made.

[teragramm.livejournal.com]

Very nice set. You did an especially good job on the b/w category.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much hon! That's the set I'm the least certain of as a set. I wasn't sure if mixing an Amends icon into a NA set was a good idea but goodness, the skin and hair quality came out so beautifully. (Sometimes I can be perfectly shallow when it comes to icons! *lol*)

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

As always your cap choices and cuts thereof are way cool! Love Favourite moment - pulled me straight to it.AC2, the coloring of her face, blur into sharper., Earth tones is so very earthy and love the words. The lighting in AC5 is just lovely. Strong, NS, Cat 2... stopping now. Great bunch of icons. Well done.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I'm blushing like a rose right now - or a beefsteak tomato, take your choice. *hugs* Thank you so much, Janice for stopping by and commenting! Ok, I admit it was shameless of me to pimp this post but I was sooo anxious when I made these of what you might think.

Love Favourite moment - pulled me straight to it

Smiling right now - I really love that one too, and it's not gotten much notice, so I thought perhaps it was too "weird"? I have no idea how I made this one to be honest, and could not have planned the way her head just emerges from the "gunk".

And AC5, ah me I deleted more tries of that icon than any other. That is one I started in ipiccy because it was coming out too pixelated in PB. And I wore my fingerprints into the blemish tool. *lol* Also Earth Tones, lots of blemish tool on her face.

love the words

Thanks! I misremembered John Donne's "She Walks in Beauty" as "She Comes" but it works I think.

Any concrit, perchance?